NEW YORK (AP) — The Chicago Cubs tied a major league record by turning seven double plays Friday night, including a game-ending effort by rookie third baseman David Bote on a grounder by David Freese to finish off a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.The Cubs got six double plays on grounders — five with Cole Hamels pitching — and one on a line drive. The Elias Sports Bureau said the Cubs became the third team in big league history to turn seven DPs in a nine-inning game.Pittsburgh put runners on first and second in the ninth before Jesse Chavez got Freese to ground to Bote. Having hit a game-ending grand slam last Sunday night to beat Washington 4-3, Bote again was in the right place to cap off a win. Bote stepped on third and threw to first base to end it.Hamels (8-9) pitched seven solid innings. Kyle Schwarber hit a home run in the second off Trevor Williams (10-9). Chavez got his second save as the Pirates lost their fifth in a row.The Cubs beat the Pirates by a 1-0 score for the second... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The Chicago Cubs tied a major league record by turning seven double plays Friday night, including a game-ending effort by rookie third baseman David Bote on a grounder by David Freese to finish off a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.The Cubs got six double plays on grounders — five with Cole Hamels pitching — and one on a line drive. The Elias Sports Bureau said the Cubs became the third team in big league history to turn seven DPs in a nine-inning game.Pittsburgh put runners on first and second in the ninth before Jesse Chavez got Freese to ground to Bote. Having hit a game-ending grand slam last Sunday night to beat Washington 4-3, Bote again was in the right place to cap off a win. Bote stepped on third and threw to first base to end it.Hamels (8-9) pitched seven solid innings. Kyle Schwarber hit a home run in the second off Trevor Williams (10-9). Chavez got his second save as the Pirates lost their fifth in a row.The Cubs beat the Pirates by a 1-0 score for the second... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Pinch-hitter David Bote smashed a grand slam against Ryan Madson with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday night.Bote's long drive to center field came after Washington's Max Scherzer and Chicago's Cole Hamels delivered simply dominant starts.Madson (2-5) came in with a 3-0 lead to start the ninth and quickly ran into trouble. He gave up an infield single to Jason Heyward with one out and hit Albert Almora with a pitch. Madson then retired Kyle Schwarber on a foul pop before hitting Contreras to load the bases, but Bote drove a 2-2 pitch well beyond the center-field wall.Bote's drive made a winner of Justin Wilson (4-3), who got the final two outs in the ninth.RED SOX 4, ORIOLES 1BALTIMORE (AP) — Chris Sale celebrated his return from the disabled list by striking out 12 over five dominant innings, and the Boston Red Sox moved 50 games over .500 by completing a sweep of the lowly Orioles.Sale (12-4)... [More]

BALTIMORE (AP) — Chris Sale celebrated his return from the disabled list by striking out 12 over five dominant innings, and the Boston Red Sox moved 50 games over .500 by completing a sweep of the lowly Baltimore Orioles with a 4-1 victory on Sunday.Sale (12-4) was placed on the DL on July 28 with left shoulder inflammation. Judging by his performance, the injury is no longer an issue.The left-hander allowed just one hit, a clean third-inning single to left field by Renato Nunez, and walked none. Craig Kimbrel, the last of five Boston relievers, worked the ninth for his 35th save.Steve Pearce homered for the Red Sox, who have won 10 of 11 to improve to 85-35.Alex Cobb (3-15) took the loss despite allowing only two runs, one earned, over seven innings.MARINERS 4, ASTROS 3, 10 INNINGSHOUSTON (AP) — Ryon Healy hit a tying homer with two out in the ninth inning, Mitch Haniger delivered an RBI double in the 10th and the Mariners swept a four-game series from the AL West-leading Astros.It's the... [More]

BALTIMORE (AP) — Chris Sale celebrated his return from the disabled list by striking out 12 over five dominant innings, and the Boston Red Sox moved 50 games over .500 by completing a sweep of the lowly Baltimore Orioles with a 4-1 victory on Sunday.Sale (12-4) was placed on the DL on July 28 with left shoulder inflammation. Judging by his performance, the injury is no longer an issue.The left-hander allowed just one hit, a clean third-inning single to left field by Renato Nunez, and walked none. Craig Kimbrel, the last of five Boston relievers, worked the ninth for his 35th save.Steve Pearce homered for the Red Sox, who have won 10 of 11 to improve to 85-35.Alex Cobb (3-15) took the loss despite allowing only two runs, one earned, over seven innings.MARINERS 4, ASTROS 3, 10 INNINGSHOUSTON (AP) — Ryon Healy hit a tying homer with two out in the ninth inning, Mitch Haniger delivered an RBI double in the 10th and the Mariners swept a four-game series from the AL West-leading Astros.It's the... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Trevor Williams and two relievers combined on a six-hitter, and the Pittsburgh Pirates blanked the San Francisco Giants 4-0 on Saturday night.Josh Bell homered for the second time in three days. Elias Diaz added two hits for the Pirates after coming in as an injury replacement for Francisco Cervelli.The start of the game was delayed for a ceremony honoring home run king Barry Bonds, who became the 10th player in Giants history to have his jersey retired. Several of his former teammates and managers, including Dusty Baker and Jim Leyland, were on hand.Buster Posey and Evan Longoria had two hits apiece for San Francisco. Ty Blach (6-7) allowed four runs over four innings.Williams (10-8) allowed five hits and walked one in seven innings.ROCKIES 3, DODGERS 2DENVER (AP) — Ryan McMahon hit a three-run homer with two out in the ninth inning, lifting Colorado to the win.McMahon's drive off J.T. Chargois (2-4) cleared the right-field wall just above the out-of-town scoreboard.... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Ryan Zimmerman hit two home runs off a shaky Jon Lester and tied a career high with six RBIs, sending the Washington Nationals over the Chicago Cubs 9-4 on Saturday.Zimmerman hit a two-run homer in the first inning and a sacrifice fly to the warning track in the third. He chased Lester with a three-run drive in the fourth that made it 9-1. He is batting .355 (16 for 45) with four homers and 16 RBIs in 14 games since returning from the disabled list last month.Daniel Murphy also homered and had three hits, helping Tanner Roark (7-12) win his fourth straight start.Lester (12-5) was tagged for eight earned runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings. The left-hander is winless in his last five starts for the NL Central leaders, going 0-3 with a 10.32 ERA during that span.Anthony Rizzo got his 1,000th career hit for the Cubs.MARINERS 3, ASTROS 2HOUSTON (AP) — Ryon Healy had three hits and drove in the go-ahead run for Seattle, and Guillermo Heredia made a spectacular catch to preserve... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning in his first start with New York, and the Yankees rebounded from their tough weekend in Boston by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-0 on Monday night.Lynn provided a big boost for New York after it dropped a season-high five straight games, including a four-game sweep by the major league-leading Red Sox. The series concluded with Aroldis Chapman blowing a save opportunity in a 10-inning loss at Fenway Park late Sunday night.Enter Lynn (8-8), who was acquired in a trade with Minnesota on July 30 and tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in his Yankees debut Wednesday. The veteran right-hander, who replaced Sonny Gray in New York's rotation, retired 19 in a row before Nicky Delmonico led off the eighth with a single to right.After Tim Anderson flied out, A.J. Cole finished the three-hitter for the AL wild-card leaders.Dylan Covey (4-8) was charged with four runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning in his first start with New York, and the Yankees rebounded from their tough weekend in Boston by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-0 on Monday night.Lynn provided a big boost for New York after it dropped a season-high five straight games, including a four-game sweep by the major league-leading Red Sox. The series concluded with Aroldis Chapman blowing a save opportunity in a 10-inning loss at Fenway Park late Sunday night.Enter Lynn (8-8), who was acquired in a trade with Minnesota on July 30 and tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in his Yankees debut Wednesday. The veteran right-hander, who replaced Sonny Gray in New York's rotation, retired 19 in a row before Nicky Delmonico led off the eighth with a single to right.After Tim Anderson flied out, A.J. Cole finished the three-hitter for the AL wild-card leaders.Dylan Covey (4-8) was charged with four runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Lance Lynn pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning in his first start with New York, and the Yankees rebounded from their tough weekend in Boston by beating the Chicago White Sox 7-0 on Monday night.Lynn provided a big boost for New York after it dropped a season-high five straight games, including a four-game sweep by the major league-leading Red Sox. The series concluded with Aroldis Chapman blowing a save opportunity in a 10-inning loss at Fenway Park late Sunday night.Enter Lynn (8-8), who was acquired in a trade with Minnesota on July 30 and tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in his Yankees debut Wednesday. The veteran right-hander, who replaced Sonny Gray in New York's rotation, retired 19 in a row before Nicky Delmonico led off the eighth with a single to right.After Tim Anderson flied out, A.J. Cole finished the three-hitter for the AL wild-card leaders.Dylan Covey (4-8) was charged with four runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped... [More]

SEATTLE (AP) — When the Seattle Mariners surged in June and suddenly became a legitimate playoff contender in the American League, it was largely on the strength of an offense that was scoring plenty of runs with jolts of power at the plate.Just as quickly, that offense has disappeared and become a major concern for a team that has seen its lead for the second AL wild card shrink to only a couple of games."The offense has kind of cooled down. That's baseball. It's going to happen once in a while," shortstop Jean Segura said. "Everybody is dragging, even myself. Every time we go out there we're trying to do the best that we can ... and sometimes it's going to be one of those games where you're dragging and it's going to be a (lot of) close games down the stretch. One of those teams is going to separate to make it to the playoffs because those kinds of games you're going to need to advance to the playoffs."Whether the Mariners can rediscover their offensive punch is a major concern with the... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and Josh Bell each hit a two-run homer, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cleveland Indians 9-4 on Tuesday night for their 11th straight win.The Pirates routed the Indians for the second straight night. Marte homered in the first inning, drove in three runs and extended his career-high hitting streak to 17 games.Polanco homered and Corey Dickerson tripled in two runs when Pittsburgh scored five times in the second. Bell hit a home run in the fifth. The Pirates have homered in a season-high nine straight games, hitting 22 home runs in that span.Pittsburgh has won 11 in a row for the first time since Sept. 12-22, 1996. The Pirates have won 13 of 14 and are 17-8 since June 24. Pittsburgh has outscored its opponents 43-8 in the last five games.Joe Musgrove (4-4) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings for his first win since June 29.Shane Bieber (5-2), called up from Triple-A Columbus to make the start, allowed seven runs in 1 2/3 innings.... [More]

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani's pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning sent Andrew Heaney and the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.Albert Pujols also went deep for the Angels, tying the score at 3 in the sixth. Justin Upton had a two-run single.Heaney (5-6) allowed only three hits and equaled a career high with 10 strikeouts in seven innings to help the Angels take two of three at home in the Freeway Series. He gave up an early three-run homer to Yasiel Puig, who later left with an oblique injury.Ohtani drove his first career pinch-hit homer a projected 443 feet to center field off reliever JT Chargois (2-2). It also was the Angels' first pinch-hit home run of the season and Ohtani's seventh in the majors.The two-way rookie star from Japan, unavailable to pitch lately because of an elbow injury, fouled a ball off his knee one day earlier and experienced soreness. Before the game, it was unclear if he would be able to come off the bench.Justin... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Brett Anderson came off the disabled list and pitched effectively into the sixth inning before turning things over to Oakland's outstanding bullpen as the Athletics downed the Cleveland Indians 6-0 on Sunday.Anderson (1-2) had been sidelined with a shoulder strain, one of several injuries to the A's starting staff. But the left-hander looked sharp in his first start since May 18, limiting the Indians to three hits and leaving with a 4-0 lead.Stephen Piscotty hit a two-run homer off rookie Shane Bieber (4-1), and Jed Lowrie had a solo shot as Oakland won for the 10th time in 12 games to take two of three from the Indians.The A's are 18-6 against AL Central teams.Yusmeiro Petit, Ryan Buchter and Emilio Pagan finished the combined five-hitter as the A's moved 10 games over .500.ASTROS 2, WHITE SOX 1HOUSTON (AP) — Dallas Keuchel pitched seven strong innings, Jose Altuve homered and Houston manufactured the go-ahead run in the seventh to complete a four-game sweep of Chicago.Altuve's... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Brett Anderson came off the disabled list and pitched effectively into the sixth inning before turning things over to Oakland's outstanding bullpen as the Athletics downed the Cleveland Indians 6-0 on Sunday.Anderson (1-2) had been sidelined with a shoulder strain, one of several injuries to the A's starting staff. But the left-hander looked sharp in his first start since May 18, limiting the Indians to three hits and leaving with a 4-0 lead.Stephen Piscotty hit a two-run homer off rookie Shane Bieber (4-1), and Jed Lowrie had a solo shot as Oakland won for the 10th time in 12 games to take two of three from the Indians.The A's are 18-6 against AL Central teams.Yusmeiro Petit, Ryan Buchter and Emilio Pagan finished the combined five-hitter as the A's moved 10 games over .500.ASTROS 2, WHITE SOX 1HOUSTON (AP) — Dallas Keuchel pitched seven strong innings, Jose Altuve homered and Houston manufactured the go-ahead run in the seventh to complete a four-game sweep of Chicago.Altuve's... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in two runs, Eduardo Rodriguez struck out six in six innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Nationals 3-0 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.Rodriguez (10-3) allowed three hits and walked one. Craig Kimbrel worked the ninth for his 26th save in 28 chances, finishing a six-hitter.The Nationals (42-43) have lost five in a row to fall below .500 this late in the season for the first time since being 60-61 on Aug. 21, 2015. The preseason NL East favorites held a players-only meeting after the game.A throwing error by Adam Eaton on Bradley's sacrifice fly and a wild pitch by Ryan Madson (2-4) in the seventh inning contributed to Washington's 17th loss in 22 games.Nationals starter Erick Fedde left one batter into the second inning with right shoulder stiffness. Manager Davey Martinez said Fedde was scheduled to have an MRI.YANKEES 6, BRAVES 2NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer and CC Sabathia pitched six effective... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in two runs, Eduardo Rodriguez struck out six in six innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Nationals 3-0 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.Rodriguez (10-3) allowed three hits and walked one. Craig Kimbrel worked the ninth for his 26th save in 28 chances, finishing a six-hitter.The Nationals (42-43) have lost five in a row to fall below .500 this late in the season for the first time since being 60-61 on Aug. 21, 2015. The preseason NL East favorites held a players-only meeting after the game.A throwing error by Adam Eaton on Bradley's sacrifice fly and a wild pitch by Ryan Madson (2-4) in the seventh inning contributed to Washington's 17th loss in 22 games.Nationals starter Erick Fedde left one batter into the second inning with right shoulder stiffness. Manager Davey Martinez said Fedde was scheduled to have an MRI.YANKEES 6, BRAVES 2NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer and CC Sabathia pitched six effective... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in two runs, Eduardo Rodriguez struck out six in six innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Nationals 3-0 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.Rodriguez (10-3) allowed three hits and walked one. Craig Kimbrel worked the ninth for his 26th save in 28 chances, finishing a six-hitter.The Nationals (42-43) have lost five in a row to fall below .500 this late in the season for the first time since being 60-61 on Aug. 21, 2015. The preseason NL East favorites held a players-only meeting after the game.A throwing error by Adam Eaton on Bradley's sacrifice fly and a wild pitch by Ryan Madson (2-4) in the seventh inning contributed to Washington's 17th loss in 22 games.Nationals starter Erick Fedde left one batter into the second inning with right shoulder stiffness. Manager Davey Martinez said Fedde was scheduled to have an MRI.YANKEES 6, BRAVES 2NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer and CC Sabathia pitched six effective... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jackie Bradley Jr. drove in two runs, Eduardo Rodriguez struck out six in six innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Nationals 3-0 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.Rodriguez (10-3) allowed three hits and walked one. Craig Kimbrel worked the ninth for his 26th save in 28 chances, finishing a six-hitter.The Nationals (42-43) have lost five in a row to fall below .500 this late in the season for the first time since being 60-61 on Aug. 21, 2015. The preseason NL East favorites held a players-only meeting after the game.A throwing error by Adam Eaton on Bradley's sacrifice fly and a wild pitch by Ryan Madson (2-4) in the seventh inning contributed to Washington's 17th loss in 22 games.Nationals starter Erick Fedde left one batter into the second inning with right shoulder stiffness. Manager Davey Martinez said Fedde was scheduled to have an MRI.YANKEES 6, BRAVES 2NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a three-run homer and CC Sabathia pitched six effective... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Sale pitched his latest Bronx gem, Rafael Devers went 5 for 5 with a first-inning grand slam and the Boston Red Sox held the New York Yankees to two hits during an 11-0 rout Saturday night to take back baseball's best record.Sale (8-4) allowed only Giancarlo Stanton's clean single over seven innings, striking out 11. He has a 1.73 career ERA against the Yankees, best among pitchers with at least 10 starts against them since 1920. His ERA at Yankee Stadium is 1.86, second only to Seattle's Felix Hernandez among pitchers with five starts.Boston is a major league-leading 56-28, just ahead of the Yankees at 53-27. New York held the majors' best mark by percentage points after winning Friday's series opener 8-1.Yankee Stadium hosted a season-high sellout of 47,125, and the crowd gave starter Sonny Gray (5-6) an earful after he gave up six runs in 2 1/3 innings. The right-hander dropped to 0-4 with a 9.35 ERA against Boston since being acquired by New York from Oakland last... [More]