SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres’ No.5 starter got knocked around and let down on Friday night.

They will have a fill-in starting Saturday, as Randy Vásquez will be recalled to take the place of the injured Yu Darvish.

Their offense continues to run hot and cold and is currently freezing.

These are precarious times for a team that fell ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — It was 38 degrees with chilly 15-mph winds swirling around Target Field that made it feel like 29 degrees at game time Friday night.

“You don’t get cold in the big leagues,” Tigers shortstop Zach McKinstry said.

Of course, McKinstry is cut from different cloth. It snowed hard when he made his official visit to Central ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — A Cardinals offense scuffling of late and an opposing pitcher who’d given out nearly three times as many strikeouts as hits through his first three starts wasn’t a stellar recipe for a breakout day at the plate. Yet the Cardinals scratched and clawed their way into extra innings with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

However, ...Read more

ATLANTA — The Braves opened a nine-game homestand Friday by welcoming the defending-champion Rangers to Atlanta. What a show for the sellout crowd: The Braves mashed their way to an 8-3 win, their fifth straight.

Here are five observations:

— 1. Let April 19, 2024, at Truist Park be known as the “Travis d’Arnaud game.” The Braves’ ...Read more

ATLANTA — In one way, Spencer Strider is like the rest of us, or at least some of us. When the “check engine” light came on for his elbow, he chose to ignore it.

As the Braves ace prepared for the season at spring training in Florida, he began to feel discomfort in his right elbow but tried to not listen to what he called “those ...Read more

NEW YORK — It took seven innings and two Rays errors for the Yankees’ offense to wake up on Friday, but the Bombers opened their homestand with a 5-3 win.

The biggest blast of the night came from Juan Soto, who demolished a three-run home run off Tampa Bay’s Chris Devenski, who pumped a fastball down the middle of the plate. The 409-foot,...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dean Kremer was showing signs of tiring, walking two straight batters in the sixth inning of an otherwise sharp start.

He then threw a center-cut 88-mph cutter to Royals catcher Salvador Perez, and the eight-time All-Star just missed parking it over the left-field wall at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium. Manager Brandon ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The hours leading up to Quinn Priester’s season debut were littered with teammates congratulating the 2019 first-rounder in the clubhouse on making it back to Pittsburgh.

Just a few minutes into his Friday night start, however, it became clear Priester again wasn’t at his best. He yielded three home runs, including two in the...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — J.T. Realmuto stood on the grass near the Phillies' dugout and waited.

It was impossible not to notice him — and not just because he was clad from head to toe in canary yellow catcher's gear. The rest of the Phillies had dashed off the field, but there was Realmuto, lingering behind for pitcher Spencer Turnbull.

Turnbull's ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Trevor Bauer was back in the news this week. He posted a video in which he gave a short address that started this way: "One of the women who accused me of sexual assault just got indicted for committing felony fraud against me. Imagine that."

Bauer, the former Dodgers pitcher, has not pitched in the major leagues since 2021. ...Read more

DENVER — A viral video showing a Colorado Rockies baseball coach in the cockpit of a United Airlines charter flight from Denver to Toronto sparked a federal investigation, officials confirmed Friday.

The video, originally posted to social media by the Rockies’ hitting coach Hensley Meulens, appears to show Meulens sitting in one of the ...Read more

DENVER — The Rockies series opener against the Mariners on Friday at Coors Field is postponed due to inclement weather.

Friday’s game will be made up on Sunday as a split doubleheader. Game 1 begins at 1:10 p.m., while Game 2 begins at 6:10 p.m.

Friday night in LoDo is supposed to be around 40 degrees and cloudy at first pitch, with a ...Read more

DENVER — A viral video showing a Colorado Rockies baseball coach in the cockpit of a United Airlines charter flight from Denver to Toronto sparked a federal investigation, officials confirmed Friday.

The video, originally posted to social media by the Rockies’ hitting coach Hensley Meulens, appears to show a member of the coaching staff ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As soon as he heard the crack of the bat, lifelong Dodgers fan Renan Zuniga knew exactly what to do.

The 45-year-old finance manager from Victorville, Calif., sprung out of his usual seat in the left-field bleachers at Dodger Stadium, jumped as high and stretched as far as he could, and made a fantastic catch to pull down a home...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — While the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, Blake Snell, is spinning his wheels at the starting line, last year’s runner-up, Logan Webb, is off to a flying start.

Webb was in mid-season form on Thursday night, as the San Francisco Giants’ ace was whipping out nasty changeups and backdoor two-seamers as he ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Pirates veteran left-handed relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman has been suspended two games for his actions that led to an ejection from Monday’s game against the Mets, MLB announced Thursday. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was the first to report the news.

Chapman’s incident occurred in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jeff ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Ryan Pepiot threw six solid innings, Amed Rosario extended his hot streak, and the beleaguered bullpen held on to a one-run lead Thursday afternoon as the Rays edged the Angels, 2-1, in front of an announced matinee crowd of 10,648.

The Rays (11-9) split the four-game series with Anaheim (9-10) and moved to a season ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — The next time you attend a Major League Baseball game and hear a sound that sounds like a clap, the better chance is that it’s the pitcher on the mound whose elbow just popped.

Blame not the pitch clock, but the pitch count. Once baseball people started to track, and emphasize, pitch counts, it’s led pitchers down a ...Read more