NEW YORK — The Angels’ decision on Thursday to release Hall of Fame-bound slugger Albert Pujols with a little under $30 million owed him on the last year of his contract was both stunning and necessary even if a lot of people in baseball and the media viewed it as cold-hearted.

And from afar, it is understandable if Mets owner Steve Cohen ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Growing up in Cuba, the older boy preferred playing soccer. The younger brother liked baseball. As teenagers, for somewhat random reasons, they switched.

Both became pretty good, navigating personal tragedy with the death of their father, Jesus, and the upheaval of fleeing Cuba for Mexico, to play professionally.

Even ...Read more

Héctor Neris was one strike away from giving the Phillies their longest winning streak in nearly three years. Then he made one of the worst pitches of his career.

And that wasn’t even the low point of the Phillies’ Saturday night in Atlanta.

The Phillies lost not one but two three-run leads in an 8-7, 12-inning crusher against the Braves,...Read more

BALTIMORE — Zac Lowther was never the hardest-throwing Orioles pitching prospect leading up to his first major league start Saturday, though he may well work the quickest.

That could ultimately be what he remembers from Saturday’s debut as a big league starter: one that quickly got away from him.

In the Orioles’ 11-6 loss to the Boston ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, MO. — The Chicago White Sox sent 13 batters to the plate during an eight-run first inning on the way to a 9-1 victory against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday at Kauffman Stadium.

Tim Anderson, Nick Madrigal and Yoán Moncada each had two hits in the inning. Anderson and Madrigal singled twice. Moncada had a two-run double and ...Read more

NEW YORK — Zack Scott, in his four months as Mets acting GM, has typically refrained from outlandish statements or unpopular assessments that may not sit well with his players.

But he went against the grain Saturday and honestly detailed how he would have handled the messy and heated situation in the Mets’ tunnel during Friday’s game. (...Read more

The Miami Marlins needed one pitch to get their first run against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. Miguel Rojas sent Adrian Houser’s first offering, a 93.6-mph fastball over the heart of the plate, a projected 408 feet to straightaway center for a solo home run, his second leadoff home run in a three-game span.

It took the Marlins until ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Yankees were not going out without a fight. They won game two of their three-game series against the Washington Nationals, 4-3, Saturday at Yankee Stadium in the 11th inning, more than six hours after the first pitch was originally scheduled. And it was Gleyber Torres who came away with the walk-off hit in the eleventh hour.

...Read more

Tyler Glasnow put the Rays in an early hole Saturday afternoon, and they couldn’t quite hit their way out of it, losing, 6-3, to the A’s.

That made two straight losses for the Rays (18-17) after a five-game win streak, as they wrap up a week-long West Coast road trip and a stretch of 30 games in 31 days with a Sunday matinee in Oakland, ...Read more

NEW YORK — Jacob deGrom’s minor injury scare is behind him.

The Mets ace is on track to make his start against the Diamondbacks in the series finale on Sunday at Citi Field after he missed his last outing due to right lat inflammation.

“Any time you’re talking about someone that special, it’s a relief whenever there is any kind of ...Read more

DETROIT — AJ Hinch has been searching and searching, trying to find some kind of spark for the Tigers offense.

For one game at least, he found it.

Robbie Grossman and Harold Castro, hitting 1-2 in Hinch’s batting order, combined to get on base eight times Saturday and kick-started a five-run rally in the bottom of the seventh that sent the...Read more

CHICAGO — Matt Duffy’s seventh inning RBI single sent the Cubs to a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday before a crowd of 10,343 at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs won their fifth straight game, moving over the .500 mark again at 17-16.

With the game tied 2-2 in the seventh, Jason Heyward lead off with a walk before stealing second base ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Orioles outfielder Austin Hays was forced to consider that dad strength was real this spring after he hit a home run in the first game his newborn son attended.

He’d spent the winter surrounded by a more undeniable kind: a mother fighting for her baby, and a baby fighting to come home with his family.

That spring training game ...Read more