James Outman made a pair of nice plays in center field on Wednesday, but it was the ball that he couldn’t grab that loomed large in the Twins’ loss.

Bryce Teodosio’s long fly ball landed to the back side of a leaping Outman, going for a leadoff triple in the bottom of the eighth inning. He quickly scored the go-ahead run on a Mike Trout sacrifice fly in the Los Angeles Angels’ 4-3 win over the Twins at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.

“It’s a tough play,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The mentality that I want all of our outfielders to have is to want every ball, want every ball hit at him and want the opportunity to make a great play. We didn’t make it today, unfortunately. It’s part of the game.”

The Twins (64-82) dropped the finale of their six-game road trip after a nice start from Taj Bradley, who pitched into the seventh inning and had his team well positioned to grab a win.

Bradley allowed three runs — all in the third inning and two on a Zach Neto home run — but otherwise turned in a solid performance, allowing just four hits and maintaining his stuff well through his start. Three of those four hits came in that third inning. The only other time he really faced trouble was in the sixth, but he induced an inning-ending double play to keep the score tied.

“(I’m) just thankful they let me go out there,” Bradley said. “I worked hard in that fifth inning, sixth inning too, to stay out there and get the pitches, and keep it at a quality start and keep the team a chance to win after they evened up the score for me going in with that big home run.”

But while Bradley did his part, his teammates had chances against their teammate José Ureña and the Angels’ bullpen that they could not convert.

Trevor Larnach was thrown out in the first inning at the plate for the third out, and in both the third and fourth, the Twins left the bases loaded. They finished 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11 on base.

The Twins scored their three runs via the long ball with Outman’s second home run of the series putting them on the board in the third and Byron Buxton’s 31st blast of the season, an opposite-field shot to right in the sixth to tie the game.

“We had every opportunity today right in front of us. The capitalizing wasn’t there when we needed it, and we know that,” Baldelli said. “That’s one where you feel you keep putting yourself up in that good spot, one guy on, two, three guys on, and you know that if you keep doing that, you’re going to win most of the time.”

Festa update

David Festa’s search for answers continues after meeting with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Keith Meister on Tuesday in Texas.

Meister, Twins head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said, “feels that (Festa) is suffering from neurological thoracic outlet syndrome,” and has referred him to a thoracic surgeon in the Dallas-area. That doctor is currently out of town, but once he returns and meets with Festa, the Twins will have a better idea of his treatment plan.

Injections are a potential treatment, Paparesta said, as is surgery, which would be the “worst-case scenario.”

This type of thoracic outlet syndrome occurs when “the brachial plexus nerve, which is the nerve of the shoulder … there may be something impeding one of those nerves,” Paparesta said.

Festa, who was near a return after making a rehab start late last month, felt a recurrence of symptoms in his shoulder days later, prompting the Twins to send him to meet with Meister. The starter missed time in April while in Triple-A to allow shoulder inflammation to calm down. He then returned and pitched until July, when he was placed on the injured list.

Briefly

Christian Vázquez (shoulder infection) has been running, lifting, hitting, catching off the Trajekt machine and playing long toss, Paparesta said. The Twins will continue to ramp him up throughout their homestand and then see where he is in his attempt to return. … The Twins have Thursday off and then will send Pablo López, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober to the mound this weekend against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After missing the Monday night game between the Vikings and the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, veteran safety Harrison Smith said he expects to return in the near future.

Though he did not go into detail about the personal health issue he has been dealing with for the past month or so, Smith chatted with reporters Wednesday at TCO Performance Center and indicated he has made progress. It was the first time he has spoken publicly since training camp.

“I’m just trying to get my conditioning up,” Smith said. “I’m moving around well.”

How long does he expect it will take for him to get his conditioning where it needs to be?

“I think I’ll be able to bounce back pretty quick as far as building stamina,” Smith said. “It’s a new experience, so I’m figuring it out.”

The fact the Vikings did not place Smith on injured reserve suggested they didn’t feel this was going to keep him out longer than a month.

It’s unclear if Smith will play when the Vikings host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night at U.S. Bank Stadium. He was listed as a limited participant in walkthrough on Wednesday afternoon at TCO Performance.

“We’re kind of fluid with if I’m ready to go or not, and if I am going to help the team or not,” Smith said. “That all matters.”

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By MARK KENNEDY

NEW YORK (AP) — Polly Holliday, a Tony Award-nominated screen and stage actor who turned the catchphrase “Kiss my grits!” into a national retort as the gum-chewing, beehive-wearing waitress aboard the long-running CBS sitcom “Alice,” has died. She was 88.

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Holliday died Tuesday at her home in New York, said her theatrical agent, Dennis Aspland. She was the last surviving member of the principal cast of “Alice;” Linda Lavin, who played the title character, died last year.

“Alice” ran from 1976 to 1985, but Holliday had turned into such a star that the network gave her her own short-lived spin-off called “Flo” in 1980. It lasted a year.

Holliday earned four Golden Globe nominations and won one in 1980 for “Alice,” as well as four Emmy Award nominations, three for “Alice” and one for “Flo.”

As for the “Kiss my grits!” line, the Alabama-born Holliday was quick to distance herself from it, telling interviewers that the line was “pure Hollywood” and not a regional saying. But she identified with Flo.

“She was a Southern woman you see in a lot of places,” she told The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 2003. “Not well educated, but very sharp, with a sense of humor and a resolve not to let life get her down.”

FILE – Actors Polly Holliday, center, and Vic Tayback, left, appear with actor Danny DeVito after receiving their Golden Globe awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 26, 1980. (AP Photo/George Brich, File)

Holliday’s career included stints on Broadway — including a Tony nod opposite Kathleen Turner in a 1990 revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” — and lots of TV, including playing the blind sister to Betty White’s character in “Golden Girls.” On the big screen, her credits included John Grisham 1995 legal thriller series “The Client” and portraying a protective secretary in “All the President’s Men.”

Her Broadway credits include “All Over Town” in 1974 directed by Dustin Hoffman, “Arsenic and Old Lace” in 1986 with Jean Stapleton and Abe Vigoda, and a revival of “Picnic” with Kyle Chandler in 1994.

Some of her more memorable credits include the wicked Mrs. Deagle in “Gremlins,” Tim Allen’s sassy mother-in-law on “Home Improvement” and off-Broadway in “A Quarrel of Sparrows,” in which The New York Times said she radiated “a refreshingly touching air of willed, cheerful imperturbability.”

By MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other administration officials are vowing a crackdown on deceptive drug ads, but the effort is likely to face multiple headwinds, including pushback from industry and layoffs among regulators tasked with leading the effort.

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President Donald Trump signed a memo Tuesday that directs the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies to step up enforcement against ubiquitous prescription drug ads on TV, websites and social media.

The industry’s multibillion-dollar marketing efforts have long been a target for Kennedy, who previously suggested banning all pharmaceutical ads from TV. That step would have almost certainly been struck down by federal judges, who have long accepted advertising as a First Amendment-protected form of speech.

Instead, Trump’s directive tells the FDA to use current laws to ensure “transparency and accuracy” in all ads.

But the FDA has long struggled to defend its actions against drug promotions in court. And reworking some of its key regulations — including those governing TV advertising — could take years.

Here’s a look at the administration’s plans and some of the hurdles that may lie ahead.

A promise for more FDA warnings after years of legal setbacks

The FDA kicked off its effort Tuesday evening saying it was issuing “thousands” of warnings to drugmakers over inaccurate or misleading ads.

But rather than individual notices citing specific violations, the FDA shared a generic letter that it sent to drugmakers, instructing them to bring “all promotional communications into compliance.”

The form letter is different from typical FDA warning letters, which usually cite specific issues with company advertisements that run afoul of FDA rules and lay the groundwork for future legal action.

The FDA’s press release noted that such warnings have fallen dramatically in recent years, with only one issued in 2023 and none in 2024.

Former FDA officials say that reflects two trends. First, the drug industry has abandoned many of the most egregious tactics deployed in the early 2000s, including the use of distracting sounds and visuals that often drew attention away from drug warnings and side effect information.

Additionally, the FDA has repeatedly settled legal cases challenging its authority to police drug promotions. The agency often declines to pursue such cases due to the risks of losing in court, which could create legal precedent eroding its power.

Looking ahead, recent Trump administration job cuts have slashed staffing in the FDA’s drug advertising division, which handles warning letters.

A plan to curb TV ads could take a very long time

One major proposal by the administration involves reversing a nearly 30-year-old FDA rule.

Until the late 1990s, TV drug advertisements were impractical and prohibitively expensive because FDA regulations required drugmakers to list each medication’s risks and side effects. A 1997 shift allowed companies to briefly summarize that information and point viewers to more complete information on websites, in print ads or elsewhere.

The FDA said this week it will begin the process to eliminate that practice, calling it a “loophole” used to “conceal critical safety risks.”

But the FDA rulemaking process usually takes years — sometimes more than a decade — with multiple opportunities for public comment and revision.

For example, new guidelines finalized last year that require clearer and simpler language in drug ads took more than 15 years to develop and implement.

If the FDA tried to skip steps or rush, drugmakers could challenge the process in court.

For its part, the industry maintains that TV ads are a way to educate and empower consumers.

“Truthful and nonmisleading DTC advertising is protected under the First Amendment and has documented evidence of advancing patient awareness and engagement,” PhRMA, the industry’s leading trade group, said in a statement Wednesday.

Influencers and other newer promoters may be beyond FDA’s reach

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary also suggested his agency will be more aggressive about policing ads on social media platforms like Instagram, where drugmakers often partner with patient influencers or doctors.

The agency has long struggled to oversee those promotions, because FDA advertising rules only apply to drug companies.

Social media influencers who are paid to endorse or promote products are supposed to clearly disclose that relationship. But that requirement is overseen by the Federal Trade Commission.

And in some cases, influencers aren’t being paid by anyone: They promote products in hopes of landing future endorsement deals.

The FDA has also been under pressure to crack down on advertisements from newer specialty pharmacies and telehealth companies. A Super Bowl ad from one company drew scrutiny earlier this year for promoting unofficial versions of weight loss drugs, touting their benefits without listing any of the risks or side effects. Disclosing that information is an FDA requirement.

Companies that connect patients to so-called compounded drugs say they are not subject to FDA rules because they are not traditional drug manufacturers.

A Senate bill introduced last year would bring influencers and telehealth companies clearly under FDA’s jurisdiction, requiring them to disclose risk and side effect information. But the legislation has not advanced or received a hearing.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.