TORONTO (AP) — Kendrys Morales became the seventh player in major league history to homer in at least seven consecutive games, going deep in the third inning of the Toronto Blue Jays' 8-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.Morales hit a two-run shot off Vince Velasquez, his 21st homer of the season. He has a chance to equal the major league record of homers in eight consecutive games, shared by Ken Griffey Jr., Dale Long and Don Mattingly.Rhys Hoskins and Carlos Santana hit back-to-back home runs for Philadelphia. Maikel Franco and Wilson Ramos each had two-run shots as the Phillies avoided a three-game sweep.Ramos had four hits. He singled in the first, doubled home a run in the second, singled in the sixth and homered off Tyler Clippard in the eighth, his 15th.Velasquez (9-9) allowed two runs and three hits in five innings for the victory as Philadelphia won for the second time in eight games.Marco Estrada (7-10) allowed five runs and seven hits in two-plus innings as Toronto's... [More]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Trevor Cahill pitched one-hit ball for seven shutout innings and the Oakland Athletics, far behind in the AL West standings earlier this summer, tied Houston for the division lead by beating the Astros 7-1 Saturday.Khris Davis, Matt Olson, Josh Phegley and Stephen Piscotty each hit two of Oakland's team record-tying eight doubles as the A's won for the sixth time in seven games. The Athletics trailed the defending World Series champion Astros by 11 1/2 games on June 24 and were still 10 out on July 10.Houston has lost seven of eight and dropped 12 of 19 since owning a six-game lead on July 24. The next day, reigning AL MVP Jose Altuve went on the disabled list, and the star second baseman is still out.Cahill (5-2) struck out seven, walked one and retired 14 straight batters during one stretch.Tony Kemp homered in the ninth for Houston's only other hit. Dallas Keuchel (9-10) gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings.ROCKIES 5, BRAVES 3, 10 INNINGSATLANTA (AP) — Colorado struck... [More]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Trevor Cahill pitched one-hit ball for seven shutout innings and the Oakland Athletics, far behind in the AL West standings earlier this summer, tied Houston for the division lead by beating the Astros 7-1 Saturday.Khris Davis, Matt Olson, Josh Phegley and Stephen Piscotty each hit two of Oakland's team record-tying eight doubles as the A's won for the sixth time in seven games. The Athletics trailed the defending World Series champion Astros by 11 1/2 games on June 24 and were still 10 out on July 10.Houston has lost seven of eight and dropped 12 of 19 since owning a six-game lead on July 24. The next day, reigning AL MVP Jose Altuve went on the disabled list, and the star second baseman is still out.Cahill (5-2) struck out seven, walked one and retired 14 straight batters during one stretch.Tony Kemp homered in the ninth for Houston's only other hit. Dallas Keuchel (9-10) gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings.ROCKIES 5, BRAVES 3, 10 INNINGSATLANTA (AP) — Colorado struck... [More]

Major League Baseball has made an effort to grow the sport among African-Americans, and there are finally some small signs of progress. Meanwhile, ballparks from coast to coast host nights celebrating the LGBT community, another example of baseball's attempts to promote diversity.Right now, all of that is being overshadowed after the discovery of some inflammatory old tweets from current players, social media posts that threaten to undermine some of the work MLB has invested in."I think the main challenge is that a lot of times good deeds are not as interesting as misdeeds," said Billy Bean, MLB's vice president for social responsibility and inclusion. "We've worked so hard to not only introduce the sport in underserved areas and grow our Play Ball initiative, our Breakthrough Series — our RBI program is in its third decade. The number of kids that we're putting uniforms on and introducing to the sport at a younger age — that definitely gets pushed to the wayside when (there is) something... [More]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Bartolo Colon became the top-winning pitcher born in Latin America, punctuating his 246th career victory with a nifty snag as the Texas Rangers roughed up Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners 11-4 on Tuesday night.The 45-year-old Colon, from the Dominican Republic, made his sixth start since earning his 245th win on June 30 that matched the mark held by Dennis Martinez from Nicaragua.Colon (6-10) gave up four runs in seven innings. The portly and popular right-hander struck out one and walked none.Adrian Beltre, Jurickson Profar and Rougned Odor homered off Hernandez (8-10), who allowed a career-high 11 runs — seven earned — in six innings.ANGELS 11, TIGERS 5ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer during a seven-run first inning, and the Angels celebrated Mike Trout's 27th birthday with a victory over the Tigers.Trout missed his sixth consecutive game with a sore right wrist, but his teammates maintained a celebratory mood at the Big A with... [More]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Bartolo Colon became the top-winning pitcher born in Latin America, punctuating his 246th career victory with a nifty snag as the Texas Rangers roughed up Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners 11-4 on Tuesday night.The 45-year-old Colon, from the Dominican Republic, made his sixth start since earning his 245th win on June 30 that matched the mark held by Dennis Martinez from Nicaragua.Colon (6-10) gave up four runs in seven innings. The portly and popular right-hander struck out one and walked none.Adrian Beltre, Jurickson Profar and Rougned Odor homered off Hernandez (8-10), who allowed a career-high 11 runs — seven earned — in six innings.PIRATES 10, ROCKIES 2DENVER (AP) — Jameson Taillon beat Chad Bettis in a matchup of pitchers who battled testicular cancer last year, and the Pirates hit three homers.Taillon (9-8) allowed 10 hits in his second complete game of the season. The 26-year-old right-hander struck out three and walked one, helping Pittsburgh stop... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ender Inciarte snapped a ninth-inning tie with a two-run triple, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 3-1 Tuesday night to earn a doubleheader split.In the opener, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman hit consecutive homers to spark a four-run fourth inning that carried Washington to an 8-3 victory.Seeking to blunt the momentum of the surging Nationals, Atlanta shook off a strong pitching performance by Max Scherzer before striking against the Washington bullpen in the second game.Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis singled off Kelvin Herrera (1-2) before Inciarte hit a liner down the first-base line. That was the final pitch thrown by Herrera, who left after a visit from Washington's trainer.Jesse Biddle (3-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings and A.J. Minter got three outs for his ninth save.In the first game, Zimmerman and Trea Turner had three hits apiece and Harper added two hits and two RBIs. Jefry Rodriguez (1-1) allowed one run in five innings in his first major victory.Kolby... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman hit consecutive homers to spark a four-run fourth inning, and the surging Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 Tuesday in the opener of a split doubleheader.Rookie right-hander Jefry Rodriguez (1-1) allowed one run and three hits in five innings to earn his first major victory. He also got his first big league hit and scored a run.Washington has won nine of 12 to move four games over .500 (58-54) for the first time since June 29. The Nationals are chasing first-place Philadelphia and Atlanta in the NL East.Charlie Culberson homered for the Braves, and Nick Markakis contributed two hits and an RBI.Harper led off the fourth with his 27th home run, and Zimmerman followed a drive far over the center-field wall for a 2-1 lead. After Rodriguez doubled with two outs, Trea Turner and Juan Soto hit RBI singles.All the damage came against 20-year-old Kolby Allard (1-1), recalled from the minors to be the 26th man in the doubleheader. Starter... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — Steve Pearce homered three times, the second a three-run drive in an eight-run fourth inning as the Boston Red Sox rallied from an early deficit to beat the New York Yankees 15-7 on Thursday night and take a season-high 6½-game lead in the AL East.In the opener of a four-game series that gave New York the potential to erase most of its division deficit, the Red Sox instead opened a bigger gap, taking advantage of manager Aaron Boone's decision to pull starter CC Sabathia after three innings with a 4-2 lead. Jonathan Holder (1-2) faced seven batters and did not record an out.Mookie Betts had four hits and two walks, reaching safely all six times he came to the plate. Pearce, J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler and Andrew Benintendi had three hits apiece for Boston.Didi Grigorius homered twice, Aaron Hicks hit one and Giancarlo Stanton got his 25th of the season for the Yankees, who have lost just twice in the past week but dropped two games in the division.Brian Johnson (2-3), making... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — Steve Pearce homered three times, the second a three-run drive in an eight-run fourth inning as the Boston Red Sox rallied from an early deficit to beat the New York Yankees 15-7 on Thursday night and take a season-high 6½-game lead in the AL East.In the opener of a four-game series that gave New York the potential to erase most of its division deficit, the Red Sox instead opened a bigger gap, taking advantage of manager Aaron Boone's decision to pull starter CC Sabathia after three innings with a 4-2 lead. Jonathan Holder (1-2) faced seven batters and did not record an out.Mookie Betts had four hits and two walks, reaching safely all six times he came to the plate. Pearce, J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler and Andrew Benintendi had three hits apiece for Boston.Didi Grigorius homered twice, Aaron Hicks hit one and Giancarlo Stanton got his 25th of the season for the Yankees, who have lost just twice in the past week but dropped two games in the division.Brian Johnson (2-3), making... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Sonny Gray was chased in the third inning by the team with worst record in the majors, big league-loss leader Alex Cobb ended a nine-start winless streak and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 7-5 on Wednesday.Despite what appeared to be a midgame lecture in the dugout by third base coach Phil Nevin during a rain delay, New York (68-38) dropped 5 1/2 games behind Boston (75-34) heading into a four-game series at Fenway Park starting Thursday.Gray (8-8) allowed seven runs, eight hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings, raising his ERA to 5.56. He was booed as he walked off the mound and was replaced by Lance Lynn.Cobb (3-14) had been 0-7 since winning at the New York Mets on June 5, losing his last five outings. He breezed against the Yankees with an early 7-1 lead, allowing one run and seven hits in six innings and stopping Baltimore's streak of 11 consecutive road losses.Gleyber Torres homered twice for New York, a solo drive in the second and a three-run shot... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Sonny Gray was chased in the third inning by the team with worst record in the majors, big league-loss leader Alex Cobb ended a nine-start winless streak and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 7-5 on Wednesday.Despite what appeared to be a midgame lecture in the dugout by third base coach Phil Nevin during a rain delay, New York (68-38) dropped 5 1/2 games behind Boston (75-34) heading into a four-game series at Fenway Park starting Thursday.Gray (8-8) allowed seven runs, eight hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings, raising his ERA to 5.56. He was booed as he walked off the mound and was replaced by Lance Lynn.Cobb (3-14) had been 0-7 since winning at the New York Mets on June 5, losing his last five outings. He breezed against the Yankees with an early 7-1 lead, allowing one run and seven hits in six innings and stopping Baltimore's streak of 11 consecutive road losses.Gleyber Torres homered twice for New York, a solo drive in the second and a three-run shot... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Sonny Gray was chased in the third inning by the team with worst record in the majors, big league-loss leader Alex Cobb ended a nine-start winless streak and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 7-5 on Wednesday.Despite what appeared to be a midgame lecture in the dugout by third base coach Phil Nevin during a rain delay, New York (68-38) dropped 5 1/2 games behind Boston (75-34) heading into a four-game series at Fenway Park starting Thursday.Gray (8-8) allowed seven runs, eight hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings, raising his ERA to 5.56. He was booed as he walked off the mound and was replaced by Lance Lynn.Cobb (3-14) had been 0-7 since winning at the New York Mets on June 5, losing his last five outings. He breezed against the Yankees with an early 7-1 lead, allowing one run and seven hits in six innings and stopping Baltimore's streak of 11 consecutive road losses.Gleyber Torres homered twice for New York, a solo drive in the second and a three-run shot... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — At 13, Charlie Fish in Cincinnati has just been given the parental go-ahead to use social media for the first time. He's also a competitive golfer, avid "SportsCenter" watcher and well aware of the attention received by offensive tweets posted years ago by some Major League Baseball players, some when they were teenagers themselves.But is he old enough and mature enough to put all of those things together?Some parents have seized on posts by Milwaukee Brewer Josh Hader, Atlanta Brave Sean Newcomb and Washington National Trea Turner as teaching moments about how living life online means your posts may never go away. They're just not sure whether their young, uber-sharers are listening.Charlie's dad, Bill Fish, is hopeful that Charlie gets it. He'll hope the same for his 9-year-old son when he, too, reaches the magical Fish family age of 13 and is allowed on Snapchat, Instagram or whatever the stream du jour will be."Charlie came to me about the story and how dumb the players... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the highest-scoring game in franchise history, Daniel Murphy hit two early home runs and the Washington Nationals kept pouring it on against emergency reliever Jose Reyes and the New York Mets in a 25-4 rout Tuesday night.Trea Turner, who apologized before the game to his teammates for homophobic and racially insensitive tweets he sent several years ago, had four of Washington's 26 hits. Pitcher Tanner Roark (5-12) hit a three-run double during a seven-run first inning.The Nationals set the team scoring mark dating to their days as the Montreal Expos in 1969. It was the Mets' most-lopsided loss in their 57-season history, worse than a 26-7 pounding by Philadelphia in 1985.Reyes made the first pitching appearance of his career, and the 35-year-old infielder got tagged for home runs by Matt Adams and Mark Reynolds in a six-run eighth. Throwing a fastball in the mid-80s mph and a curve in the upper 40s, Reyes gave up five hits and walked two.Reyes also plunked Ryan Zimmerman... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the highest-scoring game in franchise history, Daniel Murphy hit two early home runs and the Washington Nationals kept pouring it on against emergency reliever Jose Reyes and the New York Mets in a 25-4 rout Tuesday night.Trea Turner, who apologized before the game to his teammates for homophobic and racially insensitive tweets he sent several years ago, had four of Washington's 26 hits. Pitcher Tanner Roark (5-12) hit a three-run double during a seven-run first inning.The Nationals set the team scoring mark dating to their days as the Montreal Expos in 1969. It was the Mets' most-lopsided loss in their 57-season history, worse than a 26-7 pounding by Philadelphia in 1985.Reyes made the first pitching appearance of his career, and the 35-year-old infielder got tagged for home runs by Matt Adams and Mark Reynolds in a six-run eighth. Throwing a fastball in the mid-80s mph and a curve in the upper 40s, Reyes gave up five hits and walked two.Reyes also plunked Ryan Zimmerman... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nationals shortstop Trea Turner apologized to his teammates on Tuesday for homophobic and racially insensitive tweets he sent several years ago.An emotional Turner met with reporters following meeting with his teammates, coaches and manager Dave Martinez."It's not when I said the things I said. It's that I said them at all," the 25-year-old Turner said. "That's a clear learning point from this to make sure that anybody is aware of what they're saying at all times. No matter how you use it or what context you think you are using it in, words hurt. It's wrong and inexcusable for what I said."The posts, from 2011 and 2012 when Turner was playing at N.C. State, surfaced hours after Washington's 5-0 loss at Miami on Sunday. Turner and Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo issued statements of apology Sunday night, and the Nationals were off Monday."I want to apologize to everybody that was affected by things that I said: LBGT community, African-American community, special needs... [More]

A pair of Twitter users whose posts exposing offensive tweets by baseball players went viral over the weekend say their aim was not malicious but to give fans a fuller picture of who they're cheering for, and to expose the sport's "toxic" culture.In exclusive interviews with The Associated Press, both users said they weren't looking for the years-old tweets from Milwaukee Brewers reliever Josh Hader or Atlanta Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb , but when the posts came across their timelines, they felt obligated to share them.Kevin Jenkins wasn't looking through Hader's twitter feed as he watched the All-Star Game earlier this month. But then they began popping up on his Twitter feed. After seeing the pitcher's racist, sexist and homophobic remarks, it was hard for Jenkins to remain a fan."Before the tweets, I thought he was a cool guy," Jenkins said via direct message on Twitter. "An amazing pitcher and an even better person ... After the tweets, I mean ... It's hard to defend the guy. My opinion... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Braves left-hander Sean Newcomb apologized to his teammates on Monday for racist, homophobic and sexist tweets he sent as a teenager.Newcomb's apology was delivered in a meeting attended by players, coaches, manager Brian Snitker and Atlanta staff.Ender Inciarte and Dansby Swanson said players accepted the apology. Each said tweets made public on Sunday did not represent Newcomb's actions on the team."I think Newcomb is one of the best teammates I've ever had," Inciarte said. "He's such a good person and a great example and role model for this organization, I'm more than proud to talk about the kind of person he is."Swanson, the shortstop who played with Newcomb in the Braves' minor league system before their time together in Atlanta, said he doesn't expect the incident to cause problems in the clubhouse."I think at the end of the day everyone realizes that does not directly reflect who he is," Swanson said of Newcomb's tweets. "He prides himself on being a great guy and... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb apologized Sunday for racist, homophobic and sexist tweets he sent as a teenager, calling them "some stupid stuff.""I definitely regret it, for sure," he said.The 25-year-old Newcomb spoke less than an hour after nearly pitching a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The tweets were sent in 2011 and 2012."I just wanted to apologize for any insensitive material," Newcomb said. "It was a long time ago, six or seven years ago, saying some stupid stuff with friends.""I know I've grown a lot since then. I didn't mean anything by it. It was just something stupid I did a long time ago and I didn't mean anything by it, for sure," he said.Major League Baseball dealt with a similar situation this month involving Milwaukee Brewers reliever Josh Hader on the night he pitched in the All-Star Game."Such inappropriate comments have no place in our game. We are aware of this serious issue, Billy Bean will meet with Mr. Newcomb this week, and we will... [More]