NEW YORK (AP) — Todd Frazier clobbered a tying three-run homer and Michael Conforto lined a game-ending single as the New York Mets stormed back in the ninth inning to stun the Washington Nationals 7-6 Friday night for their seventh straight win.Trailing 6-3, the Mets rallied against Sean Doolittle to win for the 14th time in 15 games at pulsating Citi Field. The Nationals hold the top spot in the NL wild-card race, and the Mets are 1½ games behind them.Mets rookie Pete Alonso homered in his fourth straight game, hitting his 38th of the season off Stephen Strasburg. J.D. Davis also connected.Doolittle (6-4) blew his fifth save in 30 chances.Luis Avila?n (3-0) got two outs for the win.INDIANS 6, TWINS 2MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Shane Bieber pitched into the eighth inning, José Ramírez had three hits and the Indians pulled into a tie with the Twins for the AL Central lead.Cleveland trailed Minnesota by 11½ games on June 3 before putting together a 41-16 run, the best record in the majors since June... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Todd Frazier clobbered a tying three-run homer and Michael Conforto lined a game-ending single as the New York Mets stormed back in the ninth inning to stun the Washington Nationals 7-6 Friday night for their seventh straight win.Trailing 6-3, the Mets rallied against Sean Doolittle to win for the 14th time in 15 games at pulsating Citi Field. The Nationals hold the top spot in the NL wild-card race, and the Mets are 1½ games behind them.Mets rookie Pete Alonso homered in his fourth straight game, hitting his 38th of the season off Stephen Strasburg. J.D. Davis also connected.Doolittle (6-4) blew his fifth save in 30 chances.Luis Avila?n (3-0) got two outs for the win.INDIANS 6, TWINS 2MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Shane Bieber pitched into the eighth inning, José Ramírez had three hits and the Indians pulled into a tie with the Twins for the AL Central lead.Cleveland trailed Minnesota by 11½ games on June 3 before putting together a 41-16 run, the best record in the majors since June... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Todd Frazier clobbered a tying three-run homer and Michael Conforto lined a game-ending single as the New York Mets stormed back in the ninth inning to stun the Washington Nationals 7-6 Friday night for their seventh straight win.Trailing 6-3, the Mets rallied against Sean Doolittle to win for the 14th time in 15 games at pulsating Citi Field. The Nationals hold the top spot in the NL wild-card race, and the Mets are 1½ games behind them.Mets rookie Pete Alonso homered in his fourth straight game, hitting his 38th of the season off Stephen Strasburg. J.D. Davis also connected.Doolittle (6-4) blew his fifth save in 30 chances.Luis Avila?n (3-0) got two outs for the win.INDIANS 6, TWINS 2MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Shane Bieber pitched into the eighth inning, José Ramírez had three hits and the Indians pulled into a tie with the Twins for the AL Central lead.Cleveland trailed Minnesota by 11½ games on June 3 before putting together a 41-16 run, the best record in the majors since June... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Todd Frazier clobbered a tying three-run homer and Michael Conforto lined a game-ending single as the New York Mets stormed back in the ninth inning to stun the Washington Nationals 7-6 Friday night for their seventh straight win.Trailing 6-3, the Mets rallied against Sean Doolittle to win for the 14th time in 15 games at pulsating Citi Field. The Nationals hold the top spot in the NL wild-card race, and the Mets are 1½ games behind them.Mets rookie Pete Alonso homered in his fourth straight game, hitting his 38th of the season off Stephen Strasburg. J.D. Davis also connected.Doolittle (6-4) blew his fifth save in 30 chances.Luis Avila?n (3-0) got two outs for the win.INDIANS 6, TWINS 2MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Shane Bieber pitched into the eighth inning, José Ramírez had three hits and the Indians pulled into a tie with the Twins for the AL Central lead.Cleveland trailed Minnesota by 11½ games on June 3 before putting together a 41-16 run, the best record in the majors since June... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Todd Frazier clobbered a tying three-run homer and Michael Conforto lined a game-ending single as the New York Mets stormed back in the ninth inning to stun the Washington Nationals 7-6 Friday night for their seventh straight win.Trailing 6-3, the Mets rallied against Sean Doolittle to win for the 14th time in 15 games at pulsating Citi Field. The Nationals hold the top spot in the NL wild-card race, and the Mets are 1½ games behind them.Mets rookie Pete Alonso homered in his fourth straight game, hitting his 38th of the season off Stephen Strasburg. J.D. Davis also connected.Doolittle (6-4) blew his fifth save in 30 chances.Luis Avila?n (3-0) got two outs for the win.INDIANS 6, TWINS 2MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Shane Bieber pitched into the eighth inning, José Ramírez had three hits and the Indians pulled into a tie with the Twins for the AL Central lead.Cleveland trailed Minnesota by 11½ games on June 3 before putting together a 41-16 run, the best record in the majors since June... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Josh Donaldson homered against Sean Doolittle in the top of the 10th, and the Atlanta Braves pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday to take two of three in the series and pad their NL East lead to 6 1/2 games.After the Nationals scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, Donaldson swatted a fastball from Doolittle over the center-field wall for his 25th homer of the season.Adam Duvall homered for the fourth time in five games. Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Tyler Flowers also drove in runs for the Braves, who won consecutive series in Washington for the first time since 2013. They also won two of three in late June.Atlanta got another quality road start from Mike Soroka (10-2), who pitched seven innings and allowed just three hits, including a leadoff homer to Juan Soto in the second.Washington starter Aníbal Sánchez (6-6) could not keep pace, allowing four runs on 10 hits in five innings of work.YANKEES 7, DIAMONDBACKS 5NEW... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's become a familiar ritual for the Washington Nationals under general manager Mike Rizzo: adding relievers at the trade deadline to address the biggest weakness on a contending team.The Nationals were at it again on Wednesday, getting Daniel Hudson from the Toronto Blue Jays and Roenis Elías and Hunter Strickland from the Seattle Mariners in an effort to improve a bullpen that's been overworked and sometimes overmatched.Washington sent minor league right-hander Kyle Johnston to Toronto for Hudson, who can become a free agent at the end of the season. The Nationals dealt three pitching prospects to Seattle for Elías and Strickland, both of whom are under team control through 2021."These aren't the sexiest names in the trade market but I think we got good quality, reliable guys with some moxie and some experience," Rizzo said. "We got guys who have accumulated a lot of saves in the past. We got a couple controllable relievers for not only this year but the foreseeable... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's become a familiar ritual for the Washington Nationals under general manager Mike Rizzo: adding relievers at the trade deadline to address the biggest weakness on a contending team.The Nationals were at it again on Wednesday, getting Daniel Hudson from the Toronto Blue Jays and Roenis Elías and Hunter Strickland from the Seattle Mariners in an effort to improve a bullpen that's been overworked and sometimes overmatched.Washington sent minor league right-hander Kyle Johnston to Toronto for Hudson, who can become a free agent at the end of the season. The Nationals dealt three pitching prospects to Seattle for Elías and Strickland, both of whom are under team control through 2021."These aren't the sexiest names in the trade market but I think we got good quality, reliable guys with some moxie and some experience," Rizzo said. "We got guys who have accumulated a lot of saves in the past. We got a couple controllable relievers for not only this year but the foreseeable... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Nationals traded for three relievers in an effort to improve their shaky bullpen, getting Daniel Hudson from the Toronto Blue Jays and Roenis Elías and Hunter Strickland from the Seattle Mariners.Washington sent minor league right-hander Kyle Johnston to Toronto ahead of Wednesday's trade deadline for Hudson, who can become a free agent at the end of the season. The Nationals dealt three pitching prospects to Seattle for Elías and Strickland.Washington's bullpen has been a weak point on a team with a strong starting rotation led by Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. The Nationals signed Trevor Rosenthal in the offseason to become a setup man for closer Sean Doolittle but ended up releasing him because of persistent control issues. Rosenthal now pitches for the Detroit Tigers, with Washington still paying his $7 million salary.Washington trails the first-place Atlanta Braves by 6½ games in the NL East and is in contention for an NL wild-card... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Nationals have acquired right-hander Daniel Hudson from the Toronto Blue Jays in an effort to improve their shaky bullpen.Washington sent minor league right-hander Kyle Johnston to Toronto ahead of Wednesday's trade deadline for Hudson, who will become a free agent at the end of the season.The 32-year-old Hudson is 6-3 with a 3.00 ERA and two saves in 45 games for the Blue Jays. He has a 3.92 ERA in 355 games over nine major league seasons.Washington's bullpen has been a weak point on a team with a strong starting rotation led by Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. The Nationals signed Trevor Rosenthal in the offseason to become a setup man for closer Sean Doolittle but ended up releasing him because of persistent control issues. Rosenthal now pitches for the Detroit Tigers, with Washington still paying his $7 million salary.The Nationals signed 42-year-old Fernando Rodney in June, and he has been getting work in the eighth inning. Last week, manager Dave Martinez used Rodney in three games in two days against the Colorado Rockies, with Rodney blowing a save and taking the loss in his third outing.Washington trails the first-place Atlanta Braves by 6½ games in the NL East and is in contention for an NL wild-card spot.The 23-year-old Johnston is 9-9 with a 4.03 ERA in 20 starts for Class A Potomac.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Charlie Morton struck out 11 over seven innings and the Tampa Bay Rays avoided a three-game sweep by beating David Price and Boston 3-2 in a game that the Red Sox protested on Wednesday.Confusion reigned in the top of the eighth when a series of defensive changes involving reliever Adam Kolarek prompted Boston manager Alex Cora to protest the game due to the placement of subs into the Rays lineup after the designated hitter was removed.Kolarek replaced Morton and retired pinch-hitter Sam Travis on a pop fly. The left-hander then shifted to first base when Rays manager Kevin Cash brought in reliever Chaz Roe, who got a fly ball from Mookie Betts.After Kolarek then returned to the mound and Nate Lowe entered to play first base, Cora met with the umpires, which prompted around a 15-minute stoppage as the umpires discussed the matter.After the protest was made and the game resumed, Kolarek got a first-pitch grounder from Rafael Devers.An unhappy Cora again talked... [More]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Charlie Morton struck out 11 over seven innings and the Tampa Bay Rays avoided a three-game sweep by beating David Price and Boston 3-2 in a game that the Red Sox protested on Wednesday.Confusion reigned in the top of the eighth when a series of defensive changes involving reliever Adam Kolarek prompted Boston manager Alex Cora to protest the game due to the placement of subs into the Rays lineup after the designated hitter was removed.Kolarek replaced Morton and retired pinch-hitter Sam Travis on a pop fly. The left-hander then shifted to first base when Rays manager Kevin Cash brought in reliever Chaz Roe, who got a fly ball from Mookie Betts.After Kolarek then returned to the mound and Nate Lowe entered to play first base, Cora met with the umpires, which prompted around a 15-minute stoppage as the umpires discussed the matter.After the protest was made and the game resumed, Kolarek got a first-pitch grounder from Rafael Devers.An unhappy Cora again talked... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Gleyber Torres lined a game-winning single in the ninth inning and the New York Yankees hit two more homers to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-7 Wednesday.Didi Gregorius and DJ LeMahieu connected as the Yankees extended their major league record to 29 straight games with a home run. The AL East leaders overcame two homers and a double by Lourdes Gurriel Jr., plus an early 5-0 deficit, to finish a power-packed 9-1 homestand.Now, they'll head straight from Yankee Stadium to England, where they'll enjoy two days off before playing the Boston Red Sox at London Stadium on Saturday and Sunday in the first major league games in Europe.Zack Britton wasn't so great in giving up Cavan Biggio's RBI single in the ninth that made it 7-all. But Britton (3-1) wound up with the win to close out a three-game sweep.Gregorius got an infield hit off Nick Kingham (3-2) with one out in the ninth, Aaron Hicks walked and Torres followed with his hit.ATHLETICS 2, CARDINALS 0ST. LOUIS (AP) — Beau Taylor... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Gleyber Torres lined a game-winning single in the ninth inning and the New York Yankees hit two more homers to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-7 Wednesday.Didi Gregorius and DJ LeMahieu connected as the Yankees extended their major league record to 29 straight games with a home run. The AL East leaders overcame two homers and a double by Lourdes Gurriel Jr., plus an early 5-0 deficit, to finish a power-packed 9-1 homestand.Now, they'll head straight from Yankee Stadium to England, where they'll enjoy two days off before playing the Boston Red Sox at London Stadium on Saturday and Sunday in the first major league games in Europe.Zack Britton wasn't so great in giving up Cavan Biggio's RBI single in the ninth that made it 7-all. But Britton (3-1) wound up with the win to close out a three-game sweep.Gregorius got an infield hit off Nick Kingham (3-2) with one out in the ninth, Aaron Hicks walked and Torres followed with his hit.ATHLETICS 2, CARDINALS 0ST. LOUIS (AP) — Beau Taylor... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Nationals will extend their protective netting during the All-Star break after recent injuries in baseball increased the focus on fan safety.Nationals managing principal owner Mark Lerner announced the changes in a letter to fans on Thursday. Lerner says the club will replace the current protection with more transparent netting and extend it to just short of the foul poles in the left and right field corners.Lerner referenced a 4-year-old girl who was struck by a line drive at an Astros-Cubs game last month.Nationals manager Dave Martinez was fully supportive of the measure."I honestly think it's great, I really do," Martinez said Thursday before Washington hosted the Phillies. "I don't know if people realize how fast those balls come."Nationals closer Sean Doolittle also liked the idea of making the stadium a safer place for the fans."As players, it's something that we've pushed for and advocated for years now," he said. "As you see exit velocities that... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Gary Sánchez hit a three-run homer to help chase Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell in the first inning, CC Sabathia got his 250th career win and the New York Yankees thumped the Tampa Bay Rays 12-1 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.Gleyber Torres added a grand slam during a six-run seventh inning, and New York three-hit Tampa Bay to win its fifth in a row and extend its lead the AL East over the second-place Rays to 3½ games. Tampa Bay was swept for the second time this season — the other came against Boston in April.Snell (4-6) walked four, gave up two hits and was charged with six runs while getting one out on 39 pitches in the shortest start of his career.Sabathia (4-4) pitched one-run ball over six innings. He struck out seven and allowed three hits and three walks.ANGELS 11, BLUE JAYS 6TORONTO (AP) — Mike Trout hit two home runs, including his sixth career grand slam, and had a career-best seven RBIs as Los Angeles beat Toronto.Justin Upton also homered for the... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Gary Sánchez hit a three-run homer to help chase Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell in the first inning, CC Sabathia got his 250th career win and the New York Yankees thumped the Tampa Bay Rays 12-1 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.Gleyber Torres added a grand slam during a six-run seventh inning, and New York three-hit Tampa Bay to win its fifth in a row and extend its lead the AL East over the second-place Rays to 3½ games. Tampa Bay was swept for the second time this season — the other came against Boston in April.Snell (4-6) walked four, gave up two hits and was charged with six runs while getting one out on 39 pitches in the shortest start of his career.Sabathia (4-4) pitched one-run ball over six innings. He struck out seven and allowed three hits and three walks.ANGELS 11, BLUE JAYS 6TORONTO (AP) — Mike Trout hit two home runs, including his sixth career grand slam, and had a career-best seven RBIs as Los Angeles beat Toronto.Justin Upton also homered for the... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Gary Sánchez hit a three-run homer to help chase Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell in the first inning, CC Sabathia got his 250th career win and the New York Yankees thumped the Tampa Bay Rays 12-1 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.Gleyber Torres added a grand slam during a six-run seventh inning, and New York three-hit Tampa Bay to win its fifth in a row and extend its lead the AL East over the second-place Rays to 3½ games. Tampa Bay was swept for the second time this season — the other came against Boston in April.Snell (4-6) walked four, gave up two hits and was charged with six runs while getting one out on 39 pitches in the shortest start of his career.Sabathia (4-4) pitched one-run ball over six innings. He struck out seven and allowed three hits and three walks.PADRES 8, BREWERS 7SAN DIEGO (AP) — Franmil Reyes hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh and Eric Hosmer added a two-run shot for San Diego, which overcame three homers by Milwaukee to sweep... [More]

DETROIT (AP) — Charlie Morton allowed five hits in seven innings, extending his unbeaten streak to 20 starts and leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 4-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.Morton (7-0) hasn't lost since Aug. 11, and only Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, at 21 starts, has a longer active unbeaten streak. Morton struck out eight with no walks and needed just 83 pitches to complete seven innings.Austin Meadows tripled and scored on a throwing error in the third to open the scoring. Tampa Bay scored two more runs in the fifth and snapped its four-game losing streak.Spencer Turnbull (3-5) allowed three runs in five innings.METS 7, GIANTS 0NEW YORK (AP) — Jason Vargas pitched his first shutout in two years, Amed Rosario hit a three-run homer and New York won despite losing Robinson Canó hours after his return from the injured list.Michael Conforto and Adeiny Hechavarría each had a solo homer for the Mets, who ended a three-game skid with their second win in seven games.Canó... [More]

DETROIT (AP) — Charlie Morton allowed five hits in seven innings, extending his unbeaten streak to 20 starts and leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 4-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.Morton (7-0) hasn't lost since Aug. 11, and only Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, at 21 starts, has a longer active unbeaten streak. Morton struck out eight with no walks and needed just 83 pitches to complete seven innings.Austin Meadows tripled and scored on a throwing error in the third to open the scoring. Tampa Bay scored two more runs in the fifth and snapped its four-game losing streak.Spencer Turnbull (3-5) allowed three runs in five innings.METS 7, GIANTS 0NEW YORK (AP) — Jason Vargas pitched his first shutout in two years, Amed Rosario hit a three-run homer and New York won despite losing Robinson Canó hours after his return from the injured list.Michael Conforto and Adeiny Hechavarría each had a solo homer for the Mets, who ended a three-game skid with their second win in seven games.Canó... [More]