SAN DIEGO — No comeback. No walk-off extra-base hit.

Just a little midgame drama and just another victory.

A night after they scored five runs in the ninth inning, another burst of runs put the Padres up early Thursday, and the back end of their bullpen held on late in a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

The Padres’ eighth ...Read more

CLEVELAND — The Orioles are good at almost being no-hit.

They’re even better at avoiding history in the last inning.

The Orioles on Thursday night failed to record a hit entering the ninth inning — the third straight season in which Baltimore’s bats have nearly been on the receiving end of a no-hitter. This time, it was Guardians left-...Read more

CHICAGO — The Rays just had to be patient on Thursday afternoon.

Twice the White Sox scored a run, and twice the Rays rallied but could only get even. The ninth started the same way, when Junior Caminero led off with a homer to once again tie the score.

But this time, they found ways to keep the rally going and, thanks to a pair of bases-...Read more

CINCINNATI — The Giants desperately needed a stopper. Landen Roupp played that role to perfection.

Roupp turned in his finest start of the season as the Giants beat the Reds, 3-0, to snap a four-game losing streak on Thursday afternoon at Great American Ball Park, pitching six shutout innings and no-hitting the Reds for the first five frames....Read more

NEW YORK — The Angels have demonstrated this week that, if nothing else, they are resilient.

They suffered two gut-wrenching ninth-inning losses this week, and rebounded both times to win the next day.

It helps to do that when you’ve got Mike Trout doing his best impression of three-time MVP Mike Trout.

Trout homered for the fourth ...Read more

NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole is ready for real games.

The Yankees’ right-hander will begin a rehab assignment with the Double-A Somerset Patriots on Friday. It will be his most significant step yet in his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

On Thursday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the plan is for Cole’s pitch count to be in the mid-40s. The...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The first half of the Pirates’ game Thursday afternoon against the Washington Nationals was a clean, scoreless pitchers' duel. The second half was anything but.

The Nationals beat the Pirates, 8-7, in 10 innings at PNC Park. Each team scored four runs in the fifth, combining for 15 total runs in the final six innings. The ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are too good, and too rich. If the owners of other major league teams ultimately deem that combination so objectionable that they shut down the sport this winter because of it, they will risk a rupture in one of the greatest fan bases in American sports history.

The four million tickets the Dodgers sold ...Read more

Randy Vásquez stumbled Wednesday night. The Padres picked him up anyway.

Jackson Merrill robbed his second homer of the season in the third inning and capped a five-run rally in the ninth inning with a walk-off double in a 7-6 win over the Mariners, extending the team’s win streak to seven games.

The game-winning rally saw pinch-hitter ...Read more

Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani’s spotless ERA finally got its first mark Wednesday. But in the Dodgers’ 8-2 victory on Wednesday, he held the Mets to just one run in six innings.

Ohtani’s streak of innings without giving up an earned run ended at 32 2/3, the longest of his career. He had 10 strikeouts Wednesday, the most he’s had in...Read more

Running on empty. As in far too many empty at-bats.

It hurt the Colorado Rockies again on Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss to the Houston Astros at Dalkin Park. It was the Rockies’ sixth consecutive loss as they slid 6-12 overall and 2-10 on the road.

Colorado struck out 15 times — Houston starter Spencer Arrighetti fanned 10 in his six ...Read more

DETROIT — Wenceel Perez, inserted into the game in the top of the inning, led off the bottom of the inning with a home run to right field, sending the Tigers to their fifth straight win, 2-1 over the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park Wednesday night.

He had been 0 for 10 in the young season, but he launched a 1-1 change-up from reliever Eli...Read more

PITTSBURGH — In Tuesday’s loss, a gamble from Don Kelly backfired. In a win Wednesday at PNC Park, a different Kelly strategy worked to perfection.

Kelly used Mason Montgomery as an opener for Carmen Mlodzinsk, then Montgomery, Mlodzinski, Gregory Soto and Dennis Santana combined for nine shutout innings in the Pirates’ 2-0 win against ...Read more

CINCINNATI — Tyler Mahle has had much, much better days at Great American Ball Park.

In his first start against his former team, Mahle turned in arguably the worst start of his major league career as the Giants lost, 8-3, on Jackie Robinson Day, their fourth consecutive loss. The four home runs that Mahle surrendered were the most he’s ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Jackie Robinson may not have played at Dodger Stadium, but make no mistake, his influence is as much a part of one of baseball’s most storied ballparks as the World Series trophies and the sweeping views of the Sierra Madre mountain range.

His influence extends for miles all over the Los Angeles area, stretching from Pasadena,...Read more