The Boston Red Sox decided to move on from oft-injured Chris Sale on Saturday, trading the veteran left-hander to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for infielder Vaughn Grissom.

The Red Sox will also send cash to the Braves to cover a portion of the $27.5 million salary Sale is owed in 2024, the final guaranteed season of a $160 million, six-year contract.

Sale is a seven-time All-Star but has battled injuries since he was acquired from the Chicago White Sox in December 2016. He made nine trips to the disabled and injured lists with the Red Sox, mostly due to shoulder and elbow ailments.

Sale helped Boston to a World Series title in 2018 but has made only 56 starts in the last four years, going 17-18 with a 4.86 ERA. He was 6-5 with a 4.30 ERA in 20 starts and 102 2/3 innings last season.

He joins a Braves rotation that projects to include Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Max Fried.

The 22-year-old Grissom batted .287 with five home runs and 27 RBIs over 64 games during the past two seasons for Atlanta. He made 41 starts and second base and 19 at shortstop.

Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr. have consistently broken the mold in their young careers, and the unique accomplishments seemingly keep on coming.

Ohtani was announced as the American League’s Most Valuable Player of 2023, becoming the first player to win the award twice by unanimous vote.

Acuña was a unanimous selection as NL MVP after completing MLB’s first ever 40-homer, 70-steal season.

Never before have both MVP votes in the same year been unanimous.

A two-way star unprecedented in the modern game, Ohtani led the AL with 44 home runs while hitting .304 and accumulating 96 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. From the mound, he went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings pitched. 

The Los Angeles Angels star received all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Rangers shortstop Corey Seager finished second with 24 second-place votes, while Texas teammate Marcus Semien finished third with five second-place votes.

Acuña helped lead the Atlanta Braves to the best record in baseball at 104-58. He was second in the NL with a .336 batting average and led the majors with 149 runs, 217 hits, 386 total bases and 73 stolen bases while hitting 41 home runs with 106 RBIs.

Mookie Betts, who won the 2018 AL MVP award, received all 30 second-place votes, while his Los Angeles Dodgers teammate and former Brave Freddie Freeman finished third.

With the final MLB awards announced, attention now turns to the winter hot stove, primarily Ohtani’s free agency.

The Japan-born star appeared to be a lock for a record-breaking contract this offseason, but injuries cut his 2023 campaign short, and he underwent right elbow surgery in September.

While Ohtani will certainly receive massive compensation, a second major surgery on his throwing elbow could complicate the equation for the Angels and the host of other teams likely to bid for his services.

Ohtani underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018, and while the exact nature of his most recent surgery has not been revealed publicly, his team has said he will not pitch in 2024.

 

Nick Castellanos hit a pair of home runs for the second straight game and Trea Turner also went deep as the Philadelphia Phillies held off the 104-win Atlanta Braves 3-1 on Thursday to book a return trip to the NL Championship Series.

The Phillies eliminated the Braves for the second straight season and will next face surprising Arizona, which is 5-0 in these playoffs after sweeping the Dodgers.

Castellanos continued his power stroke after he hit two of the Phillies’ six home runs in Wednesday’s win, belting solo shots off 20-game winner Spencer Strider in the fourth and sixth innings.

He became the first player to hit multiple homers in consecutive playoff games.

Turner went 4 for 4 and fell a triple shy of the cycle, with his blast in the fifth giving Philadelphia a 2-1 lead.

The teams with the five best regular-season records – Atlanta, Baltimore, Dodgers, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee – all failed to reach the LCS.

Ranger Suarez allowed one run and three hits over five innings before five Philadelphia relievers limited the Braves to two hits over the final four innings.

Seranthony Dominguez got the first two outs in the sixth and Jose Alvarado worked around two walks to pitch a scoreless inning.

He got help from center fielder Johan Rojas, who tracked down Ronald Acuna Jr.’s drive to the wall in left centre with the bases loaded to end the seventh.

Gregory Soto got the final out of the eighth but walked Marcell Ozuna to open the ninth and gave up Sean Murphy’s single to put runners on the corners.

But Matt Strahm retired the next three batters, including a game-ending strikeout on pinch-hitter Vaughn Grissom.

Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a pair of home runs to reach 39 and stole his 67th base as the Atlanta Braves ended a four-game losing streak with a 9-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.

Acuna is one home run shy of becoming the first player with 40 homers and 60 steals in a season, much less 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases.

The Braves' superstar is batting .386 with 11 home runs, 26 RBIs, 23 runs and eight steals in his last 20 games.

Acuna’s first home run was his seventh leadoff blast this season and 33rd of his career. Of his 205 hits this season, 51 have come in the first inning.

His performance overshadowed Spencer Strider’s major league-leading 18th win.

The right-hander allowed three runs and four hits over seven innings with 11 strikeouts to raise his MLB-best total to 270.

Marcell Ozuna drove in three runs with three hits, including a two-run double in the fifth, as Atlanta avoided its first five-game skid since September 2017.

Bryce Harper hit a three-run home run for the Phillies, who hold the top wild-card spot in the NL.

 

Padres lose combined no-hitter in 9th, walk-off Rockies

Blake Snell threw seven no-hit innings, and the San Diego Padres lost a combined no-hitter in the 9th before Xander Bogaerts hit a walk-off two-run homer in a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Snell struck out 10 with four walks over the first seven innings and threw 104 pitches but was replaced by Robert Suarez, who worked a perfect eighth.

Closer Josh Hader gave up a leadoff single to Brendan Rodgers in the ninth before getting three outs.

Bogaerts homered off Tyler Kinley with two outs in the ninth to give San Diego its season-high sixth straight win.

 

Hays hits 2 homers as Orioles defeat Astros

Austin Hays went deep twice and Ryan O’Hearn added a two-run shot to lift the Baltimore Orioles to their fourth straight win, 9-5 over the slumping Houston Astros.

Hays hit a three-run shot off starter Hunter Brown in the third inning to snap a 2-2 tie and put Baltimore ahead for good.

O’Hearn’s two-run homer in the first opened the scoring and rookie Heston Kjerstad connected for his second career home run in the seventh, one batter after Hays’ second of the game gave the Orioles an 8-5 lead.

Baltimore maintained a 2 ½-game lead over Tampa in the race for the AL East title, while Houston’s lead in the West was trimmed to one-half game over Texas and Seattle.

The Atlanta Braves continued their dominance of the NL East with their sixth straight division title, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 behind Spencer Strider’s major league-leading 17th win on Wednesday.

Atlanta leads the majors with 96 wins and locked up another NL East crown in its 146th game, the second-quickest clinch in the divisional era.

The division title was the Braves’ record 26th, two more than the Yankees or Dodgers.

Strider limited the Phillies to one run and four hits in seven innings, striking out nine to raise his MLB-best total to 259.

Brad Hand fanned two in the eighth and Kirby Yates pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Austin Riley gave Strider all the support he needed with a two-run homer – his 35th - in the first inning off Christopher Sanchez.

Riley added a sacrifice fly in the third and Kevin Pillar had an RBI double in the fourth.

Sanchez pitched into the eighth inning and struck out a career-high 10.

Philadelphia remained 1 ½ games ahead of the Cubs in the race for the top wild-card spot in the NL.

 

Montgomery pitches surging Rangers past Blue Jays

Jordan Montgomery and two relievers combined to five-hit the Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers cruised to their fifth straight win with a 10-0 rout.

Montgomery allowed four hits over seven innings before Martin Perez and Ian Kennedy each worked one inning.

Nathaniel Lowe and Mitch Garver hit three-run homers and Robbie Grossman added a two-run shot to help Texas remain one game behind AL West-leading Houston.

The Rangers moved 1 ½ games ahead of the Blue Jays in the wild-card race, sending Toronto to its fourth consecutive loss.

 

Astros lose combined no-hitter in 9th inning

Hunter Brown and three relievers held the Oakland Athletics hitless for eight innings but the bid for history was broken up with one out in the ninth inning in the Houston Astros’ 6-2 win.

After Ryan Pressly retired Tony Kemp on a groundball to open the ninth, Zach Gelof walked before Ryan Noda grounded a changeup past Pressly and into center field.

Pressly allowed two runs before finishing up the two-hitter as Houston salvaged the series finale against the Athletics, who lost their 100th game.

Yordan Alvarez hit a three-run homer and Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker had solo shots as the Astros remained one game ahead of second-place Texas in the AL West.

Orlando Arcia drilled a three-run homer in the 10th inning and the Atlanta Braves won their sixth straight game, 4-1 over the Los Angeles Dodgers in a matchup of the National League’s best teams.

With the initial runner at second, Alex Vesia got the first two outs of the 10th but walked Sean Murphy before Arcia sent a first-pitch fastball over the left-centre field wall for his 17th home run and a 4-1 lead.

Max Muncy had a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th, but Raisel Iglesias struck out Amed Rosario with a runner on for his 28th save.

Major league-leading Atlanta has won the first three games of this much-anticipated series, becoming the first team to reach 90 victories.

The Braves are cruising to their sixth straight NL East title with a 16-game lead over Philadelphia.

Ronald Acuna Jr. opened the scoring in the third inning with his third home run of this series and 32nd of the season.

The Dodgers got the run back in the bottom half when Austin Barnes doubled, moved to third on two walks and scored on a double-play grounder.

Bryce Elder pitched six innings for the Braves and allowed one run and five hits.

Joe Jimenez, A.J. Minter and Michael Tonkin each pitched one hitless inning before Iglesias took over in the 10th.

 

Reds rally to walk-off Cubs again

Elly De La Cruz delivered a tying single and newcomer Hunter Renfroe beat out a double-play ball as the Cincinnati Reds rallied for their second straight walk-off win, 2-1 over the Chicago Cubs.

Chicago took a 1-0 lead to the ninth after a brilliant eight-inning performance from Javier Assad but Cincinnati scored twice in the ninth to win.

Jake Fraley opened the inning with a double off Mark Leiter Jr. and pinch-runner Harrison Bader stole third. After TJ Friedl walked and Spencer Steer was hit by a pitch, De Le Cruz’s hit tied it.

Nick Martini flied out to keep the bases loaded and Renfroe – claimed off waivers from the Angels earlier this week – hit a grounder to short and barely beat the throw to first, allowing the winning run to score.

 

Guardians score 2 in 11th to rally past Rays

Steven Kwan had a sacrifice fly and after a key hit by rookie Jose Tena and the Cleveland Guardians rallied for their fourth straight win, 7-6 over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Brandon Lowe gave the Rays a one-run lead in the top of the 11th with a sacrifice fly, but Chris Devenski was unable to protect it in his first appearance with the team.

With one out, Myles Straw stole third and Bo Naylor walked to put runners at the corners. Tena’s single to right tied the game and moved Naylor to third before Kwan’s fly ball to shallow right-centre scored the winning run.

The loss dropped the Rays 2 ½ games behind AL East-leading Baltimore, while the Guardians remained five games in back of Minnesota in the Central.

Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a grand slam to become the first player in major league history with 30 home runs and 60 stolen bases in a season and the Atlanta Braves held on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-7 in a matchup of baseball’s two top teams on Thursday.

Acuna connected off Lance Lynn as part of Atlanta’s six-run second inning for his 30th home run and third career grand slam.

Rickey Henderson was the closest to being the first 30-60 player before Acuna. He had 28 homers and 87 steals in 1986 and 28 home runs and 65 steals in 1990.

Spencer Strider became the first pitcher to reach 16 wins this season, allowing four runs and four hits in six innings with two walks and nine strikeouts.

Joe Jimenez surrendered two solo home runs in the seventh, one to Michael Busch and Mookie Betts’ second of the game.

Max Muncy took A.J. Minter deep to lead off the eighth to make it 8-7 but Pierce Johnson got the final out of the eighth.

Raisel Iglesias put two runners on in the ninth before getting Muncy to fly out and striking out Kike Hernandez for his 27th save.

Michael Harris also homered for the major league-best Braves, who have won four straight and eight of nine.

They finished August with a 21-8 record, tying the Atlanta-era record for wins in a month set by the 1999 team that went 21-7.

Betts, among the leading candidates for NL MVP along with Acuna, hit a three-run homer off Strider in the fifth to cut the Dodgers’ deficit to 7-4.

Betts finished August with 11 home runs and has 38 on the season, extending his career high.

 

 

Yastrzemski leads Giants past listless Padres

Mike Yastrzemski homered and drove in two runs as the San Francisco Giants rolled to a 7-2 victory over the sloppy San Diego Padres.

Yastrzemski had an RBI single during San Francisco’s six-run third inning, with five of those runs unearned due to two errors by first baseman Matthew Batten.

Yastrzemski homered in the fifth to extend the lead to 7-0.

Jakob Junis pitched four hitless innings and three relievers combined on a seven-hitter.

The Giants moved one game ahead of idle Arizona in the race for the NL’s third wild-card spot.

Spencer Strider pitched one-hit ball over seven innings and the major league-leading Atlanta Braves blanked the San Francisco Giants 3-0 for their third straight shutout on Friday.

Strider became the first 14-game winner in the majors, giving up his only hit to Wilmer Flores in the fourth inning.

He struck out 10 for the 16th double-digit strikeout performance of his career and 10th this season. Strider leads the majors with 227 strikeouts, 40 more than second-place Kevin Gausman of Toronto.

Joe Jimenez, A.J. Minter and Raisel Iglesias finished up to give Atlanta three consecutive shutouts for the first time since the final three games of 2015 against St. Louis.

The Braves have five shutouts in their last eight games.

Atlanta got all the offense it needed with two runs in the first off Alex Cobb. Ronald Acuna Jr. and Michael Harris II singled and Matt Olson had a run-scoring fielder’s choice before Marcell Ozuna singled home another run.

Harris went 4 for 5 with a double and a triple, while Eddie Rosario had two hits and one RBI.

San Francisco has lost seven of nine and was held to one run or fewer for the 28th time this season, third-most in the majors.

 

Marlins roll to end Dodgers’ streak

Jorge Soler hit two of the Marlins’ five home runs and Miami cruised to an 11-3 rout to end the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jake Burger and Jacob Stallings all went deep for the Marlins, who hit five home runs for the first time since July 3, 2012, at Milwaukee.

Sandy Alcantara allowed three runs – all on solo homers - and seven hits over six innings with one walk and six strikeouts to earn the win.

The Dodgers got home runs from Mookie Betts, Max Muncy and James Outman but dropped to 15-2 this month.

 

Mariners’ Rodriguez stays red hot in win

Julio Rodriguez had four more hits, including a home run, and Bryce Miller pitched 6 1/3 innings as the Seattle Mariners moved into a wild-card spot with a 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros.

Rodriguez tied a team record by hitting safely in nine straight at-bats before that run was snapped on a fielding error by Jeremy Pena in the seventh inning.

Rodriguez had five hits and five RBIs in Thursday’s win over Kansas City and is 13 for 16 with two home runs and eight RBIs in his last three games.

Miller gave up two hits and struck out two before Justin Topa and Andres Munoz locked up Seattle’s fourth straight win.

The Mariners took a one-half lead over Toronto in the race for the third and final AL wild-card spot.

Sal Frelick had a very memorable debut in the major leagues.

The Brewers rookie had three hits, the game-winning sacrifice fly and made two spectacular catches to lift Milwaukee to a 4-3 win over the major league-leading Atlanta Braves on Saturday.

Selected with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft, Frelick was called up from Triple-A Nashville before the game and started in right field batting sixth.

He had an infield single in the second inning for his first major league hit in his first career plate appearance, singled and scored in the fifth and singled home a run an inning later to tie the game. His hard liner to right in the eighth scored Willy Adames and snapped a 3-3 tie.

Devin Williams loaded the bases in the ninth but struck out Ozzie Albies to end it.

Frelick showed off his defence in the sixth inning to keep the Brewers down 3-2.

He made a leaping catch of Marcell Ozuna’s shot near the top of the right-field wall and one out later raced into the right-center field gap, jumped and banged against the wall to snare a drive from Orlando Arcia.

Austin Riley’s three-run homer in the third inning opened the scoring and gave him home runs in five straight games. He is 10 for 21 with six home runs and 16 RBIs during that span.

 

 

 

Orioles recover to beat Rays

Ryan O’Hearn came through with a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth inning and the Baltimore Orioles recovered after blowing a five-run lead to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-5 in matchup of the American League’s top teams.

Baltimore has won two of the first three games in the four-game set to move one game ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East.

Rays ace Shane McLanahan was bidding to become the majors’ first 12-game winner but was reached for a season-high five runs in four innings.

The Rays dropped to an AL-worst 4-13 in July.

 

Freeman hits two home runs as Rangers win easy

Freddie Freeman hit two of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ five homers and the NL West leaders rolled to a 16-3 rout of the Texas Rangers.

Max Muncy and J.D. Martinez also went deep as the Dodgers matched season highs with five homers and 18 hits in their 10th win in 12 games.

Freeman became the first Dodgers player with 20 home runs and 35 doubles before August. He is 12 for 21 with three home runs, three doubles and seven RBIs in his past five games.

Rangers slugger Adolis Garcia was hit on the right hand by a pitch in the fourth inning. He initially stayed in the game but was lifted for a pinch-runner and inning later.

 

 

 

 

Christian Walker homered twice and drove in five runs as the Arizona Diamondbacks outslugged the Atlanta Braves 16-13 to snap a four-game losing streak.

Geraldo Perdomo snapped a ninth-inning tie with a two-run double and Ketel Marte had three hits and three RBIs for the Diamondbacks, who scored just 11 runs during their season high-tying four-game skid.

Austin Riley went deep twice, doubled and drove in a career-high seven runs, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the National League-best Braves from dropping three in a row for the first time since May 10-14.

Arizona was involved in its first game in which each team had at least 13 runs, and it was the first such game in the majors since the Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 17-13 on Aug. 27, 2021.

The 29 combined runs were the most in any game this season.

Riley’s first home run was a three-run shot in the fourth inning and gave the Braves a 9-8 lead.

Orlando Arcia’s two-run shot an inning later extended the lead, but the Diamondbacks scored four in the sixth on Corbin Carroll’s RBI single and Walker’s three-run blast.

Arizona’s Dominic Canzone had his first career hit in the eighth to score Walker and tie the game at 13.

 

 

Red-hot Giants sweep slumping Reds

The San Francisco Giants continued their surge with a pair of wins over the Cincinnati Reds, getting two home runs from Wilmer Flores in an 11-10 victory in the second game.

Casey Schmitt drew a bases-loaded walk in a three-run seventh for an 11-8 lead and the Giants held on to send the Reds to a season high-tying six-game losing streak.

San Francisco began the night by winning the completion of Monday’s suspended game behind Joc Pederson’s tiebreaking,10th-inning double.

The Reds lost despite home runs in the second game from Joey Votto, Jake Fraley, Will Benson and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, a pinch-hit three-run shot for his first career hit.

 

Rangers’ Eovaldi ties for MLB lead with 11th win

Nathan Eovaldi allowed two hits over six scoreless innings and was backed by home run from Corey Seager and Marcus Semien as the Texas Rangers won their fifth straight, 5-3 over the Tampa Bay Rays in a matchup of division leaders.

Eovaldi struck out two and walked three to become the fifth 11-game winner in the majors.

Semien opened the scoring in the third inning with his 13th home run and Seager’s 14th of the season in the seventh made it 5-1.

Randy Arozarena and Brandon Lowe went deep for the Rays, who have lost 10 of 13 in July.

 

Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani was forced from him start with a blister on his right middle finger in an 8-5 loss to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.

After Ohtani allowed back-to-back home runs to Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth with no outs in the sixth inning, a trainer came out to check on the Japanese sensation. Ohtani then exited after allowing five runs and seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

The right-hander said he doesn’t plan to pitch in next week’s All-Star Game, but he could still play a significant role if he’s healthy enough to remain the starting designated hitter for the American League next Tuesday in Seattle.

Ohtani’s exit came a few hours after the Angels learned star centre fielder Mike Trout will be sidelined several weeks because of a broken left wrist.

Joe Musgrove earned the win with a season-best 11 strikeouts in seven innings to help San Diego take the first two games of the three-game series.

Cronenworth also had two doubles to become the first player with three extra-base hits in a game against Ohtani.

Cronenworth and Bogaerts each finished with three RBIs.

The Angels drew four walks in the ninth and scored four runs, but Josh Hader got the final two outs for his 19th save.

 

 

 

Guardians win in 10 to snap Braves’ nine-game winning streak

David Fry singled home Amed Rosario in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Cleveland Guardians a 6-5 victory over the MLB-best Atlanta Braves, who had their nine-game winning streak stopped.

The game-winner came after Cleveland centre fielder Myles Straw threw out Sam Hlliard at the plate in the top of the 10th to keep the game tied.

Ozzie Albies’ second home run of the game off Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth forged a 5-5 tie.

Atlanta had won 17 of 18 of 24 of 27.

 

Phillies win 10th straight on road

Aaron Nola matched a career high with 12 strikeouts and the Philadelphia Phillies topped the AL-leading Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 for their 10th consecutive road win.

Nola outdueled friend and former teammate Zach Eflin by allowing one run and five hits over 7 1/3 innings to win his third straight decision.

Philadelphia’s 10-game road streak is its longest since the 1976 team won a franchise-best 13 in a row away from home.

The Rays tied a season high with their third consecutive loss.

Michael Harris II hit two home runs, Bryce Elder made another quality start and the Atlanta Braves recorded a 4-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday to extend their winning streak to a season-high nine games.

Harris homered in the third and fifth innings and Marcell Ozuna added a solo shot in the fourth as the Braves built a 4-0 lead en route to their 17th win in 18 games. Atlanta is 24-3 since June 3 and owns the best record in the majors at 57-27.

Elder (7-1), one of eight Atlanta players selected for next week's All-Star Game, began his fourth straight quality start with six scoreless innings before Ahmed Rosario plated two with a single in the seventh.

The 24-year-old has pitched at least five innings in each of his 17 starts this season, with Atlanta going 13-4 in those games.

Rosario finished with two hits and Steven Kwan went 3 for 5 with a run scored for Cleveland. Gavin Williams, the Guardians' No. 1 prospect according to MLB.com, allowed all three Atlanta homers and four runs across 6 1/3 innings in his third major league start.

 

Astros blow eight-run lead but rally by Rangers

The Houston Astros squandered an eight-run lead, then rallied with two runs in the ninth inning for a wild 12-11 win over the Texas Rangers in the finale of a key four-game series between the American League West's top two teams. 

After the division-leading Rangers battled back to take an 11-10 lead on Corey Seager's eighth-inning sacrifice fly, Houston responded in the top of the ninth with consecutive RBI doubles by Jose Abreu and Chas McCormick off Will Smith. 

Ryan Pressly then retired the Rangers in order in the bottom of the inning to notch his 18th save and help the Astros take three of four games from their in-state rivals. Houston moved within three games of first-place Texas in the AL West.

Kyle Tucker went 4 for 4 with a double and a grand slam that staked the Astros a 10-2 lead after the top of the fourth inning.

Texas cut the lead to 10-9 by the end of the fifth, however, thanks in part to homers by Travis Jankowski and Leody Tavaras. Adolis Garcia tied the game with a seventh-inning solo shot before the Rangers briefly went in front an inning later.

Jankowski went 3 for 5 with five RBIs and Tavares had three hits and three RBIs. Abreu homered and knocked in four runs for Houston, which also got homers from McCormick and Yainer Diaz.

 

Bader's three-run homer lifts Yankees over Orioles

Harrison Bader capped a New York Yankees' comeback with a tie-breaking three-run homer in the eighth inning that staked the Bronx Bombers to a 6-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees overcame an early 3-0 deficit to take the opener of this four-game series and close within three games of the upstart Orioles for the AL's top wild card spot.

Anthony Volpe and Kyle Higashioka began the rally with back-to-back solo homers in the fifth inning, and Volpe recorded the tying run in the seventh when he scored from third on a wild pitch from All-Star reliever Yennier Cano.

After singles by Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo put two Yankees on in the eighth, Bader drilled a pitch from Danny Coulombe into the left-field seats for a 6-3 lead.

All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman went 3 for 5 with an RBI for the slumping Orioles, who have lost five of their last six games. 

Baltimore did manage three runs - two earned - off Domingo German in the Yankee starter's first outing since throwing the 24th perfect game in major league history last Wednesday at Oakland.

German allowed nine hits in his follow-up start while lasting only 4 1/3 innings. 

 

Ozzie Albies hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the fifth inning to back 6 2/3 sharp innings from Spencer Strider as the Atlanta Braves earned a 6-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Sunday to extend their winning streak to eight games.

Albies' 20th homer of the season gave Atlanta a 4-2 lead that Strider made hold up as the red-hot Braves completed a three-game series sweep over their closest National League East competitors. Atlanta has now won 16 of 17 to extend its lead over the second-place Marlins to nine games.

The Braves have also won 10 in a row at home and outscored Miami 29-7 for the series.

Strider, named to his first All-Star Game on Sunday, was touched for two runs in the second inning and an unearned run in the seventh, but got enough support via homers by Albies, Travis d'Arnaud and Orlando Arcia to win a fourth consecutive start. The hard-throwing right-hander recorded nine strikeouts to push his major league-leading total to 155.

Albies was also named an NL reserve for next week's All-Star Game, one of a league-high eight selections for Atlanta.

2022 NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara struggled again for Miami, allowing four runs in five innings to raise his season earned run average to 4.93.

Marlins All-Star Luis Arraez finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs to raise his MLB-leading batting average to .389.

 

Ohtani, Trout homers help Angels down Diamondbacks

American League All-Stars Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout had two of the Los Angeles Angels' three home runs in a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that prevented a sweep of the three-game series.

Mickey Moniak's three-run blast off Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen in the second inning put Los Angeles up 4-2 and helped the Angels snap a season-high four-game losing streak. Ohtani later launched a 454-foot drive into the right field seats in the eighth for his MLB-leading 31st homer of the season and sixth in seven games.

Angels starter Reid Detmers surrendered a two-run homer to Carson Kelly in the second, but held Arizona scoreless for the remainder of his six-inning stint and finished with nine strikeouts.

Gallen, named to his first All-Star Game for the NL squad earlier in the day, recorded 12 strikeouts in seven innings but was reached for four runs to fall to 10-3 on the season.

 

Astros hold off Rangers to close gap in AL West

Chas McCormick snapped a tie with a three-run triple in the top of the eighth inning, and the Houston Astros held on for a 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers in a matchup of the top two teams in the AL West.

McCormick's big hit off reliever Josh Sborz with the bases loaded staked Houston to a 4-1 lead, though the Rangers answered with Nathaniel Lowe's two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to pull back within one.

Jose Altuve homered in the top of the ninth to increase the lead to 5-3, however, and Ryan Pressly retired the Rangers in order in the bottom of the frame to notch his 17th save.

The win was Houston's fourth in five games and brought the reigning World Series champions within four games of first-place Texas in the division. The four-game Lone Star Series between the in-state rivals concludes Monday.

Texas lost for the sixth time in nine games and wasted a terrific start from Andrew Heaney, who struck out eight and allowed just three hits in five scoreless innings.

Jose Abreu finished 3 for 5 for the Astros, while McCormick and Altuve each collected two hits. 

 

 

The Atlanta Braves struck early again with six first-inning runs and rolled to their seventh consecutive win, 7-0 over the Miami Marlins on Saturday.

Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies hit back-to-back homers to ignite the six-run first and Charlie Morton struck out five in 5 2/3 innings to keep the Braves surging into July.

Atlanta (55-27) has won 23 of its last 27 games and has taken over baseball’s best record from the Tampa Bay Rays, who held the honour since opening the season 13-0.

After Acuna and Albies took rookie Eury Perez deep, Austin Riley and Matt Olson singled before Sean Murphy doubled home a run. Marcell Ozuna’s two-run double made it 5-0 and one out later another double by Orlando Arcia capped the early outburst.

The six runs gave the Braves 87 in the opening inning in their last 82 games, including 11 in the first two games of this series.

Perez entered the game with an MLB-best 21-inning scoreless streak and a 1.34 ERA but lasted just a third of an inning, allowing six runs and seven hits.

Atlanta has won eight of nine meetings this season against Miami by a combined 77-26 margin.

 

 

 

Bohm powers Phillies to rout

Alec Bohm hit two homers and drove in a career high-tying six runs to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 19-4 drubbing of the Washington Nationals.

Kyle Schwarber had a grand slam, and Nick Castellanos fell a triple shy of the cycle with three RBIs as part of Philadelphia’s 18-hit attack.

The 19 runs were the most scored by Philadelphia since a 20-1 win over the Miami Marlins on April 7, 2018.

 

Rangers’ Eovaldi shuts down Astros for 10th win

Nathan Eovaldi continued his stellar season with seven scoreless innings and the AL West-leading Texas Rangers defeated the second-place Houston Astros, 5-2.

Eovaldi struck out five and limited the Astros to two singles while working around a season-high four walks to join Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan as the only 10-game winners in the AL.

All-Stars Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Josh Jung each drove in a run and Jonah Heim – also an All-Star – had three hits with a run scored.

 

 

Matt Olson hit two of the six home runs for the Atlanta Braves and baseball’s hottest team rolled to a 16-4 rout of the Miami Marlins on Friday.

Olson went 4 for 5 with his National League-leading 27th and 28th home runs and fell a double shy of the cycle as Atlanta won its sixth straight to finish June with a major league-best 21-4 record.

The 21 victories tied the Atlanta record for most wins in a calendar month, a mark that was set in May 1998 and matched in August 1999, in June 2002 and in June 2022.

Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley, Sean Murphy and Eddie Rosario also went deep to help Atlanta raise its home run total to 153, by far the most in the majors.

Mike Soroka won in his first home start since Aug. 3, 2020, when he tore his Achilles tendon for the first of two times. He allowed three runs and five hits in six innings without a walk and seven strikeouts.

Atlanta scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back. Riley doubled home Acuna and Olson followed with a 434-foot, opposite-field blast to centre. After Murphy struck out and Marcell Ozuna walked, Rosario belted his 14th home to make it 5-0.

Olson’s second homer of the game – another two-run shot – in the fifth inning extended the lead to 10-3 and Rosario’s groundout made it 11-3.

The Marlins ended a five-game winning streak and a seven-game run on the road.

 

 

 

Steer’s walk-off homer in 11th gives Reds wild win

Spencer Steer delivered a walk-off home run in the 11th inning after Matt McLain had a game-tying two-run homer in the 10th to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a wild 7-5 win over the reeling San Diego Padres.

After Elly De La Cruz doubled home the tying run in the 11th, he tried to score from third on Nick Senzel’s grounder but was called out because he didn’t touch the plate before Gary Sanchez’s tag.

Steer made that irrelevant shortly after when he belted a 2-2 pitch from Drew Carlton over the left-field wall for his 13th home run.

Cincinnati won its third straight despite Alexis Diaz’s save streak being stopped at 23 in a row. San Diego has lost a season-high six in row.  

 

Ohtani hits 30th home run in Angels’ loss

Shohei Ohtani's hit the longest home run of his career for his major league-leading 30th of the season but the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-2.

The Japanese sensation took Tommy Henry 493 feet out to right field in the sixth inning for the longest homer in the majors this year. He became the first player since 2013 to hit 30 homers by the end of June.

He also extended his own team record for home runs in a month with 15 and tied the AL mark for June homers.

 

 

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