MINNEAPOLIS -- The hoopla surrounding Ron Gardenhire's return to Minnesota as a manager could not be contained in the visiting manager's office at Target Field.

So, breaking from the norm, the Detroit Tigers had Gardenhire speak to reporters inside the visitors dugout Monday afternoon. When he emerged from the tunnel, there were several TV ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Welcome back to the national radar, Braves.

Their six-run ninth-inning comeback against the Marlins on Sunday further shifted them into the spotlight, a place they haven't been in quite some time.

A National League-best 28-17 record will do that for you. The Braves were national darlings for so long: TBS showed them across the ...Read more

Sure, it's a distraction. But in the Orioles' reality, it's not an unwelcome one.

When they arrived in Chicago on Monday for a four-game set against the White Sox, star shortstop Manny Machado found a gaggle of media waiting at Guaranteed Rate Field for his take on the ever-growing rumors that the Chicago Cubs could be the winning suitor for ...Read more

CHICAGO -- The Texas Rangers and New York Yankees were the only two teams that hadn't been shut out going into Sunday.

The Rangers no longer have that in common with the Yankees. In fact, they couldn't be further apart going into their three-game series that starts Monday at Globe Life Park.

The Yankees are arguably the best team going in the ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- A day after a blister burst on his left middle finger, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill was put on the 10-day disabled list for the second time this season.

Hill sat out three weeks this year when he cracked a nail and developed an infection. He will require more time away this time, manager Dave Roberts said.

"Four weeks is...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Brandon Belt put the Giants ahead for good Sunday with a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning in a 9-5 win over the Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park.

Belt, in one of the hottest streaks of his career, tied in to a 1-1 pitch from left-handed pitcher Jake McGee for his 11th home run of the season, driving in Gorkys...Read more

SEATTLE -- First, Mitch Haniger helped the Mariners avoid dubious history Sunday.

Just as everyone began looking up how many times the Mariners had been no-hit in their history (the answer is three) Haniger laced a single to left-center with one out in the seventh inning to end the no-hit bid of Detroit starter Francisco Liriano.

Then, Haniger...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The streak ended with a gift from Chase Utley. Before Enrique Hernandez came up to bat in the fifth inning of a 7-2 Los Angeles Dodgers victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday, before he ended a three-week string of futility with runners on base, he accepted an offering from Utley: A black Marucci brand, the bat model Utley...Read more

CHICAGO -- Rick Renteria strolled to the mound Sunday with an open hand and an open mind. After misfiring with his 101st pitch to issue a 3-2 walk, White Sox right-hander Reynaldo Lopez would have to convince his manager to let him keep the baseball.

"You need to have conviction if I'm going to leave you in there," Renteria said.

With the ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Paul Molitor feared that the Brewers, having won the first two games during their annual trek to the Twin Cities, would approach Sunday's finale as a "house money kind of game." He just didn't realize how careless they would be with it.

Milwaukee committed an error to help the Twins score the game's first run, then walked three ...Read more

ST. LOUIS -- Jack Flaherty had the best start of his young big-league career, allowing just two hits in seven-plus innings while striking out 13, the most by a Cardinal this season, as the Cardinals beat the Phillies, 5-1, on Sunday at Busch Stadium to get a split of their four-game series.

With the Cardinals bullpen low on bodies, Mike Matheny...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- The Padres appeared headed to quick and certain doom on Sunday afternoon.

Jordan Lyles had faltered late in his start, giving up a lead.

Then Kirby Yates allowed a rare run in the eighth inning that put the Padres down a run, and the Padres were 0-24 when trailing after eight innings this season.

But then Jose Pirela and ...Read more

TORONTO -- Rickey Henderson and the Bash Brothers couldn't do it. The Big Three couldn't do it. But this A's team made it happen.

After playing at least one series Toronto every season since 1977, the A's completed a four-game road sweep of the Blue Jays for the first time in franchise history with Sunday's 9-2 blowout victory.

The A's (25-22)...Read more

BOSTON -- The stadium scoreboard on the historic left-field wall of Fenway Park told the unusual story of another Orioles loss Sunday afternoon. The Orioles had 13 hits, more than the Boston Red Sox, but failed to score in a 5-0 loss that ended another frustrating road series in exasperating fashion.

An Orioles team that's found unique ways to ...Read more

ATLANTA -- Even in a year of growing pains, the Marlins have had some losses that sting.

And then there was Sunday afternoon.

On a day that Lewis Brinson hit his first career grand slam and Miguel Rojas recorded his first career multi-homer game, the Marlins' bullpen collapsed late and the Braves snatched away a 10-9 victory at SunTrust Park. ...Read more

CINCINNATI -- No cramps, no problems for Yu Darvish.

Darvish showed no signs of the right leg cramps that curtailed his Tuesday start to four innings as he pitched six innings of two-hit ball Sunday in leading the Cubs to a 6-1 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park.

Darvish continued to trust his fastball, clocked as high as 97 mph, as...Read more

After Saturday's loss to the Yankees, a game in which starting pitcher Danny Duffy surrendered five earned runs over 95 pitches in four innings, Royals manager Ned Yost said he "was going over a bunch of different things," to find answers for Duffy's woes this season.

But those options do not include skipping a start or a bullpen assignment for...Read more

He's gone.

It may have been worth a try, though I'm not sure I'd have tried it. That's a classic second-guess, I concede. Still, asking a 37-year-old who'd been mostly an outfielder to move to third base was akin to wishing on a star.

Had it worked, we'd be celebrating Alex Anthopoulos as an outside-the-box visionary. That it didn't is yet ...Read more

SEATTLE--The Seattle Mariners used Jean Segura's big bat and the pitching of James Paxton to bounce the Detroit Tigers Saturday night. The Tigers (20-25) lost to the Mariners, 7-2, in Seattle. Segura hit a solo home run in the first inning, an RBI triple in the second inning and added a sac fly to right as part of a four-run sixth for the ...Read more