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

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