MILWAUKEE -- Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer has watched left-hander Jon Lester's evolution as a Red Sox rookie throwing 97 mph in 2006 to a more polished starter with four effective pitches.

But after a string of inconsistent outings that included a short one Wednesday night, Hoyer and other Cubs staffers can only hope Lester can regain his ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Congress rarely sits on the sidelines when it comes to highly publicized sports issues. And this time, a top lawmaker is inserting himself in the middle of a New York Yankees game.

A day after a foul ball rocketed off Todd Frazier's bat into the face of a young girl sitting behind third base at Yankee Stadium, Sen. Dick Durbin ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Fatigued on their trudge toward clinching the National League West and irritated by an ineffectual performance against the Phillies this week, the Dodgers ended this three-city road trip with an unnerving sight: Justin Turner clutching his right thumb after getting hit by a pitch.

Turner got drilled by a 91-mph fastball from ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Angels have proved they can hang with the American League's best teams. What's still unclear is whether they have enough assembled talent to beat them.

They played another tight, tenuous game against the current class of baseball, and again fell short.

They lost to the Cleveland Indians 6-5 Wednesday night ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Triple-A El Paso's season ended Sunday. Several players who helped fuel the San Diego Padres affiliate's playoff run unpacked their bags Monday in downtown San Diego.

On Wednesday, a trio of them participated in a slugfest that made Petco Park feel more like El Paso's Southwest University Park. Nine swings produced a home run, ...Read more

HOUSTON -- White Sox second baseman Yoan Moncada hit a two-run homer off Astros right-hander Brad Peacock in the fourth inning Wednesday night, but the Sox managed just three more hits after that in a 4-3 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Peacock threw three perfect innings to open the game before Yolmer Sanchez led off the fourth with a ...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates scored six runs Wednesday, more than in their previous five games combined.

They needed them all.

Adam Frazier smacked a walk-off home run off Brewers closer Corey Knebel in the ninth inning as the Pirates snapped a seven-game skid with a 6-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park. The Pirates (69-84) had lost 12 ...Read more

ATLANTA -- On a night when the Braves had five rookies in the starting lineup, a graybeard catcher put one of the youngsters, starter Lucas Sims, in position to pick up his third major league win. But that was before one of the ugliest bullpen meltdown in the recent history of a team that's had far more than its share of such incidents.

Arodys ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Aaron Altherr stood five feet from the on-deck circle on Wednesday night and watched as Brandon Morrow fired his warm-up pitches. The crowd at Citizens Bank Park buzzed as an eventual 7-5 Phillies win over the Dodgers began to brew. The bases were loaded. And it was Altherr who the Dodgers elected to face.

He had homered earlier...Read more

TORONTO -- Nothing like a historic homer and a blowout victory to ease the frustration of a long road trip.

Third baseman Mike Moustakas clubbed his 37th homer of the season, breaking Steve Balboni's franchise record, and rookie starter Jakob Junis yielded two earned runs in 61/3 innings as the Royals clobbered the Blue Jays 15-5 on Wednesday ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Cubs saw their season-high seven-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night as the Rays scored three runs in the second inning and added three more in the fifth to cruise to an 8-1 victory at Tropicana Field. Jon Lester didn't strike out a batter in 41/3 innings and was tagged for eight hits.

At the plate

The Cubs ...Read more

CINCINNATI -- Amazing what a two-game winning streak will do at this time of year, especially in the bunched-up race for the postseason.

While staying in lockstep behind the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cardinals advanced on the NL wild-card race with an emphatic 9-2 victory Wednesday night against Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park. The engines ...Read more

SEATTLE -- The offseason is only 12 days away for two-thirds of the teams in Major League Baseball, which means the also-rans will get a head start on their winter planning if they choose to take it.

Most of the teams who plan on making a run at Shohei Ohtani, contender or pretender, have already started their legwork on the next big thing out ...Read more

MIAMI -- Don Mattingly wasn't sure what to expect from Justin Bour upon the first baseman's return this month, and Bour himself had no way of knowing for sure either. After five-plus weeks on the disabled list with a strained oblique, and only a handful of minor league games to help get his timing back, what production could Bour reasonably ...Read more