Brenly fired by Arizona; Pedrique takes over

Phoenix — Arizona fired manager Bob Brenly on Friday in the midst of its worst season since their expansion campaign of 1998. Third-base coach Al Pedrique was named interim manager.

Bench coach Robin Yount resigned out of loyalty to Brenly. Pitching coach Chuck Kniffin was fired.

Pedrique, who played parts of three seasons with the New York Mets, Pittsburgh and Detroit, was a manager in the minors for eight seasons.

Brenly took over from fired Buck Showalter after the 2000 season and directed the team to a 2001 World Series triumph over the New York Yankees.

Arizona, led by Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, won the NL West title in 2002, but faltered during an injury-plagued 2003 season and failed to make the playoffs. This year Schilling was dealt to Boston, and the D’backs have had 16 players on the disabled list.

Brenly was 303-262, but the team was 29-50 going into Friday’s game against Minnesota.

Neagle has operation

Denver — Colorado Rockies left-hander Denny Neagle had shoulder surgery on Friday, his second operation in less than a year. Neagle hoped to return this season after having elbow ligament replacement surgery last July 30, but those plans were put on hold after arthroscopic surgery in Cincinnati to repair a labral tear and remove unhealthy tissue from his shoulder. Neagle has had three mostly disappointing seasons since signing a $51 million, five-year contract with Colorado in 2001. He went a combined 17-19 his first two years with the Rockies, then was 2-4 with a 7.90 ERA in seven games last season.

Rolen plans to get MRI

St. Louis — Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen expects to have an MRI on his sore left knee in the next few days. The minor injury has bothered him for several weeks, though it hasn’t hampered him too much — he leads the major leagues with 76 RBIs. Rolen said running has been difficult for him.