CLEVELAND — The Padres’ sixth victory in a row veered rather abruptly midway through.

Xander Bogaerts’ two-run homer in the fourth inning set both starting pitchers on a different course, one that meandered from there toward a 7-5 victory over the Guardians.

Luis Campusano drove in three runs with a pair of doubles that reached the wall ...Read more

NEW YORK — For 5 1/2 innings, everything went right for the Washington Nationals. All it took was one 1/2 inning to go right for the Mets.

Francisco Lindor hit a game-tying homer with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, and the Mets were able to take advantage of sloppy play by the Nats to pull ahead. They went on to win 4-1 in the first ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — As Esmerlyn Valdez trotted into second base with a two-run double, he looked over to the Pirates’ dugout and saw no one was hoisting a cone.

“Come on,” he seemed to shout toward the dugout. It was a celebration he needed to see.

Valdez’s much-needed double, his first extra-base hit in August, helped the Pirates to a much...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Gunnar Henderson began the Orioles’ road trip — perhaps the club’s most important stretch of the season — 0 for 14 with three strikeouts.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he flipped a switch. In two of the past three games, Henderson has played like the superstar he used to be and the Orioles believe he still is....Read more

DETROIT — It appears there might be a forcefield around the .500 mark for the Tigers.

They haven’t been there since May 4 and on Friday they were thwarted for the second time in three days, knocked back by the Central Division-leading White Sox, 9-5, in the first of a potentially-pivotal three-game series in front of 39,638 at Comerica Park...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani took the bullpen mound at Dodger Stadium, with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and pitching coach Mark Prior looking on, and began his first bullpen throwing session in more than three weeks.

Friday marked an important step in Ohtani's throwing progression. He threw 34 pitches before ...Read more

CHICAGO — The arrival of the dog days typically means managers try to get some extra rest for their players, especially teams entering the stretch run.

“That’s what we’re in,” Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Friday. “That’s why they made the phrase, right?”

Well, actually the term dates back several centuries and ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — The Bay Area has hosted numerous premium sports events over the last year and a half, from the NBA All-Star Game to the Super Bowl to the World Cup. Now, the Midsummer Classic is officially coming back to the Bay.

Major League Baseball announced Friday morning that the Giants will be hosting the 2028 MLB All-Star Game, the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Put away the trumpets. Pack them up, put them in the attic, let them collect some dust.

Nobody wants to hear them.

Nobody wants to be subjected to one more triggering, off-key note of an Edwin Díaz dirge. Not anytime soon, not in any high-leverage moments for the foreseeable future.

Not after the Dodgers' closer blew another ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Again, it was the slider that betrayed Los Angeles Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz. He put one on the inside edge of the plate to Milwaukee’s Garrett Mitchell, who lined it into right field to dissolve the Dodgers’ lead in the ninth inning.

Díaz’s problems persisted in the battle for the best record in the National League. The...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels had their best offensive performance in a month, doing so in a manner you wouldn’t expect.

For most of the season, the Angels relied on hitting balls over the fence to score, and for the past month they have barely been able to do that.

But they strung together 15 hits, without a home run, in a 7-0 victory over...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals continue to search the open market for potential starting pitching help for the 2027 season.

On Thursday, the Royals signed veteran pitcher Tony Gonsolin to a one-year contract with a club option for 2027.

Gonsolin, 32, has a strong track record. He owns a 37-13 record with a 3.34 ERA in 86 career ...Read more

DYERSVILLE, Iowa — They wandered in from the corn, paused for a beat at the right-field warning track, gazed around, and kept going. Soon, 26 — 26! — Hall of Famers joined them on the field.

But that was the performative, made-for-Netflix part.

If only everybody could have seen them hours earlier, before the cameras rolled here Thursday ...Read more

DYERSVILLE, Iowa — Long before he was a major league manager, even before all the Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers and MVP, Don Mattingly was a kid playing baseball in Indiana.

One of the ballparks he played in with his brothers, growing up in Evansville, was down a dirt road surrounded by cornfields. And he couldn’t help but be reminded of ...Read more

On a five-game losing streak that matched their season long, and with a suddenly non-clutch offense and depleted bullpen, the Boston Red Sox badly needed the best version of Payton Tolle for Thursday’s series finale in Toronto.

The 23-year-old rookie southpaw more than delivered, as his eight shutout innings were a fitting celebration of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In 2012, on the day after Mark Walter and his partners bought the Dodgers, I sat next to Walter in a conference room. To the sports fan, Walter was virtually anonymous: a super rich guy who had made his money running investment and insurance companies.

Walter's purchase valued the Dodgers and its related assets at a then-record ...Read more

MIAMI — Rafael Flores Jr. said he’s “nasty.” Jared Triolo alluded to his “strong demeanor” and an indescribable presence.

When Braxton Ashcraft took the mound Thursday at loanDepot park, that was all evident — and then some.

The Pirates’ All-Star righty spun his first complete game in 85 pitches, striking out 10 and giving up ...Read more

DETROIT — Keider Montero raised his hands to the heavens after handing the ball to manager AJ Hinch and then walked off the field to a thunderous ovation from the matinee crowd of 31,777 at Comerica Park.

The appreciation was well-placed and well-earned. Where would the Tigers be this season without the versatile and feisty right-hander from ...Read more