NEW YORK — For the past two and a half seasons, the Twins have committed themselves to a nearly-even timeshare behind the plate, alternating starts between Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez.

The duo’s impressive streak of starting every game behind the plate since the beginning of the 2023 season came to an abrupt, unexpected end over the weekend after Vázquez developed an infection in his shoulder that led to a hospitalization and a procedure to clean it out.

With Vázquez out indefinitely, Jeffers will see an expanded opportunity. It comes at a good time as the 28-year-old, who in his sixth season in the majors, says he feels “probably the best I’ve felt in the big leagues,” at the plate.

“I just feel so under control,” Jeffers said. “There were times last year where I was hitting a ton of homers, but I felt like I happened to run into a ball. Now it feels like there’s so much more … ability to consistently put the barrel on the ball. It just feels a lot better.”

Coming into Tuesday’s game against the New York Yankees, the catcher was hitting .366 with a .909 OPS over his last 25 games. Within that stretch, he had a 12-game hitting streak, which came to an end on Monday night in New York.

Though he’s far off last year’s home run total — he hit a career-high 21 last season and entered Tuesday’s game with eight — Jeffers has upped his walk rate and slightly cut his strikeout rate.

Almost across the board, Jeffers’ offensive numbers are up, something he attributes to a mechanical tweak plus his mechanics putting him in the right spot to where he can be more focused on his play and the execution of it rather than trying to figure out the mechanics themselves.

“I feel really good,” he said. “I obviously want more homers. But this is by far the best offensive year that I’ve had, especially the underlying numbers. I’m doing everything the best I’ve done in my career.”

And he’ll have even more of an opportunity to show that with Vázquez sidelined. Jeffers will catch “most of the games,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. He’s also receiving at-bats as the Twins’ designated hitter, as he did on Tuesday.

“There’s no formula here,” Baldelli said. “Ryan’s going to get a lot of time behind the plate, and it’ll be a good thing for him pushing his body. The mentality of preparing to catch every day is something he has only had in small spurts over the last few years. It’ll be good for him.”

Gasper starts

With Matt Wallner’s return from the paternity list — he welcomed his first child, a daughter named Elliotte Bryn over the weekend — the Twins optioned catcher Jhonny Pereda back to Triple-A. Pereda was called up on Aug. 8 and did not appear in a game.

With the move, the Twins are committing — for the time being, at least — to Mickey Gasper as their back-up catcher. Gasper caught his first full major league game on Sunday and started again on Tuesday.

“I think he did a good job receiving, and his pitch calling was good,” Baldelli said. “I think he handled the responsibilities well. … He’s got some experience behind the dish. He’s caught a bunch at Triple-A. Now he catches here.”

Briefly

Commissioner Rob Manfred visited the Twins’ clubhouse pregame, holding a meeting with the players. … Twins rookie Luke Keaschall spent his Tuesday at the MLB Network studios in Secaucus, N.J. … The Twins signed 28-year-old left-handed pitcher Génesis Cabrera to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A.  Cabrera has pitched in parts of seven major league seasons and has pitched for the New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates this season.

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CHINO, Calif. (AP) — A police department in Southern California recovered about $30,000 worth of Labubu dolls that were stolen from a warehouse, the agency announced this week.

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The collectible items have recently surged in popularity. The Labubus were stolen in a series of trips that spanned multiple days, the Chino Police Department said in a social media post. Law enforcement found the items at home in Upland, a city in the state’s Inland Empire.

The announcement comes as authorities in Los Angeles County investigate a separate incident in which thieves stole about $7,000 worth of the toothy little monsters from a store in La Puente.

Chino Police obtained a search warrant to enter the home in Upland, the agency said. One suspect attempted to flee but later surrendered, the department said.

FILE – Diep Nguyen shows a Labubu doll to media during the opening of Germany’s first shop for Labubu plush dolls in Berlin, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Detectives found 14 boxes of stolen items and evidence indicating the suspects were planning to resell and ship the collectibles across the country, the department said.

The Labubu, created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, was first introduced in 2015 and is sold by China’s Pop Mart.

By MARTÍN SILVA REY

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Torrential rains forced Mexico City’s main airport to shut down flights for hours on a second consecutive day Tuesday, causing chaos in one of Latin America’s busiest travel hubs.

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The Mexican capital is seeing one of its heaviest rainy seasons in years, leading to constant flooding in other parts of the city.

Airport authorities said all runways were operating again by midday, after all flights were suspended for at least four hours early Tuesday.

Around 20,000 passengers were affected by flight cancellations, delays and rerouting.

Passengers have reported numerous cancellations and delays this week as heavy rains fall on the capital.

Drivers cross a flooded street just outside the Benito Juárez International airport in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Alicia Nicanor, 69, said her Sunday flight to the northern city of Tijuana was cancelled, and when she returned Tuesday morning for her early morning flight, it was also cancelled.

“I told them I have to go because I have an important appointment with my doctor, but they didn’t listen,” she said.

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said heavy rains on Sunday flooded the city’s main plaza, known as the Zócalo, with more than 3 inches, much of which poured down in just 20 minutes. It broke a record set in 1952.

Meanwhile, videos from the city’s south showed cars floating on flooded streets. The flooding has fueled criticism by some in the capital, who call them a sign of larger infrastructure failures by the city’s government.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

By BEN FINLEY

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Government-run medical centers serving the nation’s veterans have reported an increase in severe staffing shortages, with many hospitals having trouble filling jobs for doctors, nurses and psychologists, according to an independent watchdog for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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Tuesday’s report from the VA’s Office of Inspector General is based on surveys from late March and early April that were taken at 139 Veterans Health Administration facilities. Severe staffing shortages are not necessarily an indication of vacancies but refer to particular occupations that are difficult to fill.

The surveys were taken just weeks after it was reported in early March that the VA had planned to cut 80,000 jobs — out of 484,000 — through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. The VA later reduced the figure to nearly 30,000 jobs to be cut by this fiscal year’s end on Sept. 30.

President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday that the surveys are unreliable because they do not reflect actual vacancies, which VA officials said were in line with historical averages. But Democratic lawmakers warned that veterans won’t get the health care they need as VA positions become harder to fill.

The surveys reflected a 50% increase in the reporting of severe staffing shortages for specific jobs, both for clinical occupations that include doctors and psychologists and for non-clinical jobs that include police and custodial workers.

Nearly all of the facilities — 94% — reported a shortage for medical officer occupations that include doctors, while 79% reported shortages for nurses. The report noted that severe shortages for medical officers and nurses have been identified every year in the report since 2014.

Pete Kasperowicz, the VA’s press secretary, stressed in an email that the report is not based on vacancies and is therefore “not a reliable indicator of staffing shortages.”

“The report simply lists occupations facilities feel are difficult for which to recruit and retain, so the results are completely subjective, not standardized and unreliable,” Kasperowicz wrote.

He said that vacancy rates for doctors and nurses are 14% and 10%, respectively, which he said are lower than most other health care systems and in line with “normal VA historical averages.”

But Jacqueline Simon, policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees, said the surveys reflect the Trump administration’s profound hostility toward the federal workforce and what she said are its plans to ultimately privatize the VA.

“This is a deliberate effort to incapacitate and to undermine veterans’ support for and approval of the care they receive in VA hospitals and clinics,” Simon said. “They’ll have to wait much longer for appointments. There won’t be specialists available. They’ll have no choice but to go to the private sector.”

Simon also noted the VA’s announcement last week that it was terminating collective bargaining agreements for most VA bargaining-unit employees, which could further hurt recruitment.

The VA said in a news release that the move will “make it easier for VA leaders to promote high-performing employees, hold poor performers accountable, and improve benefits and services to America’s Veterans.”

But U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said in a news release Tuesday that the Trump administration has made it harder for public servants to do their jobs “and ultimately harder for veterans to get the care they’ve earned.”

“We also know from recent jobs reports that applications to work at the VA are plummeting,” said Warner, a Democrat who represents the veteran-dense state of Virginia. “How do skyrocketing staffing shortages and declining applicant pools make it more ‘efficient’ for veterans to access the care and services they deserve? The answer is: they don’t.”