SAN DIEGO — The great causes for hope have been a letdown so far.

Robbie Ray on Friday night became the second of the two starting pitchers the San Diego Padres acquired at the trade deadline to struggle in his debut, and the opener of a six-game homestand ended with a 6-3 defeat by the Houston Astros.

The Padres made a game of it after Ray�...Read more

SEATTLE — The setup for success was in place even hours before Friday night’s first pitch at T-Mobile Park.

MLB Network did a live show from just in front of the first-base dugout in the afternoon, featuring former players like Ken Griffey Jr., Bret Boone, Jay Buhner and Alvin Davis. They later roamed the field and talked with players ...Read more

PHOENIX — Los Angeles Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz trudged toward the dugout as Arizona’s Ryan Waldschmidt celebrated with teammates after hitting a two-run, walk-off home run in the ninth inning to seal a 4-3 win that sent the Dodgers to a season-worst seventh straight loss.

“We’ve just got to play better,” manager Dave Roberts said ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Chase Utley, famous for his pregame routine and laser-focused preparation, was just getting warmed up. So, he led with an apology.

“Zack,” he said. “Sorry, dude. I’ll pick this up.”

No worries. In the bullpen, Zack Wheeler kept throwing. Rain shortened his last start to two innings and delayed this one by two hours. ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Kaelen Culpepper arrived a little late for his major league debut at American Family Field on Friday, the result of a delayed flight, and he received an ovation from teammates at the end of the pregame hitters’ meeting.

For the Twins’ slumping offense, maybe Culpepper’s arrival was right on time.

Culpepper injected some ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — Although their offense could not get fully off the ground in their first game back at Busch Stadium following Monday's trade deadline, the Cardinals pushed across enough runs Friday night against the Rockies to give their bullpen a lead they ultimately protected.

Lifted to a lead on two runs scored on sacrifice fly outs in the ...Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas — August hasn’t been kind to the Orioles’ offense.

Over the team’s first five games this month, the unit averaged just 1.8 runs while going 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position. Despite manager Craig Albernaz shaking up the lineup Friday, it was more of the same as Nathan Eovaldi and the Texas bullpen combined to ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch IV returned to the starting rotation on Friday night against the Chicago Cubs.

After two years as a primary reliever, Lynch finally achieved his goal of being handed the baseball first for the Royals. Unfortunately, Lynch wound up on the losing end as the Royals fell, 6-4, at ...Read more

BOSTON — The Red Sox and Athletics are two teams that have walked polar opposite paths over the past month and a half.

Everyone knows what the Red Sox have pulled off. Coming into Friday the Red Sox were 31-5 since June 25, by far the best record in MLB over that stretch. Yet the Athletics have been nearly as bad as the Red Sox have been good...Read more

MIAMI — Nolan Schanuel’s homer drought ended at the perfect time and in the perfect place.

The Angels first baseman hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh inning of a 4-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Friday night.

Schanuel, who grew up about an hour north of this ballpark, had not hit a homer since June 23.

The Angels ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Don’t look now, but the Mets are suddenly surging.

A 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night at PNC Park matched their season-high win streak with four in a row. It’s not much, but it’s better baseball than the team has played all season.

The Mets jumped all over Pirates right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski early in ...Read more

SEATTLE — Larry Sundblad would have loved to see this.

A West Seattle resident, Vietnam War veteran and longtime employee of the Seattle parks department, Larry bought Mariners season tickets in the team's second season. He maintained those season tickets for decades, from 1978 until he died at 79 in May 2025.

From his seats at the Kingdome ...Read more

NEW YORK — It sounds like Carlos Rodón will rejoin the Yankees’ rotation soon.

The southpaw, out with elbow inflammation since June 30, is scheduled to make his first rehab start at Triple-A on Saturday. The plan is for Rodón to throw close to 50 pitches for the RailRiders.

From there, Rodón may or may not make one more rehab start, ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The Athletics and general manager David Forst have agreed to part ways, the team announced Friday, ending his 27-year run with the franchise.

Media reports, including The Athletic, are calling the move a firing by the A’s. He was promoted to general manager in October 2015.

The A’s, who will be moving Las Vegas for a new ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins promoted shortstop prospect Kaelen Culpepper to the major leagues Friday for their series opener against the Brewers.

Less than a week after the trade deadline passed, the Twins opted to make another big move. Culpepper, a 23-year-old right-handed hitter, was the Twins’ first-round pick in the 2024 draft (21st ...Read more

Mike Krukow didn’t just broadcast San Francisco Giants games over the last four decades; he defined what it meant to love baseball.

So when news broke Thursday that the legend would retire from the booth at the end of this season, it didn’t just feel like the end of an era; it felt like a gut-punch.

No, scratch that — it was a “...Read more

PHOENIX — Thursday night was important. Big. Huge.

But then the magnitude also shrunk in the shadow of the 46 games that remain.

“Uh, yeah, probably,” San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen said Thursday afternoon when asked if he viewed that night’s game as having added consequence. “I mean, right now, the space that we’re in, we�...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ryan Jeffers joked the Twins seem to have a phobia of a .500 record, but they have no such problem embracing dramatic moments.

When the Twins were within five outs of being swept by the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, experiencing an ugly offensive series at Kauffman Stadium, they rallied in the eighth inning for a comeback...Read more

BOSTON — The Red Sox don’t look flummoxed often these days.

But even Major League Baseball’s coolest customers this summer get overheated sometimes. That looked to be the case on a stiflingly steamy Thursday night at Fenway as inning after inning, the pair of Sox played tug-of-war at America’s oldest ballpark and the home team struggled...Read more

SEATTLE — With versatile infielder Ben Williamson likely headed to the injured list on Friday and expected to be replaced by Carson Williams, the roster status of a few other Rays was clarified Thursday.

Veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel, who was designated for assignment Monday to clear space on the 40-man roster for trade acquisitions, cleared...Read more