DENVER (AP) — Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger and Russell Martin homered as the Los Angeles Dodgers kept up their longball barrage, beating Colorado 10-6 Friday in the Rockies' home opener.After hitting a franchise-record 235 home runs last year, the NL champion Dodgers have connected a whopping 21 times in only eight games this season. They've homered in every game so far.Bellinger hit his sixth of the year, breaking the game open with a three-run drive in the fifth. Muncy finished a double shy of a cycle, walking in the ninth.Trevor Story homered twice for the Rockies.Kenta Maeda (2-0) threw five sharp innings and cruised through a scuffling Colorado lineup. He allowed four hits and his only run on Nolan Arenado's sacrifice fly.Tyler Anderson (0-2) couldn't find his groove in allowing six runs over four innings.PIRATES 2, REDS 0PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joe Musgrove allowed three hits in seven efficient innings to outduel Sonny Gray as the Pittsburgh Pirates handed the Cincinnati Reds their third straight... [More]

The Cleveland Indians already were dealing with a depleted infield when Jose Ramirez took a most damaging swing.A two-time All-Star third baseman, Ramirez bruised his left knee when he fouled a ball off his leg Sunday in a spring training game. His status for opening day was uncertain.X-rays were negative. The Indians said Ramirez will remain in Arizona, and that it will be determined later whether he can play Thursday when the AL Central champions open at Minnesota.Ramirez was carted from the field after getting hurt against the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland's final Cactus League exhibition. He wasn't able to put any pressure on his leg as manager Terry Francona and a trainer helped him onto the cart.The 26-year-old Ramirez hit 39 home runs with 105 RBIs while batting .270 and stealing 34 bases last season. He has finished third in AL MVP voting in each of the last two seasons.Star shortstop Francisco Lindor is starting the season on the injured list and second baseman Jason Kipnis is... [More]

The Cleveland Indians already were dealing with a depleted infield when Jose Ramirez took a most damaging swing.A two-time All-Star third baseman, Ramirez bruised his left knee when he fouled a ball off his leg Sunday in a spring training game. His status for opening day was uncertain.X-rays were negative. The Indians said Ramirez will remain in Arizona, and that it will be determined later whether he can play Thursday when the AL Central champions open at Minnesota.Ramirez was carted from the field after getting hurt against the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland's final Cactus League exhibition. He wasn't able to put any pressure on his leg as manager Terry Francona and a trainer helped him onto the cart.The 26-year-old Ramirez hit 39 home runs with 105 RBIs while batting .270 and stealing 34 bases last season. He has finished third in AL MVP voting in each of the last two seasons.Star shortstop Francisco Lindor is starting the season on the injured list and second baseman Jason Kipnis is... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Cincinnati Reds All-Star second baseman Scooter Gennett injured his right leg while fielding a grounder against Milwaukee and was helped off the field.Gennett ranged to his left for a ball off the bat of Yasmani Grandal leading off the second inning Friday. Gennett slid to make the stop and threw to pitcher Robert Stephenson covering first for the out. Gennett went to his knees and was helped off by Reds head athletic trainer Steve Baumann and manager David Bell."I don't know exactly if it was when he fell or when he made the throw," Bell said. "He felt something in his groin.Cincinnati says Gennett was to have an MRI.The 28-year-old Gennett reached the majors with the Brewers in 2013 and was claimed off waivers by his hometown Reds near the end of spring training two years ago. He made his first All-Star team last season, hitting .310 with 23 homers and 92 RBIs.Top prospect Nick Senzel could be a candidate to replace Gennett. Senzel was reassigned to minor league camp earlier... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Cincinnati Reds All-Star second baseman Scooter Gennett injured his right leg while fielding a grounder against Milwaukee and was helped off the field.Gennett ranged to his left for a ball off the bat of Yasmani Grandal leading off the second inning Friday. Gennett slid to make the stop and threw to pitcher Robert Stephenson covering first for the out. Gennett went to his knees and was helped off by Reds head athletic trainer Steve Baumann and manager David Bell."I don't know exactly if it was when he fell or when he made the throw," Bell said. "He felt something in his groin.Cincinnati says Gennett was to have an MRI.The 28-year-old Gennett reached the majors with the Brewers in 2013 and was claimed off waivers by his hometown Reds near the end of spring training two years ago. He made his first All-Star team last season, hitting .310 with 23 homers and 92 RBIs.Top prospect Nick Senzel could be a candidate to replace Gennett. Senzel was reassigned to minor league camp earlier... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Cincinnati Reds All-Star second baseman Scooter Gennett injured his right leg while fielding a grounder against Milwaukee and was helped off the field.Gennett ranged to his left for a ball off the bat of Yasmani Grandal leading off the second inning Friday. Gennett slid to make the stop and threw to pitcher Robert Stephenson covering first for the out. Gennett went to his knees and was helped off by Reds head athletic trainer Steve Baumann and manager David Bell."I don't know exactly if it was when he fell or when he made the throw," Bell said. "He felt something in his groin.Cincinnati says Gennett was to have an MRI.The 28-year-old Gennett reached the majors with the Brewers in 2013 and was claimed off waivers by his hometown Reds near the end of spring training two years ago. He made his first All-Star team last season, hitting .310 with 23 homers and 92 RBIs.Top prospect Nick Senzel could be a candidate to replace Gennett. Senzel was reassigned to minor league camp earlier... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Cincinnati Reds All-Star second baseman Scooter Gennett injured his right leg while fielding a grounder against Milwaukee and was helped off the field.Gennett ranged to his left for a ball off the bat of Yasmani Grandal leading off the second inning Friday. Gennett slid to make the stop and threw to pitcher Robert Stephenson covering first for the out. Gennett went to his knees and was helped off by Reds head athletic trainer Steve Baumann and manager David Bell."I don't know exactly if it was when he fell or when he made the throw," Bell said. "He felt something in his groin.Cincinnati says Gennett was to have an MRI.The 28-year-old Gennett reached the majors with the Brewers in 2013 and was claimed off waivers by his hometown Reds near the end of spring training two years ago. He made his first All-Star team last season, hitting .310 with 23 homers and 92 RBIs.Top prospect Nick Senzel could be a candidate to replace Gennett. Senzel was reassigned to minor league camp earlier... [More]

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Matt Wieters has been added to the St. Louis Cardinals' roster after earning the back-up job behind catcher Yadier Molina.Wieters' contract was selected Friday from Triple-A Memphis. He gets a $1.5 million salary while in the major leagues and $200,000 while in the minors. He can earn $500,000 in performance bonuses based on games: $100,000 each for 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80.To clear a roster spot, the Cardinals designated left-hander Chasen Shreve for assignment.A four-time All-Star with Baltimore from 2009-16, Wieters was competing with Francisco Pena for the back-up job.Wieters spent the past two seasons with Washington. He hit .238 with eight homers and 30 RBIs last year, when he was sidelined between March 31 and April 12 with a strained left oblique muscle and between May 10 and July 9 with a strained left hamstring.His contract with the Nationals paid $21 million over the two years.Shreve, a 28-year-old left-hander, had a 5.00 ERA in eight spring training appearances... [More]

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Bryce Harper has been playing catch-up since his free agency carried over into spring training.With a week left until opening day, the Philadelphia Phillies' big-money addition looks ready to pay off.Harper hit his first two Grapefruit League homers, combining with fellow new additions Andrew McCutchen and J.T. Realmuto to help Philadelphia pound the Toronto Blue Jays 13-6 Thursday.Harper smashed a two-run homer to right off Sam Gaviglio in the fourth inning and had a solo shot against lefty Thomas Pannone in the sixth. McCutchen also took Gaviglio deep in the second, and Realmuto had a three-run shot in the fourth. That trio has been sharp this spring, with Harper posting a 1.192 OPS, Realmuto at 1.285 and McCutchen .830.Gift Ngoepe and Andrew Knapp also went deep, and Vince Velasquez struck out nine but allowed three runs and two homers in 3 1/3 innings. Velasquez has a 12.79 ERA this spring.Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered to continue a hot spring with Toronto, and... [More]

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Bryce Harper has been playing catch-up since his free agency carried over into spring training.With a week left until opening day, the Philadelphia Phillies' big-money addition looks ready to pay off.Harper hit his first two Grapefruit League homers, combining with fellow new additions Andrew McCutchen and J.T. Realmuto to help Philadelphia pound the Toronto Blue Jays 13-6 Thursday.Harper smashed a two-run homer to right off Sam Gaviglio in the fourth inning and had a solo shot against lefty Thomas Pannone in the sixth. McCutchen also took Gaviglio deep in the second, and Realmuto had a three-run shot in the fourth. That trio has been sharp this spring, with Harper posting a 1.192 OPS, Realmuto at 1.285 and McCutchen .830.Gift Ngoepe and Andrew Knapp also went deep, and Vince Velasquez struck out nine but allowed three runs and two homers in 3 1/3 innings. Velasquez has a 12.79 ERA this spring.Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered to continue a hot spring with Toronto, and... [More]

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Bryce Harper has been playing catch-up since his free agency carried over into spring training.With a week left until opening day, the Philadelphia Phillies' big-money addition looks ready to pay off.Harper hit his first two Grapefruit League homers, combining with fellow new additions Andrew McCutchen and J.T. Realmuto to help Philadelphia pound the Toronto Blue Jays 13-6 Thursday.Harper smashed a two-run homer to right off Sam Gaviglio in the fourth inning and had a solo shot against lefty Thomas Pannone in the sixth. McCutchen also took Gaviglio deep in the second, and Realmuto had a three-run shot in the fourth. That trio has been sharp this spring, with Harper posting a 1.192 OPS, Realmuto at 1.285 and McCutchen .830.Gift Ngoepe and Andrew Knapp also went deep, and Vince Velasquez struck out nine but allowed three runs and two homers in 3 1/3 innings. Velasquez has a 12.79 ERA this spring.Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered to continue a hot spring with Toronto, and... [More]

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Jung Ho Kang and Erik Gonzalez have won starting jobs in the infield with the Pittsburgh Pirates.General manager Neal Huntington said Monday that Kang has beaten out Colin Moran at third base and Erik Gonzalez has won the shortstop competition over Kevin Newman."It was not an easy decision because all four guys, in their own way, had legitimate claims to be the regular," Huntington said.Kang is just 5 for 28 (.185) with 13 strikeouts this spring but all five hits have been solo home runs. Moran was 6 for 28 (.214) with a double and a homer through the weekend.Moran, however, had committed four errors while Kang had two."The power has been real," manager Clint Hurdle said of Kang. "It's spring training, but it's five homers. We don't have anybody else that's hit five homers."Kang missed the entire 2017 season and the beginning of 2018 because he was unable to secure a work visa to travel from his native South Korea following a third DUI arrest. He then underwent wrist... [More]

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Jung Ho Kang and Erik Gonzalez have won starting jobs in the infield with the Pittsburgh Pirates.General manager Neal Huntington said Monday that Kang has beaten out Colin Moran at third base and Erik Gonzalez has won the shortstop competition over Kevin Newman."It was not an easy decision because all four guys, in their own way, had legitimate claims to be the regular," Huntington said.Kang is just 5 for 28 (.185) with 13 strikeouts this spring but all five hits have been solo home runs. Moran was 6 for 28 (.214) with a double and a homer through the weekend.Moran, however, had committed four errors while Kang had two."The power has been real," manager Clint Hurdle said of Kang. "It's spring training, but it's five homers. We don't have anybody else that's hit five homers."Kang missed the entire 2017 season and the beginning of 2018 because he was unable to secure a work visa to travel from his native South Korea following a third DUI arrest. He then underwent wrist... [More]

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Jung Ho Kang and Erik Gonzalez have won starting jobs in the infield with the Pittsburgh Pirates.General manager Neal Huntington said Monday that Kang has beaten out Colin Moran at third base and Erik Gonzalez has won the shortstop competition over Kevin Newman."It was not an easy decision because all four guys, in their own way, had legitimate claims to be the regular," Huntington said.Kang is just 5 for 28 (.185) with 13 strikeouts this spring but all five hits have been solo home runs. Moran was 6 for 28 (.214) with a double and a homer through the weekend.Moran, however, had committed four errors while Kang had two."The power has been real," manager Clint Hurdle said of Kang. "It's spring training, but it's five homers. We don't have anybody else that's hit five homers."Kang missed the entire 2017 season and the beginning of 2018 because he was unable to secure a work visa to travel from his native South Korea following a third DUI arrest. He then underwent wrist... [More]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Chris Archer had success against the high-powered New York Yankees and more importantly felt great afterwards.Archer allowed two hits and struck out four over three scoreless innings in the Pittsburgh Pirates' 6-5 loss on Sunday.The right-hander, who underwent surgery to repair a hernia in November, faced a lineup that included Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Troy Tulowitzki, Gleyber Torres, Brett Gardner and Greg Bird."The biggest thing for me is health," Archer said. "Whenever I don't have to be tentative, I don't have to be passive because there's an ailment, I'm happy."Gardner and Stanton had first-inning singles before Archer retired his final seven batters."Facing those guys, you get really good feedback," Archer said. "But the process of executing the pitches, that's all I was focused on."Archer had four strikeouts over two hitless innings in his first spring training start in Tuesday's 10-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles.The 30-year-old will start the Pirates'... [More]

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates admittedly took a leap of faith when they re-signed Jung Ho Kang to a $3 million, one-year contract in November as a free agent.Kang missed the entire 2017 season because he was unable to obtain a work visa to travel to the United States following a third arrest for DUI in his native South Korea.Finally cleared to come to the U.S. last April, Kang sustained a wrist injury that required surgery while playing for Triple-A Indianapolis. He did return to the major leagues for the Pirates' season-ending three-game series at Cincinnati.So far during spring training, Kang has not looked like he was away from the major leagues for so long. He has hit three home runs and played good defense while looking to win the starting third baseman's job from incumbent Colin Moran."It was uncharted territory coming in (to spring training) but he's getting in his work and he's knocking down different markers along the way," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "You... [More]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Corey Dickerson was 1 for 3 with a single in three at-bats in his first spring training game for the Pittsburgh Pirates, an 8-6 loss to the New York Yankees on Thursday.Dickerson and Adam Frazier are among players being eased into game action."We're trying some different things as far as when we plug guys in and the amount of work they do and the volume of work that they do to see how they respond to it," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.Dickerson, who hit .300 with 13 homers and 55 RBIs in 135 games last season, was a designated hitter and could play in the outfield next week.Frazier is set to play for the first time this weekend.Pittsburgh is ensuring playing time for prospects and offseason acquisitions."That's one of the things we took into consideration when we looked at the makeup of the roster in spring training," Hurdle said. "The number of young players that we have here that we actually wanted to put eyes on. The number of guys we targeted in the offseason and brought in from the outside that we told there would be opportunities."Jung Ho Kang homered for the third time and is hitting .429 (3 for 7) in three games. ... OF Gregory Polanco, coming back from September shoulder surgery, could get at-bats before the team break camp.___More AP baseball coverage: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

A team-by-team look at the National League Central entering spring training, including key players each club acquired and lost, and dates of the first workout for pitchers and catchers, and the full squad:___Milwaukee BrewersManager: Craig Counsell (fifth season).2018: 96-67, first place, lost to Dodgers in NLCS.Training Town: Phoenix.Park: Maryvale Baseball Park.First Workout: Feb. 14/19.He's Here: C Yasmani Grandal, OF Ben Gamel, 2B-3B Cory Spangenberg, LHP Alex Claudio, RHP Deolis Guerra, RHP Bobby Wahl, RHP Josh Tomlin.He's Outta Here: 3B Mike Moustakas, LHP Gio Gonzalez, LHP Wade Miley, OF Keon Broxton, OF Domingo Santana, 2B Jonathan Schoop, RHP Joakim Soria, LHP Dan Jennings, OF Curtis Granderson, LHP Xavier Cedeno.Going campin': The Brewers return mostly intact after making it to the NL Championship Series last year in the franchise's first playoff appearance since they also lost the NLCS in 2011. Grandal is a major upgrade behind the plate after he hit 24 homers last year with... [More]

A team-by-team look at the National League Central entering spring training, including key players each club acquired and lost, and dates of the first workout for pitchers and catchers, and the full squad:___Milwaukee BrewersManager: Craig Counsell (fifth season).2018: 96-67, first place, lost to Dodgers in NLCS.Training Town: Phoenix.Park: Maryvale Baseball Park.First Workout: Feb. 14/19.He's Here: C Yasmani Grandal, OF Ben Gamel, 2B-3B Cory Spangenberg, LHP Alex Claudio, RHP Deolis Guerra, RHP Bobby Wahl.He's Outta Here: 3B Mike Moustakas, LHP Gio Gonzalez, LHP Wade Miley, OF Keon Broxton, OF Domingo Santana, 2B Jonathan Schoop, RHP Joakim Soria, LHP Dan Jennings, OF Curtis Granderson, LHP Xavier Cedeno.Going campin': The Brewers return mostly intact after making it to the NL Championship Series last year in the franchise's first playoff appearance since they also lost the NLCS in 2011. Grandal is a major upgrade behind the plate after he hit 24 homers last year with the Dodgers. There... [More]

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jung Ho Kang is staying with the Pittsburgh Pirates.Pittsburgh and the third baseman agreed Thursday to a $3 million, one-year contract that includes $2.5 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances: $625,000 each for 200, 300, 400 and 500. The deal was announced a week after Pittsburgh declined a $5.5 million club option for Kang, triggering a $250,000 buyout."We feel that bringing Jung Ho back in 2019 will make us better as he will have the ability to make a positive impact on our lineup," general manager Neal Huntington said in a statement. "Competition and options are important to any organization and this signing provides us with both."Kang was a star in his native South Korea when the Pirates signed him to an $11 million, four-year deal in January 2015. He finished third in NL Rookie of the Year balloting after hitting 15 homers and driving in 58 runs in 2015, when Pittsburgh won 98 games. It would be the high point of Kang's time with the Pirates.The 31-year-old Kang didn't play in the U.S. between September 2016 and June 2018 because of visa issues connected to three DUI arrests in South Korea. He made it back to the majors with Pittsburgh in September and went 2 for 6 during the final weekend of the season.As in Kang's previous deal, the Pirates must allow him to become a free agent at the end of the contract.___More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports