CHICAGO — Veteran Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Rich Hill says the players’ union “dropped the ball” when it came to this week’s announcement from Major League Baseball about grip-enhancing substances.

MLB said pitchers will be ejected and suspended for 10 games starting Monday for using illegal foreign substances to doctor baseballs.

“I think this falls on the PA, the players’ association,” the 41-year old Hill said before Wednesday’s game at the Chicago White Sox. “I think that this is where something should have been done. The players’ association had the opportunity to work with MLB, and MLB used their strong hand to put it on the players, and that’s unfortunate that this is what happened.”

Hill said it’s a little disheartening that the action was taken without the OK of the players or the union.

“I feel like they should have come together and settled this, and handled it like professionals,” Hill added. “I feel like a rule change in the middle of the season is very difficult for everybody across the league.”

MLB told teams on March 23 it would increase monitoring and initiated steps that included collecting balls taken out of play from every team and analyzing Statcast spin-rate data.

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The midseason changes come during the final season of the current collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players, which Hill didn’t rule out as a factor.

“We all know that’s coming, and part of this wants me to think that it’s a distraction to put hitters and pitchers against each other, which again isn’t going to do anything to help grow the game,” Hill said. “We all want what’s best for the game. We want to grow the game.”

The commissioner’s office, responding to record strikeouts and a league batting average at a more than half-century low, said Tuesday that major and minor league umpires will start regular checks of all pitchers, even if opposing managers don’t request inspections.

While suspensions would be with pay, repeat offenders would receive progressive discipline, and teams and club employees would be subject to discipline for failure to comply.

“My argument is that, when it’s a hundred degrees out and humid, we get a rosin bag. When it’s 30 degrees out and freezing cold we get a rosin bag,” Hill said. “I think it’s also been pretty widely said throughout baseball, hitters and pitchers alike, combined, a feel that the rosin bag is not enough.”

Tampa Bay pitcher Tyler Glasnow, diagnosed Tuesday with a partially torn elbow ligament, attributed his injury to adapting ahead of stepped-up enforcement.

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PHILLIES: The Philadelphia Phillies will be without second baseman Jean Segura for at least three weeks with a Grade 1 left groin strain, and slugger Bryce Harper is day-to-day with lower back tightness after both were injured Tuesday.

ASTROS: Third baseman Alex Bregman left a game against the Texas Rangers with a strained left quadriceps.

Bregman was injured in the first inning while running to first base when he grounded into a double play. He pulled up a few steps before first base and hobbled off the field after the play before heading to the clubhouse.

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES

INDIANS 8, ORIOLES 7: Aaron Civale became the first pitcher with 10 wins this season and Jose Ramirez homered and drove in three runs as Cleveland send Baltimore to its 18th straight road loss.

Cesar Hernandez had a two-run triple and Ramirez had two hits and scored twice for the Indians, who moved a season-best nine games over .500. Cleveland seized control 6-3 in the third inning by scoring five runs off Keegan Akin (0-2).

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The Orioles matched the eighth-longest road losing streak in major league history and are approaching the record of 22, shared by the 1943 Philadelphia Athletics and 1963 New York Mets.

YANKEES 3, BLUE JAYS 2: Gerrit Cole pitched eight effective innings, pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez connected for a two-run homer and Aroldis Chapman dodged trouble in the ninth as New York won at Buffalo, New York.

Sanchez’s 10th homer of the season in the seventh gave the Yankees back-to-back wins behind key pinch hits, following Clint Frazier’s go-ahead double in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s 6-5 victory.

Chapman allowed hits to the first two batters in the ninth, putting runners at second and third, but escaped for his 14th save. Cole (8-3) held the Blue Jays to four hits.

CARDINALS 1, MARLINS 0: Yadier Molina grounded an RBI single down the third-base line in the ninth inning and St. Louis edged visiting Miami to sweep the season series.

Molina’s eighth career regular season walk-off hit came with one out and sent Miami to its fourth straight loss.

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Paul Goldschmidt reached on an error by shortstop Jazz Chisholm Jr. to start the ninth. After Matt Carpenter walked with one out, Molina singled off Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara (4-6).

The Cardinals went 6-0 against Miami this year for their first season sweep over the Marlins.

REDS 2, BREWERS 1: Tyler Mahle tied his career high with 12 strikeouts, Tucker Barnhart drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the seventh inning, and visiting Cincinnati finished a three-game sweep.

Cincinnati has won six straight and 11 of 13. The Brewers dropped three straight for the first time in nearly a month and were swept for the third time this season. Milwaukee totaled nine hits and four runs in the series against the Reds.

Mahle (7-2) allowed three hits and a pair of walks over six innings as he surpassed the 10-strikeout mark for the first time this season and fifth of his career. Brad Brach, Sean Doolittle and Lucas Sims completed the five-hitter, with Sims getting the last four outs for his seventh save.

TIGERS 6, ROYALS 5: Willi Castro homered during a three-run rally in the seventh inning and visiting Detroit beat Kansas City for a three-game sweep.

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The Royals have lost six in a row and 11 of 12. Kansas City starter Brady Singer was removed after just three innings with tightness in his pitching shoulder.

WHITE SOX 8, RAYS 7: Yasmani Grandal hit a game-ending RBI single in the 10th inning and Chicago beat visiting Tampa Bay, taking 2 of 3 in a matchup of division leaders.

Jose Abreu hit his 12th homer of the season for the White Sox, who’ve won 10 of 13.

Yandy Diaz and Mike Zunino homered for the Rays, who won Monday night’s opener but dropped the next two.

ATHLETICS 8, ANGELS 4: Ramon Laureano hit a home run and made a homer-robbing catch in his return from the injured list, and host Oakland won its sixth straight.

Shohei Ohtani homered for the second straight day, giving him 19 for the Angels. He also neatly bunted against the shift for a single and stole his team-leading 10th base, a day before he was scheduled to start on the mound.

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Laureano, who missed 17 games with a strained right hip, perfectly timed his jump to reach over the fence and catch Justin Upton’s flyball in the fourth. The acrobatic center fielder was credited with the fifth homer-saving grab in his career.

NATIONALS 3, PIRATES 1: Paolo Espino got his first major league win at age 34, Josh Bell hit a two-run homer against his former team and Washington won at home.

Espino (1-2) allowed three hits in five scoreless innings. He struck out two, walked none and threw 39 of his 53 pitches for strikes, a 74% strike rate.

Washington has won four straight, matching its longest winning streak of the season. The Pirates extended their skid to 10 games.

ROCKIES 8, PADRES 7: Pinch-hitter Charlie Blackmon singled home the winning run in the ninth inning and Colorado shook off a monster homer by Fernando Tatis Jr. to beat stumbling San Diego at Denver.

Tatis hit a 477-foot homer, the longest of his career and his NL-leading 21st. He also doubled, but the Padres lost for the 13th time in 17 games.

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METS 6, CUBS 3: Jacob deGrom was pulled from a second straight start with an arm injury, this time leaving after three perfect innings with right shoulder soreness, but New York’s bullpen stepped up to finish a three-hitter in a win over visiting Chicago.

One start after being pulled from a gem against San Diego with flexor tendinitis in his right arm, deGrom went directly down the clubhouse tunnel after finishing the third against the Cubs. New York announced that he had an issue with his shoulder moments later.

DeGrom apeared to grimace after a third-inning pitch to Eric Sogard. He threw 51 pitches, the last a 99 mph fastball to strike out pitcher Robert Stock, his eighth punchout out of nine hitters.

DeGrom said initial tests ruled out a serious issue, but he planned to get imaging and more observation Thursday.

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