TORONTO — The Twins hammered Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman, who finished third in Cy Young voting last year and had allowed only two earned runs in his last 24 innings, for seven runs in only three innings on Saturday.

It wasn't enough.

The Jays blasted three home runs, racked up five runs against Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson and five...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This is kind of how the Rays drew it up.

Yandy Diaz had his first three-hit game and home run since opening day, and Randy Arozarena had his first multi-hit game since March 30 as the team’s two biggest hitting threats combined to lead the Rays to a 7-2 win over the Yankees in front of an announced 21,308 Saturday at ...Read more

NEW YORK — Christian Scott occupies a locker in a corner near the showers in the Citi Field clubhouse. It’s a quiet corner of pitchers — often pitchers who don’t occupy lockers in the big league clubhouse for extended periods.

The rookie right-hander was mostly left alone before he made the first home start of his career Saturday ...Read more

BALTIMORE — When a save opportunity arose for the Orioles on Friday night, Craig Kimbrel was already in the dugout.

The Orioles’ struggling closer said before the game that he expected to handle the team’s save situations until told otherwise. Yet, manager Brandon Hyde, who two days before said the Orioles would “stick with him” ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The merengue beat starts bumping when the bullpen door opens. Then come the strobe lights that flash from above left and right field. For 15 seconds, maybe 20, a major league ballpark morphs into a dance club.

And that’s when Crelia Lizarzabal understands what she was missing.

“Now I can feel what it was like in the ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Kansas City Royals were down to their last chance. Nothing had gone right all night against the Los Angeles Angels. The offense had hit a cold spell. Royals stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez, who celebrated his 34th birthday, were a combined 0-for-7.

Angels starter Griffin Canning deserved much of the credit. He’...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The night started with frustration at the home plate umpire.

It ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers being frustrated with themselves.

The team’s 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Friday might not have been decided until the bottom of the ninth inning, when Luis Arráez hit a walk-off single to thrill the Padres portion of a ...Read more

SEATTLE — The warmth of Friday afternoon turned into perfectly pleasant evening. Even with the less-than popular Oakland A’s in town, T-Mobile Park was packed with a boisterous crowd that had survived presidential traffic and was fueled by heavy dose of natural vitamin D.

And the Seattle Mariners? Well, their much-criticized collection of ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — The rules of the game stipulated there had to be a winner Friday night. There are no ties in baseball. Try as they might, two teams cannot lose one game.

Pitted against a team that had lost its past eight games, the reeling San Francisco Giants made winners out of the Cincinnati Reds for the first time since last Monday as ...Read more

NEW YORK — Three big blasts and a walk in between the second two was all it took for the Atlanta Braves to dispense of the Mets on Friday night at Citi Field. A three-homer third inning led to another short outing for Jose Quintana and a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Braves in the series opener.

Francisco Lindor supplied the first run for the ...Read more

MILWAUKEE — Going into the bottom of the seventh inning on Friday night, the top four hitters in the Cardinals’ lineup collectively didn’t have a hit or a walk. Meanwhile, each of the top five hitters in the Milwaukee Brewers’ lineup had hits and the top four had already scored at least once.

That painted a clear picture of the ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The way the Pirates have collectively swung the bats over the last couple dozen games, the margin for error has become slim.

It’s why Yasmani Grandal’s error in the fifth, while ultimately irrelevant in a 7-2 loss to the Cubs Friday night at PNC Park, was heightened in the moment. It put an end to the Pirates’ 2-1 advantage...Read more

DENVER — Rangers right-hander Jon Gray and Rockies lefty Austin Gomber engaged in a sensational pitching duel Friday night at Coors Field. But 37-year-old Charlie Blackmon stole the show.

The veteran ripped a two-out, two-run double off of right-hander Yerry Rodríguez in the eighth inning to lift the Rockies to a 4-2 victory and give them ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Jordan Westburg kept his hands inside on a fastball, drove it to left-center field and sped into second for an RBI double to give the Orioles an early lead.

As if it was second nature, he looked toward Baltimore’s dugout at Camden Yards and hit the sprinkler — the club’s signature doubles celebration. His teammates on the ...Read more

MIAMI — The Phillies embarked on this road trip knowing full well that they’d be facing four lefties over their first four games. For a lineup that is heavy on lefty-power hitters, that might not seem like the best thing. But on Friday night, in an 8-2 win over the Miami Marlins, it was far from a problem.

Trevor Rogers took the mound for ...Read more

BOSTON — “This series is going to be a challenge,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said before the Sox and Washington Nationals opened their weekend series on Friday evening. “This is a group that, they’re gonna put pressure on us defensively, they’re gonna try to go from first to third, try to score from first.”

That, coupled with the ...Read more

DETROIT — For the second time in two games, the Tigers scored in just one of nine innings. For the second time in two games, a skinny lead was lost in the late innings.

The Houston Astros, who came into the series 11 games under .500, scored four runs in the top of the eighth inning and beat the Tigers, 5-2, Friday night.

Trailing 2-1, the ...Read more

TORONTO – It had been nearly 11 months since Joe Ryan recorded a seventh-inning out. He chose a great time to end that streak.

Ryan retired the final nine hitters he faced on Friday, allowing only one run on six hits and striking out seven to lead the Twins to a 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

In doing so, he rescued a Twins...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Clarke Schmidt has made it known that he wants to go deeper into games.

He did exactly that on Friday, blanking the Rays for 6 2/3 innings at Tropicana Field in a 2-0 Yankees win. The series-opening outing matched the longest of Schmidt’s career and set a new standard for the 28-year-old this season.

Coincidentally, Schmidt�...Read more