Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor’s earliest return to the lineup from a back injury likely is Tuesday night’s series opener at the Braves.

Lindor missed five straight games entering Saturday and had played only one inning in the past seven games.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Lindor felt better Saturday and hoped to run sprints, hit and take ground balls. Lindor received a numbing injection on Thursday for the facet joints on each side of the spine.

Mendoza said he envisioned Lindor will return at shortstop and not designated hitter.

All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams was demoted to the minor leagues by the Nationals on Saturday for a reason not related to his on-field performance and is not expected to play for them the rest of the season.

Boxing: Daniel Dubois retained the IBF heavyweight title by knocking out former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua in the fifth round in a dominant first defense of his belt on Saturday.

Golf: Danny Lee took control of a back-and-forth match against U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau by holing a hard-breaking birdie putt on the 16th hole to lead his Iron Heads team past DeChambeau’s defending champion Crushers in the LIV Golf Team Championship.

NFL: The Texans will be without their leading rusher in Week 3 as running back Joe Mixon will not travel to face the Vikings. ... Raiders pass rusher Malcolm Koonce, who injured a knee shortly before the season opener, will miss the rest of the season. ... Jaguars tight end Evan Engram will miss Monday’s game against the Bills with a hamstring injury.

Soccer: Luis Díaz scored two fine goals inside two minutes as Liverpool beat Bournemouth 3-0 to move to the top of the English Premier League on Saturday.