NEW YORK — For former Mets star Darryl Strawberry, suffering a heart attack was life-changing.

Strawberry experienced the health scare on March 11 and underwent a stent procedure at Missouri’s SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital that he said saved his life.

“Having a heart attack is different,” Strawberry told SNY on Monday at St. Louis’ ...Read more

NEW YORK — Even after a power-packed performance against one of baseball’s best pitchers, Aaron Judge wasn’t ready to declare himself close to being where he wants at the plate.

The Yankees star had just turned a pair of 97-mph fastballs from the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal into a 399-foot home run and a booming double — both to the opposite...Read more

It took all of seven pitches for Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler to exceed the expectations of manager Dave Roberts, who prefaced Buehler’s first major league start in 23 months Monday night by saying, “I don’t expect to see the 96-97 mph that he had before [Tommy John] surgery.”

After completing his warmup pitches with Rage Against...Read more

An old-fashioned pitchers' duel at one of baseball's cathedrals turned quickly on some old-school small ball and devolved into a little bit of a free-for-all.

The Padres scored six runs on six hits, a walk and intrepid baserunning in the sixth inning before having to hold on by the strength of closer Robert Suarez's arm for a 6-3 victory over ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals’ offense has come in waves this season.

On Monday, the Royals needed a big surge against the Milwaukee Brewers. And it took a while, but they finally got it.

The Royals scored all of their runs in the seventh inning to beat the Brewers 3-2.

Royals infielders Michael Massey and Maikel Garcia fueled...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins frequently use pinch-hitters and empty their bench, but they opted to keep Christian Vázquez in the batter's box with the bases loaded and the score tied in the seventh inning Monday.

There were four other righthanded hitters on the Twins' bench, including hot-hitting Ryan Jeffers and Jose Miranda, when the Seattle ...Read more

All it took was one big swing, and the Mets walked away with a series-opening victory in St. Louis against the Cardinals. Brandon Nimmo’s solo homer in the 7th inning led the Mets to a 4-3 victory on Monday night.

Entering the frame with a 3-3 tie, Nimmo’s solo shot — his fourth of the season — was all the Mets would need to hold on for...Read more

CLEVELAND — No active player in baseball has hit more home runs against the Tigers than Jose Ramirez. Few have a better slash-line against them, either.

So, it wasn’t much of a shock that it was Ramirez who delivered the killing blow Monday night in the Central Division-leading Guardians' 2-1 win against the Tigers in the first of three ...Read more

Mitch Keller will be the first to say that he’s had far more dominant outings than his start Monday evening. But as far as results are concerned, it was one of his most effective.

With their ace leading the charge, the Pirates continued their winning ways against a new opponent, besting the Angels by a final score of 4-1 at PNC Park. The ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It wasn’t just the uniforms. The Rays looked like a completely different team against the White Sox on Monday night.

A week after Chicago swept Tampa Bay in the Windy City, which was a low point in a rough start to the season, the Rays dominated the White Sox 8-2 in front of an announced crowd of 12,042 at Tropicana ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Zack Wheeler made his point.

Wheeler doesn’t like extra rest between starts when it’s avoidable. He finds it more inconvenient than restorative. It disrupts his routine. So, when the Phillies pushed back his turn on the mound by one day last week, the ace didn’t feel sharp and said as much after the game.

Back on his ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — This wasn't October. This can't be confused with October. This has nothing to do with October.

Yet make no mistake, the Dodgers' weekend sweep of the Atlanta Braves at a rollicking Dodger Stadium was a fair predictor of an entirely different sort of October.

An October with Shohei Ohtani.

Goodness, the imagination soars, like ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Six weeks into the season, ESPN brought its national baseball showcase to Philadelphia, and well, what did you expect?

Sunday Night Bryceball, naturally.

Bryce Harper is off to an uneven start, by his standards. But teammates don’t call him “The Showman” for no reason. On cue, he smashed a three-run homer against Giants ...Read more

For just the second time this season, Paul Skenes allowed an earned run. In fact, the Pirates top prospect allowed two, one coming from a solo homer, the first he has allowed in seven starts this year.

While he wasn’t as dominant as usual, Skenes was fine overall, allowing the two runs, both earned, off three hits and a pair of walks in 4 �...Read more

It has been fairly straightforward for the Padres.

Pitch well at the start, generally they win. Get behind because a starting pitcher struggles, they lose.

Sunday afternoon, after four consecutive victories in which the team's starting pitchers were sensational, Matt Waldron was knuckled under.

"Yeah, I think from the start, that wasn't where...Read more

CHICAGO — As the temperatures start to heat up, the question around the Chicago Cubs is: when will the bats heat up as well?

In a 5-0 shutout of the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, the Cubs didn’t register their first hit until the third inning when left fielder Ian Happ singled on a line drive to center. Starting Cubs pitcher Javier Assad ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Dave Roberts seemed a little conflicted before Sunday's series finale against the Atlanta Braves in Dodger Stadium.

The manager didn't want to put too much emphasis on an early-May series against a potential playoff opponent, saying, "I just want to win as many games as we can," but as he sized up a "great" trip in which the ...Read more

CINCINNATI — Dean Kremer took a perfect game into the fifth and allowed only one hit across six scoreless innings Sunday.

It might not have even been the best start the Orioles received this weekend at Great American Ball Park.

Like John Means and Cole Irvin before him, Kremer was superb Sunday to lead the Orioles to an 11-1 win and a sweep ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — Garrett Crochet took Lars Nootbaar’s liner with a 91 mph exit velocity off his left ankle in the third inning Sunday at Busch Stadium.

“It felt pretty brutal,” the Chicago White Sox starter said.

After a visit from the training staff, Crochet threw a few warmup pitches.

“In my mind when I was doing the warmup pitches I ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS – The last time the Red Sox faced Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan in Minnesota, he tossed a complete-game shutout.

As such, the laws of cosmic balance in the universe dictated a much-needed big day for the Boston bats. After a three-game losing streak in which they scored no more than two runs in any contest and a six-game stretch...Read more