NEW YORK -- Robinson Cano is out of the New York Mets' lineup against San Francisco, a day after tweaking his left quadriceps.

Mets manager Mickey Callaway said Cano was being evaluated and the team hoped he would be available off the bench Thursday afternoon to face the Giants.

The 36-year-old Cano came off the injured list Wednesday. He'd been out since May 22 because of a strained left quadriceps.

Cano exited after four innings, limping off the field with tightness in his quad.

Cano is hitting .238 with three home runs and 14 RBIs in his first season with the Mets.

TORONTO -- Inside the New York Yankees' home clubhouse, along a wall near the main entrance, are a pair of neighboring lockers. One belongs to Aaron Judge, the other to Clint Frazier.

When the Yankees are on the road, the two outfielders' lockers are often placed side-by-side as well.

For Frazier, the Yankees' brash and flashy 24-year-old up-and-comer who has drawn his share of headlines and public ire this week, the locker placement affords him the opportunity to routinely pick the brain of the 27-year-old megastar who is viewed as much more of a veteran than his major league service time would indicate.

"Dude, everyone in here is talking to him about something," Frazier said. "I don't know what the convos are, but why wouldn't you listen to him?"

Listening -- that's exactly what Frazier had been doing in recent weeks when he'd talked to Judge. The conversations mostly revolved around defensive technique and boosting Frazier's shaken outfield confidence.

"I just try to tell him, even the balls that he's been clanking in the outfield, your first initial read of either going back or coming in, it's always right. It's always right," Judge said. "I try to tell him, 'You should trust it.' The minute you trust your instincts ... then that's when you can kind of read it a little better.

"'You're an athlete, you've been doing it your whole life. Trust what you see.'"

It's his routine offering of honest yet uplifting advice that has made Judge one of the most respected players in the Yankees' clubhouse, along with veterans CC Sabathia and Brett Gardner, the two longest-tenured players on the team.

His advice has been dispensed often in the past six weeks, and not all of it to Frazier. At times this season he's listened to other teammates lamenting struggles they've had in particular games.

"I try telling them, 'Bad couple games? You're still hitting .270 with 15 homers. You've got nothing to be worried about. If you have one bad game here, learn from it and keep it moving. You're a big part of this team,'" Judge said. "So just trying to keep it positive, trying to do those kind of things."

Despite suffering a left oblique strain on a swing April 20, Judge had still spent nearly all of his time with the team while resting and rehabbing the injury -- until he left this past Sunday to continue his comeback in Florida.

The Yankees believe his presence has been necessary, important and incalculable.

"He's like a coach," first baseman Luke Voit said of Judge.

Manager Aaron Boone considers the 2017 American League Rookie of the Year a "huge presence" in the Yankees' clubhouse.

"As upset as he was when he first got injured, one of the first conversations I had with him is: 'You can still impact us in a big way,'" Boone said. "I absolutely feel like he has."

"Aaron's been really good to me. Behind the scenes, whether it's hitting, basepaths, defense, he's always chiming in on something for someone because he's that respected and that good."

Clint Frazier

Asked recently what impact he has had on the way the Yankees have stayed afloat despite sending 18 players to the injured list this season, Judge shook his head.

"That's all on those guys," he said, pointing around the clubhouse. "They're putting in all the work. I can say it might help, but they're the ones standing in the box, they're the ones out there performing. I'm just trying to keep them at that level. They're the ones doing all the work."

From the day he was hurt until Sunday, when he and fellow injured Yankees Dellin Betances and Greg Bird traveled to Tampa, Florida, to ramp up their respective rehabs, Judge had been with the Yankees for every game.

When they were at home, he was there. When they were in Kansas City, he was there. Baltimore? He was there. Tampa, Anaheim, San Francisco and Arizona? There too.

Judge caught all the usual pregame meetings he'd normally be part of, and he stood in the outfield and helped shag fly balls during batting practice once he was cleared to do that. He also got in the batter's box and tracked pitches during between-start bullpen sessions, and he offered to do pregame defensive work with Frazier as the young outfielder's struggles started becoming more magnified.

None of that went unnoticed.

"Aaron's been really good to me," Frazier said. "Behind the scenes, whether it's hitting, basepaths, defense, he's always chiming in on something for someone because he's that respected and that good."

Although the advice has helped, it goes deeper than that for Voit.

"Half the [injured] guys don't travel like he does, so it shows that he cares and wants to be around the team and helping every way that he can without being out there," Voit said.

The most tangible ways Voit believes Judge has helped impact his 15-homer season have come behind closed doors.

"It's nice to have him in the hitter's meetings, because he's been in the league for two and a half, three years now. So it's nice to have his background," Voit said. "He's very intelligent about when it comes to how pitchers attack. And it's nice for me too, because we kind of get pitched the same way."

Since Judge's injury, Voit has been among the regulars hitting in the right fielder's customary No. 2 spot. With combinations of the dangerous Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, Aaron Hicks and Frazier hitting behind him, Voit has had his share of pitchers throwing him hard inside of late. Once they've established that inside corner and gotten into favorable counts, they're gone soft away with Voit more regularly than they did when Judge was in the lineup and hitting ahead of him. It's a pitch-sequence formula Judge regularly sees.

"So it's nice to have him, and I can always lean on him. And just the way he's in the dugout, it's the same excitement as if he was playing, too," Voit said.

With Judge now away from the team continuing a swinging program that should soon have him facing live pitching, and inching closer to a return to the lineup -- which Boone said Wednesday could happen when the Yankees play the Red Sox in London later this month -- a void has appeared.

An argument could be made that no one is feeling Judge's absence more than Frazier.

Around the same time Sabathia threw the first pitch in Sunday's game at Yankee Stadium, Judge, Bird and Betances were taking off from the Big Apple for Florida. So when Frazier missed a ball later that night that got to the wall and allowed a run to score, and when he misjudged a pair of fly balls that fell, he didn't have his extra coach to give him the nudge of encouragement he says he needed. And Judge wasn't there after the loss, when Frazier declined to speak to reporters. Although he did speak exclusively to ESPN a couple of hours later, his decision not to address the collective media sparked days of discussion and criticism on social platforms, sports talk radio and local newspapers.

Judge also wasn't there in Toronto on Tuesday when Frazier decided to riff with writers on what he felt was past unfair coverage of him, and the difficulty he has had fitting in. There were other Yankees present in Toronto that day, though, who were somewhat dismayed he didn't take their advice prior to that eight-minute media scrum.

Perhaps even Judge's presence wouldn't have kept Frazier from saying much of what he did that particular afternoon. But then again, in all the time Judge has been around the team, Frazier had kept many of the thoughts he shared that day to himself.

Regardless, when he has been around, Judge has had a boundless impact on this still-hot, still-banged up team of backups, whether he's playing or not.

"Really important," Boone said. "He's been a huge part of this, and a huge presence in all of it for the guys in that room."

Long a proponent of team energy and chemistry, Boone believes the tone of any clubhouse can turn a good team into a great one. He's hopeful the tone set by Judge can do that too.

"Some of the best teams I've played on, there's something about the room from an energy standpoint that can be a factor in helping you win some games along the way," Boone said. "How do you quantify it? I don't necessarily know, but I do believe that it matters. And it can look a lot of different ways.

"Sometimes it's guys that get along and everything's great, sometimes there's some angst behind it. That can be a great culture too, where guys get after each other a little bit. It can look a lot of different ways in my opinion, but I do think when you do have a strong culture, I do think it shows itself in some wins over the course of the year. How many? Maybe we'll never know, but I think it matters."

Gloucester have signed Scotland international centre Chris Harris from Newcastle Falcons on an undisclosed deal after activating a release clause.

Harris leaves the Falcons on the back of relegation from the Premiership this past season, having made 77 league appearances and scored 11 tries.

The 28-year-old received international recognition at Kingston Park, and scored one try in eight Test matches.

"I've loved every minute of my time with the Falcons," Harris said.

"I will be forever grateful to them. However, I'm at the stage of my career where I need to be performing at the highest level of the club game."

The Cherry and Whites finished in the top four last season, securing European Champions Cup rugby at Kingsholm next season.

Director of rugby David Humphreys added: "We're delighted that Chris has agreed to join Gloucester Rugby and to add another international calibre player to the squad, one who also possesses significant Premiership experience."

Australian rugby international Israel Folau is seeking "substantial remedies" after being sacked for a social media post saying "hell awaits" gay people.

The 30-year-old devout Christian had his contract terminated by Rugby Australia and has now launched legal action against RA.

Folau is claiming his employment was unlawfully terminated.

"No Australian of any faith should be fired for practising their religion," Folau said.

A case has been filed with Australia's Fair Workplace Commission, an industrial relations tribunal.

"Ours is an amazing country built on important principles, including freedom of religion. A nation made up of so many different faiths and cultural backgrounds will never be truly rich unless this freedom applies to all of us," Folau, who played club rugby for New South Wales Waratahs, added.

"The messages of support we have received over these difficult few weeks have made me realise there are many Australians who feel their fundamental rights are being steadily eroded."

The application says: "Accordingly, Mr Folau is seeking substantial remedies from his former employers should they be found to have breached the Fair Work Act in terminating his employment."

The full-back, who has played 73 Tests for Australia and was expected to represent his national side at this year's Rugby World Cup, had a contract until 2022.

As well as the termination of his contract, he lost sponsorship deals with companies including car manufacturer Land Rover and sportswear brand Asics.

He could be seeking up to AUS$10m (£5.5m) in damages, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Rugby Australia and New South Wales Rugby later issued a joint statement which stressed Folau had been sacked "because of a serious breach of the Professional Players Code of Conduct".

"This is an issue of an employee and his obligations to his employers within the contract that he signed," the statement added.

"He was bound by a Code of Conduct for all professional players in Australia that spells out clear guidelines and obligations regarding player behaviour, including respectful use of social media."

Brother released for personal reasons

Folau's younger brother John was also under contract with the Waratahs and the 24-year-old back, who was yet to make his Super Rugby debut after being signed before the 2019 season, has been granted an immediate release for personal reasons.

"We gave John some time off for leave and he has come back to us recently and asked for a release, which we're happy to grant," said Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson.

"John has been in a difficult position for the last wee while. He has got really divided loyalties to his family and his brother and then also to the team. He wanted to stress how much he enjoyed being with the team and what a difficult decision it was for him."

HAMPTON, Ga. — The Thunder Ring sprang to life on Wednesday night for the second round of Thursday Thunder presented by Papa John’s Pizza as a handful of drivers collected their first victory in their respective divisions.

The Racing Radios Rookie Bandoleros opened up the round two action with Kerbi Mueller posting her first career win at the Thunder Ring during Thursday Thunder.  Mueller held off Bailey Buchanan, who finished second, and Baylor O’Neil, who was third, for the victory.

In the Associates Group Young Lions feature race, Lucas Ruark won his second consecutive feature race of the year and extended his lead in the division point standings. Ruark started on the inside of the second row and jumped door to door with pole sitter Ashton Whitener on the opening lap of the race.  Whitener got tangled up with Austin MacDonald on lap six and fell to the back of the pack allowing Ruark to pull away from the field for the win.

Carson Ramsey earned the win in a heated Racing Radios Outlaws feature.  Ramsey started fifth, but was able to move to the front of the field by the fourth lap.  Two laps later, Trevor Wester got past Ramsey for the lead. Glued to the back bumper of Wester for eight laps, Ramsey made a last lap pass to take the the checkered flag.

In the Wallace Electric Masters feature, Bill Plemons held off Robbie Woodall over the final two laps to earn his second consecutive feature win of the season.  Plemons started on the outside of the front row and was able to slide down in front of Tony Armbruster who was on the point on the first lap to take the lead.  A late caution helped Woodall move up to second and set up the two lap shootout between the top two finishers in the division from a year ago.

Last year’s Young Lion’s champion Ryan Rackley notched his first win the VP Racing Fuels Pro Division in just his second start amongst the best competition in Legend cars.  Bumping and banging with Joshua Hicks on the white flag lap, Rackley was able to slide to the inside of Hicks coming out of turn four and won the drag race down the frontstrch for the win.

“We qualified so bad,” said an excited Rackley after the victory, “and we started ninth and we were able to drive through the field and get the win. I was going to be happy getting a top five and then everybody was getting shoved out and I was just filling in and filling in. Then the top two started racing each other hard and I just filled in the gap and passed them.”

Rackley qualified seventh and ended up on the inside of row five in the ninth position following the Pro Qualifying pick.  Taylor Jorgensen started on the pole and dominated the early part of the race and was vying for the win until she got shuffled out of the lead with three laps left and couldn’t get past the front runners of Rackely and Hicks.

Max Brady was the beneficiary of a last lap caution to help him earn his first career win at the Thunder Ring in the CMS Group Environmental Services Semi-Pro feature.

“This is my first ever Thursday Thunder win,” said and excited Brady. “I’ve been racing here for four years and I’ve gone through a lot of struggles with these things and this just means a lot. I just don’t know what to say.”

Brady was chasing Audrie Ruark, who led every lap of the race until she got spun exiting turn four on the final lap of the feature.  DJ Canipe came home second and Rickey Springer was third while Ruark finished ninth.

The Racing Radios Bandits closed out the action with the final feature race of night as Lucas Vera dominated the action leading all 20 laps for the win.  Vera outgunned Jacob Brindley from the outside pole to take an early lead on lap one and never looked back as he claimed his first win of the season. Cody King, Carson Ruark, Garrett Gumm and Kaleb Brandley battled hard for third with three wide racing across the strip with three laps to go.  It was King who earned the podium finish as he pull ahead of the trio and crossed the strip in third.

LAWTON, Okla. — A podium finish the night before was bettered by two spots Wednesday at Lawton Speedway as Sam Hafertepe Jr. picked up his fourth victory of the season with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network during round three of ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek.

“Our team right now is clicking better than I’ve ever had a team click in my entire career,” said Hafertepe. “Having the right people behind me and in the right places, we’ve been able to win a lot of races so I’m very fortunate to be the monkey driving the car sometimes. This is a hell of a team. We’ve been building it over the course of five years now and we get better every night.”

Racing to the lead from second starting spot, Hafertepe held off all challenges the first half of the race with a pair of cautions working lap two and lap 15.

Back to the 14th lap on the restart, that is where the Heidbreder Foundation No. 15h was challenged for the lead. Moving off the cushion of the first two turns, Hafertepe surrendered the point to Scott Bogucki down the back straightaway.

Driving 20-foot deeper into turn three to pitch the car across the fourth turn, Hafertepe snagged the top spot with the pair again trading the position through turns one and two. Exchanging another round of slide jobs coming to lap 16, Hafertepe broke the momentum of the Sawblade.com No. 28 to begin pulling away until the red lights blinked on with 21 laps complete for Roger Crockett who slammed into the wall off the second turn.

“I shouldn’t have moved off the top,” Hafertepe said. “We were able to get him back, but I just second guessed myself and should have just stayed on the cushion on the restart, but at least it made it interesting for the fans”

Keeping the pack at bay on the restart, the race for second picked up as Wayne Johnson flew past Bogucki on the cushion in turns three and four.

In pursuit of the No. 15h, Johnson was unable to keep pace with Hafertepe. Bogucki held on for third with Jordon Mallett posting his first top-five finish of the season in fourth. John Caney II picked up a pair of spots to cross fifth.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [2]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [5]; 3. 28-Scott Bogucki, [3]; 4. 14-Jordon Mallett, [6]; 5. J2-John Carney II, [7]; 6. 03-Joe Wood Jr, [13]; 7. 17W-Harli White, [12]; 8. 95-Matt Covington, [15]; 9. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [16]; 10. 92-Jordan Weaver, [1]; 11. 52-Blake Hahn, [4]; 12. 5J-Jamie Ball, [9]; 13. 74B-Jake Bubak, [14]; 14. 21P-Robbie Price, [8]; 15. 23X-Grady Chandler, [20]; 16. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [17]; 17. 77X-Alex Hill, [11]; 18. 90-Lance Norick, [19]; 19. (DNF) 11-Roger Crockett, [10]; 20. (DNF) 10K-Kyle Ezell, [18]; 21. (DNF) 22X-Steven Shebester, [21]

LEXINGTON, Ohio – J.R. Hildebrand will join a four-car Dreyer & Reinbold Racing ARX2 Rallycross team this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the Americas Rallycross season opener.

Hildebrand, a nine-time Indianapolis 500 starter from Boulder, Colo., will drive the No. 48 WIX Filters ARX2 machine in the ARX2 doubleheader weekends at Mid-Ohio and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Ill., on July 13-14.  The 2011 Indianapolis 500 runner-up and Rookie of the Year will team with his DRR Indianapolis 500 teammate Sage Karam, ARX2 young star Cole Keatts and teenage female sensation Gray Leadbetter in the four-car DRR assault at Mid-Ohio.

This weekend at Mid-Ohio will be Hildebrand’s ARX2 debut but the 31-year-old California native is no stranger to various forms of motorsports including competing in the Pikes Peak Int’l Hill Climb, Formula Drift action as well as the American Le Mans Series sports cars. In his open-wheel career, Hildebrand captured the F2000 series and the Indy Lights series championships.

For the past two Indianapolis 500 races, Hildebrand has driven for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with Salesforce partnership and placed 11th and 20th. Hildebrand began his IndyCar Series career driving for DRR in 2010 with races at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma.

“Can’t wait to jump in the ARX2 car with DRR,” said Hildebrand. “I had a lot of fun briefly testing the car after the Indy test a couple months ago and am excited to learn as much as I can this weekend in Mid Ohio. DRR’s track record is extremely good in these cars, so I’m looking forward to tackling it with them.”

Reinbold has been very excited about Hildebrand and Karam’s ARX2 appearances in the twin WIX Filters cars. Both Indy 500 veterans are debuting in ARX2 this weekend at Mid-Ohio.

“We were very pleased with the feedback and performance of JR in the ARX2 test last month in Indy,” said Reinbold, whose ARX2 team won the 2016 series title. “He has driven a variety of racing machinery over his career and we feel the ARX2 series will be very competitive this year and especially with the new Mid-Ohio ARX course. Having J.R. team up with Sage in the two WIX Filters cars will be a great season opener for our team and partners. Plus, the two youngsters, Cole Keatts and Gray Leadbetter, figure to be right in the mix this weekend too.”

Hildebrand will campaign the No. 48 WIX Filters with Mecum Auctions car at Mid-Ohio, while Karam will drive the No. 24 WIX Filters with ISMI Springs vehicle. Keatts will handle the No. 53 Black Rifle Coffee Company ARX2 car and Leadbetter, the 14-year-old female competitor, will pilot the No. 28 Oil2Soil machine.