LOS ANGELES — Justin Turner did not wear the correct jersey one day, and now he would pay for his sin.

His teammates formed two lines, one facing the other. Turner snaked through the gauntlet, as his teammates playfully slapped and shoved him around.

Turner is 41, an All-Star and World Series champion, one of the most beloved players in Los ...Read more

A win was paramount.

The Mariners had been swept over the weekend and looked really, well, awful in the process.

For seven innings, they seemed en route to that cleansing victory. Though nothing was guaranteed as they held only held a two-run lead over a White Sox team capable of comebacks.

A run or two in the bottom of the eighth would’ve ...Read more

The Padres came home suddenly hot.

They stayed hot enough Monday in the opener of a three-game series against the Dodgers at Petco Park.

Michael King worked seven scoreless innings, Miguel Andujar’s first-inning home run off Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the only run scored, and Mason Miller survived a wild ninth in the Padres’ 1-0 victory that ...Read more

PHOENIX — It was, from every angle, an absolute disaster of a night.

Left-hander Robbie Ray, over 4 1/3 innings, surrendered two homers and allowed eight earned runs, the most he’s given up in a single game. Right fielder Jung Hoo Lee left the game early with back spasms. Shortstop Willy Adames homered but also left the game with an ...Read more

There was a 117-minute rain delay in the fifth inning Monday at Target Field, and Josh Bell brought the thunder when it wasn’t raining.

Bell hit two home runs off Houston Astros starter Tatsuya Imai, and then he drove in another run with a single in the sixth inning to carry the Twins to a marathon 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros in their...Read more

On a cold-and-rainy “Bark at the Park” night at Coors Field, the Rockies doggedly hung on for a 7-6 win over the Rangers.

Right-handed reliever Juan Mejia pitched a solid ninth inning to scuttle Texas’s late-game rally and notch his third save.

“We did our best to stay away from Mejia tonight, just with the usage and workload he’s ...Read more

ANAHEIM — The Angels turned a miserable night into a celebration quickly.

Zach Neto hit a two-run, walk-off homer in the ninth inning to give the Angels a 2-1 victory over the Athletics on Monday night, snapping their six-game losing streak.

Neto stood at the plate and watched as the ball sailed over the center field fence, and then he ...Read more

DETROIT — Detroit Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch sounded the battle cry before the game.

“We know the division runs through Cleveland,” he said. “As much as we want to say otherwise, they’ve done it. We have to take that personally and overcome them to get where we want to get to. That’s just the truth.

“I don’t want to bow down to...Read more

WASHINGTON — If there was any momentum from the New York Mets‘ Subway Series win over the weekend, it probably went out the window somewhere on the Beltway. Facing an NL East team for only the second time this season, the first game of a four-game series against the Washington Nationals lacked excitement and had all the energy of a ...Read more

SEATTLE — Getting hit by a foul ball at a baseball game is more common than you probably think.

But unintentionally capturing the exact moment on camera? It would be tough to calculate those odds, but it’s safe to say it’s a rare occurrence.

That’s what happened to Seattle Mariners fan Jamie Golla, 33, on Friday night. She was at T-...Read more

At this point the Boston Red Sox pitching and defense is performing exactly as advertised, so when Sonny Gray goes out and pitches a gem it’s not a huge surprise. The question, as always, is can the Red Sox offense do anything to give their starter a lift?

Monday night in Kansas City, the bats gave Gray enough.

Willson Contreras hit a two-...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Last week, when the Phillies pulled Andrew Painter after five confidence-building innings but only 62 pitches, Don Mattingly met with the rookie starter the next day to explain the methodology.

“He understood,” Mattingly said, “what we’re trying to do with him.”

Also, that they’re going to keep doing it.

Because ...Read more

CHICAGO — Long after his retirement, New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio lamented the treatment of baseball players by modern-day fans.

“In my day,” DiMaggio said, “they just called you a bum.”

Oh, for the days when fans thought calling someone a bum was about as insulting as it gets. Nothing is out of bounds anymore, and now they’...Read more

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees are considering a change of plans that could get Gerrit Cole back in the big leagues sooner than expected.

Aaron Boone said Monday that the Yankees are now discussing whether the 2023 Cy Young winner will make his season debut later this week, potentially on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays. Cole, working his ...Read more

CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong isn’t on social media much, but by Monday morning, the Chicago Cubs’ center fielder knew his interaction the day before with a White Sox fan had blown up online.

Crow-Armstrong, speaking at his locker before the Cubs’ series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers, expressed regret for using vulgarities in ...Read more

CHICAGO — Can the Cubs and White Sox reprise the magical summer of 1977?

We’re still a week away from Memorial Day, the first real mile-marker of the marathon baseball season.

But both teams are early contenders, and Cubs and Sox fans who packed Rate Field for the opening round of the City Series seem poised for a summerlong party, at ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — This isn’t the first time the Los Angeles Dodgers have grappled with workload questions while projecting out a full season of Shohei Ohtani’s two-way schedule.

When they pursued the then 23-year-old free agent, who was determined to pitch and hit in MLB like he had in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, much of the ...Read more

Major League Baseball introduced the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System this season as its latest in-game innovation.

And it’s been met with satisfactory approval.

The Kansas City Royals have certainly utilized ABS to their advantage. It seems like Royals catchers Salvador Perez, Carter Jensen and Elias Diaz find themselves on the ...Read more

SEATTLE — Lucas Giolito made it look easy for much of his debut with the Padres.

Then he got wild.

But the Padres’ offense was even more efficient than their new starting pitcher had been, and the sizable lead they built held up in an 8-3 victory over the Mariners on Sunday.

Each of the Padres’ first eight hits — of their 10 total —...Read more