CHICAGO -- Mike Moustakas dropped his bat to the dirt and shrugged his shoulders, his feet still planted in the dirt of the batter's box. He pulled his helmet off his head and looked out toward the outfield at Guaranteed Rate Park.

It was the top of the fifth inning on Friday, and Moustakas had just ripped a baseball toward first base with ...Read more

ATLANTA -- The last time the Braves opened a game with six consecutive hits, they went on to win a World Series. That was 1995, when they did the six-hit first-inning thing on Opening Day against the Giants.

The Braves pulled off the feat Friday night in a 7-2 win against the Phillies at SunTrust Park, where Kurt Suzuki had his third two-homer ...Read more

HOUSTON -- This is nearly it. The Angels' postseason dreams can sustain no more body blows. They lost again on Friday night, fell another game out of the wild-card race, and are on the verge of elimination, not mathematically but practically.

Houston beat them, 3-0, before 34,127 enthused fans at Minute Maid Park. In a virtual postseason ...Read more

Derek Jeter doesn't even own the Marlins yet, but he already has informed the team that he plans to fire two special assistants who are in Baseball's Hall of Fame (Andre Dawson and Tony Perez), the manager who led them to the 2003 World Series championship (Jack McKeon) and the player known as Mr. Marlin (Jeff Conine), according to two MLB ...Read more

BALTIMORE -- It remains to be seen whether Ubaldo Jimenez gets another chance to make a good last impression in the waning days of his four-year career in Baltimore, but Friday night's performance against the Tampa Bay Rays certainly didn't qualify.

Jimenez pitched a perfect first inning and then allowed six runs on eight hits before he could ...Read more

DETROIT -- If the Twins get to where they want to go, right-hander Kyle Gibson is going to have a hand in the journey.

And that seemed unlikely earlier this season, when he made not just one, but two visits to Class AAA Rochester.

It took a while for things to click, but the Twins are in position to close out the second wild-card spot. And ...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- Jedd Gyorko's ninth-inning, pinch-hit single off Pittsburgh relief ace Felipe Rivero tied the score, and the go-ahead run scored on a fielder's choice grounder as the Cardinals, two outs from a potentially crushing loss, rallied to beat the Pirates, 4-3.

Stephen Piscotty doubled off left-hander Rivero to start the ninth and was ...Read more

MILWAUKEE -- The three-plus hours Javier Baez spends on the baseball field alleviates some of the stress of coping with the damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria to his native Puerto Rico.

"These couple of days I've been doing my best to stay in the game, but really my mind has been over there to find out about my family and how they are ...Read more

DETROIT -- General manager Al Avila said before Friday's game at Comerica Park that Brad Ausmus will not return as Detroit Tigers manager.

Ausmus, whose contract was up at the end of the season, was 312-325 (.490) in four seasons with the Tigers. His ousting comes near the end of a disappointing season, when the Tigers failed to meet ...Read more

SAN DIEGO--A clubhouse leader and a newcomer who'd traveled a long road himself carried the San Diego Padres to a 3-0 victory over Colorado on Thursday.

One day after signing a two-year contract extension, Clayton Richard showed his durability. For the seventh time this season, a Padres starting pitcher recorded at least one out in the eighth ...Read more

SEATTLE--Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais has been around baseball too long to get too low or too high during a 162-game season.

And because of that, he is usually loath to make a big deal about any one game, win or lose. But after losing five in a row and with his team on the verge of being swept by the Texas Rangers and losing all hope ...Read more

MILWAUKEE -- Javier Baez singled with two outs in the ninth inning Thursday to score Ian Happ with the tying run, and Kris Bryant ripped a two-run homer in the 10th inning to vault the Cubs to a dramatic and emotional 5-3 victory over the Brewers at Miller Park and extend their lead in the National League Central to 41/2 games. Closer Wade Davis...Read more

HOUSTON -- White Sox right-hander Carson Fulmer was removed from Thursday's 3-1 victory over the Astros after just 1/3 inning due to a blister on his right index finger.

But seven Sox relievers combined to hold the Astros to three hits as the Sox broke a three-game losing streak.

Chris Volstad recorded his first major league victory since 2012...Read more

TORONTO -- The Royals have remained on the fringes of the American League wild-card race despite a precipitous decline in the months of August and September.

That will not change after starter Jason Vargas shouldered the load on Thursday in a 1-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. What was like to change, however, was the math...Read more

On May 4, a bat slipped out of the hands of Hector Sanchez and struck a woman sitting above the visiting dugout at Petco Park. The incident prompted the Padres to begin exploring the prospect of expanded netting.

Thursday, on the heels of another accident, this time at Yankees Stadium, the Padres announced that they will extend their netting to...Read more

The television is almost always on in baseball clubhouses, though players rarely do more than glance at the screen while they go about their pregame routines. But images on Wednesday from Yankee Stadium, where a young girl was hit in the face with a foul ball, disrupted the Angels' routines and drew their fearful attention.

"A few of us in here...Read more

DETROIT -- Just because you're in the driver's seat for a postseason berth doesn't mean you always have to check the mirrors.

You might want to buckle up -- the ride could get bumpy -- but the Twins just might not like what they see in that mirror, like Angels. And, suddenly, Rangers.

"We talked the other day," Twins manager Paul Molitor said....Read more

ATLANTA -- R.A. Dickey snapped out of his recent funk and Arodys Vizcaino bounced back from one of the worst performances of his career in resounding fashion Thursday night.

Dickey limited the Nationals to two runs and four hits in eight innings and Vizcaino struck out the side in the ninth to finish a 3-2 Braves win in the finale of the next-...Read more

BALTIMORE -- In his first start at Camden Yards this season and his third of the month, Orioles right-hander Gabriel Ynoa served the main purpose a young player has in a meaningless September: provide hope for the future.

In a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night before an announced 14,967 at Camden Yards, the 24-year-old right-...Read more

CINCINNATI -- The Cardinals did what they had to do for the standings and most of all for this ballpark.

With runs in two of the three final innings of the game, the Cardinals completed a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with an 8-5 victory Thursday night at Great American Ball Park. A day after they had one of their sharpest games of the season, ...Read more