The frustration from losing a bid at perfection and then not being able to finish the seventh inning was obvious from Bryan Woo as he handed the ball to manager Dan Wilson.

But as Woo started to stalk off the mound toward first base dugout, the boisterous crowd of 21,129 rose in appreciation of what they had just witnessed.

With each step from...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — On their way to a 13-2 romp Wednesday over the Milwaukee Brewers, the Giants ventured outside their comfort zone a couple times.

Not only did they jump out to an early lead against Brewers starter Colin Rea, they did so with the help of some aggressive base running.

The home runs that followed may get the headlines, but it ...Read more

Shohei Ohtani continued his march toward baseball’s first-ever 50-50 season, belting his career-best 47th home run, stealing his 48th base and driving in three runs, and Tommy Edman hit two homers for the second straight game to lead the Dodgers to a 10-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Chavez Ravine on Wednesday night.

The score was tied 7-...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Major League Baseball had already disciplined Tampa Bay Rays reliever Edwin Uceta for intentionally hitting Nick Castellanos with a pitch before Wednesday night’s game had even started. But that didn’t stop the Phillies right fielder from dishing out some revenge where it really mattered: the scoreboard.

Castellanos scored ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Welcome back, Brooks Lee. Glad to see you again, Royce Lewis.

The Twins’ young infielders, both wrestling through maddeningly long hitless slumps, each provided a two-run double on Wednesday, leading the Twins to a 6-4 victory over the Angels at Target Field.

The win allowed the Twins to stave off any encroachment by Boston, ...Read more

BOSTON — As the Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles went into the bottom of the ninth locked in a 2-2 game, the stakes for Boston loomed clear on the Green Monster scoreboard.

The Detroit Tigers had already won 7-4 and the Minnesota Twins held a late 6-3 lead over the Los Angeles Angels. The Red Sox already have enough ground to make up in the ...Read more

NEW YORK — First Juan Soto drilled a ball off the top of his right foot. Then he drilled one well beyond the right field fence.

Such was the sequence on Wednesday night against the Kansas City Royals, as the Yankees’ superstar found himself in serious pain after a foul ball connected with his foot in the sixth inning. However, the right ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — For the second time in as many nights against the Cincinnati Reds, runs were scarce for the Cardinals and a choice opportunity late in the game was about to slip past their bats.

All they needed was a run.

Ryan Helsley assured all they needed one, single run.

With a tie game Wednesday night and the go-ahead run at second base, ...Read more

DETROIT — This looked like the baseball equivalent of a first-round knockout, except the Colorado Rockies stayed on their feet for the full nine rounds.

The Tigers batted around and scored six runs off rookie right-hander Tanner Gordon in the first inning and rope-a-doped the Rockies the rest of the way, holding on for a 7-4 win at Comerica ...Read more

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday night, Braves manager Brian Snitker spoke of Reynaldo López’s right shoulder with a hint of optimism. It seemed like Snitker did not fear the worst after López’s initial tests came back clean. But everyone understood nothing was for certain until the MRI.

López on Wednesday underwent an MRI that returned clean. ...Read more

CHICAGO — With the Chicago White Sox drawing national attention as they close in on the modern-day MLB record for losses, Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf conceded the obvious Wednesday, calling it a “very painful” season.

“Everyone in this organization is extremely unhappy with the results of this season, that goes without saying,” Reinsdorf...Read more

TORONTO — With the Mets down to their last three outs and facing the possibility of being no-hit in the midst of a playoff chase, their best chance to break it up was their best player: Francisco Lindor.

Lindor went down 0-2 to Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Bowden Francis. It would have been a great story for Francis, a 28-year-old career ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — You read it here first, or at least for the first time since their rotation started crumbling like the California coastline: The Dodgers will win the World Series.

Order the rings. Schedule the parade.

The Dodgers have Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Almost six months after he pitched his first game for them, they finally have the real ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — On the heels of a taxing bullpen game, the Pirates needed Bailey Falter to be efficient and provide a lengthy start.

All the left-hander did was cover his most innings in an outing since June 18, spinning 7 1/3 shutout frames while yielding only two hits in a 3-1 win against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park....Read more

SEATTLE — The way Yu Darvish locked in seemed like a good sign.

The way Fernando Tatis Jr. hit the ball and played right field was encouraging as well.

Manny Machado breaking the franchise record for home runs and driving in four runs in all just seemed like the status quo.

The way Donovan Solano hit reinforced the logic of moving Xander ...Read more

The Dodgers have gotten almost nothing but bad news on the pitching injury front this year.

On Tuesday, however, the storm clouds hovering over the staff might have finally — or at least partially — begun to clear.

It wasn’t just that Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out eight batters in a dazzling four-inning, one-run return from the injured ...Read more

WASHINGTON — In the first inning, Reynaldo López hurled his first four-seam fastball and it felt normal. Then he saw the velocity reading on the board.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know what was happening,” López said through interpreter Franco García. “I feel like that first pitch went out and I thought it was 95 (mph) and I ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — For the vitriol that they prompted from some portions of the fan base, and then the positive vibes that quickly became associated with them, the Giants’ controversial City Connect uniforms went out with a whimper on an appropriately foggy Tuesday night.

A tad more than 25,000 paying fans watched the Giants fall to the ...Read more

BOSTON — If the Orioles’ 12-3 loss to the Red Sox on Monday night was rock bottom, their performance Tuesday was a desperately needed first step in their climb back to the surface.

Cedric Mullins put together his first multi-home run game since 2021 and Albert Suárez set a new career high with eight strikeouts to lead Baltimore (83-63) to ...Read more