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

DETROIT -- Anibal Sanchez said it dawned on him after he exited the game that it may have been the last time he pitched at Comerica Park as a Detroit Tiger. He also made it clear he doesn't want that to be the case.

"I would love to (come back)," Sanchez said Wednesday afternoon. "But I don't got control of that. I said that before."

Sanchez ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- After losing Tuesday night for the fourth time in three weeks, Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez informed manager Dave Roberts that he could pitch Wednesday. Roberts made a counter offer.

"I asked him to sit with me in the dugout for the next couple days," Roberts said before his team faced the Philadelphia Phillies at ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif.--This is what awaits them. If the Angels are to complete their quest and qualify for the postseason, they will have to win games like this one.

They will have to best front-line starters, bullpens brimming with hard throwers, lineups swollen with power and speed. If they can get past the Oct. 3 wild-card game, they will have to ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- On the night major league baseball broke its all-time record for home runs in a season, the San Francisco Giants did something out of character.

They contributed to the total.

But it wasn't Hunter Pence's go-ahead, two-run homer in the fifth inning that beat the Rockies 4-3 on Tuesday night.

After Colorado tied the score ...Read more

SEATTLE--On a night when a win seemed more important than vital, a baserunning mistake killed their chances to take a lead and their best reliever gave up two runs in the eighth inning to send them to defeat.

In the effort to subdue off the slow crawl toward mathematical elimination with each passing day, the Mariners obviously needed to win on...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- The Milwaukee Brewers' offense continues to scuffle at PNC Park.

But with how well the pitching staff has performed through the first two games of the series, it hasn't really mattered.

Domingo Santana homered in the fourth inning, and Chase Anderson, Anthony Swarzak and Corey Knebel made it stand up the rest of the way as the ...Read more

HOUSTON -- White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito gave up only a pair of fourth-inning runs, but the Sox offense came up short for him in a 3-1 loss to the Astros on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.

Jose Altuve hit a solo homer and Alex Bregman added an RBI double into deep left-center field out of reach of left fielder Nicky Delmonico for the lead. ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Rhys Hoskins does not miss fastballs. He entered Tuesday night a .301 hitter with a prodigious .771 slugging percentage against fastballs. He stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh inning of a tie game and opposed a pitcher, Pedro Baez, who could not throw anything but his fastball.

So, for nine pitches in an ...Read more

DETROIT -- It all came crashing down in the top of the eighth inning.

The Detroit Tigers had a good night offensively. They pitched well enough to win. But a scene that has played out far too many times over the past few seasons once again took center stage late in the game.

Holding a three-run lead against the Oakland Athletics, right-handed ...Read more