SAN FRANCISCO — The family section in the lower bowl of Oracle Park has been plenty rowdy over the last 24 hours.

On Friday, it was Braxton Roxby throwing a perfect 1-2-3 inning in his major-league debut. On Saturday afternoon, Seth Lonsway tossed two innings in his first taste of big-league action. And finally, on Saturday evening, there was...Read more

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Only one player on the Baltimore Orioles’ roster has more RBIs than Leody Taveras this season, and he’s signed to a $155 million deal.

Taveras, under contract for $153 million less than Pete Alonso, drove in three of the Orioles’ five runs Saturday night, powering them to a 5-3 win over the Athletics and ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels are becoming adept at the Almost Win.

They hung with the Philadelphia Phillies and ace Cristopher Sánchez on Saturday, pushing the game to extra innings on Zach Neto’s game-tying homer in the eighth.

In the end, though, they still lost, 4-2, in 10 innings, their sixth straight loss.

The constants throughout ...Read more

What a strange season Brayan Bello is having.

On one hand, the fifth-year big league veteran has had a miserable season as a starter, posting a 10.35 ERA in eight starts and earning himself a month-long demotion to Triple-A.

On the other hand, Bello has been so dominant out of the bullpen that when he allowed four runs to the New York Yankees ...Read more

Baseball is becoming a matchup-based game. And most teams try to align their lineup to take advantage of key situations.

Kansas City Royals manager Matt Quatraro pushed the correct buttons in Saturday’s 8-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

“There’s just something different every day,” Quatraro ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — If there was any doubt about whether there’d be any hard feelings from last night, that question was answered before the first pitch of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Ron Wotus, the long-time coach and current special assistant to baseball operations, was ejected by crew chief Alan Porter following a contentious lineup card ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The San Diego Padres tried their best to beat the Tampa Bay Rays at their own small-ball game Saturday, taking a three-run seventh-inning lead with a rally that included a bunt single with two on and a double steal.

But the Rays weren’t going to take that and responded with an eventful four-run rally in the home seventh, ...Read more

TORONTO — The stunned confusion displayed by Eduard Bazardo as Brett Bateman slid into home just behind him in the fifth inning is basically how fans have felt watching the Seattle Mariners continue to find new ways to lose this season.

There was nothing bewildering about the Mariners’ 4-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Chicago White Sox had three hits Saturday — all by Andrew Benintendi.

That turned out to be just enough to defeat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 in front of 28,310 at Target Field.

Benintendi went 3 for 4, with a tiebreaking solo home run in the sixth inning, as the Sox (72-63) won their fourth straight and improved to a season-...Read more

CHICAGO — The first Chicago Cubs-Cincinnati Reds game in the National League was the start of a long and crazy rivalry.

The Cubs, then nicknamed the White Stockings, scored seven runs in the top of the ninth inning of an 11-6 win on April 29, 1876.

“This game was by no means the perfection of fielding,” the Chicago Tribune reported the ...Read more

DETROIT — Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch was asked about the impact Max Clark can have on a game just with his speed tool alone. It was the perfect setup for Hinch to needle the talented rookie.

“What’s the phrase he used about coming around first base (Friday night?),” Hinch asked, with a grin.

Clark, on his fifth-inning triple, said...Read more

ST. LOUIS — The Pittsburgh Pirates won on Saturday, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2, at Busch Stadium.

They got the big hit they’d been searching for all trip, a two-out, two-strike, three-run homer from Rafael Flores. In a bullpen game, the pitchers combined to allow just two hits. It was a win, after all.

But three errors — on ...Read more

Where would the Boston Red Sox be without Jake Bennett?

Coming into the season somewhere around ninth or 10th on the Red Sox’s starting pitching depth chart, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if the recently acquired pitching prospect spent the entire season honing his craft in Triple-A. Instead injuries pressed the left-hander into action,...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels had amassed all the good fortune they could muster Friday only to melt down yet again.

Edmundo Sosa hit a go-ahead, pinch-hit grand slam in the ninth inning and the Philadelphia Phillies pulled off a 5-3 victory over the Angels in the opener of a three-game series.

It did not matter that Reid Detmers had another ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On a night when runs were at a premium, and their bullpen opened the door for an Athletics comeback, the Baltimore Orioles needed a rally.

Coby Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand delivered. The two infielders came through with clutch RBI singles in the 10th inning Friday to help the Orioles shake off an eighth-inning ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — When the San Francisco Giants made the unprecedented hiring of Tony Vitello, much was made of the fire, the passion, the intensity he brought to the table at the University of Tennessee. Save for some isolated instances, that energy has been noticeably absent for the majority of his first season in pro ball.

But maybe Vitello ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — In his first start at Busch Stadium, rookie Quinn Mathews set a cool, crisp and methodically ruthless pace that the Cardinals matched for a clinical dissection of an opponent that appeared to be none of those things.

Mathews earned his first major league victory in the Cardinals’ 4-1 win Friday night against the porous ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Beginning a series with the first-place Chicago White Sox at Target Field, with top prospect Walker Jenkins making his major league debut Friday, the Twins desperately needed a spark coming off a terrible road trip.

What the Twins received instead was a four-run deficit before their first trip to the plate.

The Twins erased ...Read more

TORONTO — For a brief period of time on Friday night, roughly 20 minutes, victory didn’t seem like an impossibility for the Seattle Mariners.

Of course, that fleeting moment came in the top of the first inning when Dominic Canzone had just annihilated a misplaced fastball from Toronto starter Dylan Cease for a solo home run.

When the first...Read more