PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies closer Héctor Neris has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing a pitch in the area of the head of David Freese of the Los Angeles Dodgers.Joe Torre, Chief Baseball Officer for Major League Baseball, announced the suspension and fine Wednesday, a day after the incident in the ninth inning of the Phillies' 9-8 home victory. Neris is appealing the suspension, making him eligible to pitch Wednesday night against Los Angeles.Neris was ejected after hitting Freese in the back with the next pitch after Matt Beaty hit a two-run homer.Neris (2-4) has converted 17 of 21 save opportunities.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies closer Héctor Neris has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing a pitch in the area of the head of David Freese of the Los Angeles Dodgers.Joe Torre, Chief Baseball Officer for Major League Baseball, announced the suspension and fine Wednesday, a day after the incident in the ninth inning of the Phillies' 9-8 home victory.Neris was ejected after hitting Freese in the back with the next pitch after Matt Beaty hit a two-run homer.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani became the first Japanese-born player to hit for the cycle, helping the Los Angeles Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 Thursday night after a delay caused by a power outage.Ohtani hit a three-run homer in the first inning and completed the feat with a single in the seventh. He is the eighth Angels player to hit for the cycle and the first since Mike Trout on May 21, 2013.Albert Pujols also homered for the Angels, becoming the sixth player ever with 200 home runs in each league. He hit 445 in 11 seasons with St. Louis and has 200 in eight years with the Angels, including 12 this season.He led off the third with a double and tripled in the fifth before Pujols' home run. A two-out single in the seventh completed the cycle in just four plate appearances, and fans at Tropicana Field gave him a standing ovation.The game was held up 36 minutes by a power delay in the fourth with the Angels leading 3-0.Yarbrough (5-3) gave up five runs and five hits (all... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Major league batting leader Cody Bellinger is sitting out the Los Angeles Dodgers' series opener against the Diamondbacks in Arizona.Bellinger, who leads the majors with a .376 batting average with 20 home runs, is missing his third game of the season Monday to rest.Bellinger has played in 58 of 60 games this season, having missed a game in April and May. Manager Dave Roberts said it's just normal day off given Bellinger's work load this season. He has a team-leading 210 at-bats and has played first base along with all three outfield positions.Max Muncy is being held out of Monday's lineup for the same reason. Muncy's 197 at-bats are third-most on the team.Roberts said he was "trying to get ahead of Cody and Max, keeping them healthy."Roberts also noted that Bellinger and Muncy are left-handed hitters and the situation allows right-handed Kike Hernandez and David Freese, both with more at-bats and success against Diamondbacks lefty Robbie Ray, to see action.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

CINCINNATI (AP) — Max Scherzer struck out a season high 15, allowing three hits over eight innings to lead the Washington Nationals over Cincinnati 4-1 on Sunday, their 12th win in 14 games against the Reds.When manager Dave Martinez visited the mound with a runner on second and two outs in the ninth, Scherzer told him emphatically to keep him in the game. Scherzer then fanned Joey Votto on three straight called strikes.Scherzer (3-5) reached double figures in strikeouts for the fourth time in 13 starts this season and 86th time in his career,Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save as Washington won for the seventh time in nine games.Sonny Gray (2-5) gave up two runs and five hits in five innings.Anthony Rendon had three hits, including an RBI single in the first, and raised his average to .331.YANKEES 8, RED SOX 5NEW YORK (AP) — David Price finally won at Yankee Stadium for the first time with the Boston Red Sox, backed by early homers from J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts.Boston... [More]

CINCINNATI (AP) — Max Scherzer struck out a season high 15, allowing three hits over eight innings to lead the Washington Nationals over Cincinnati 4-1 on Sunday, their 12th win in 14 games against the Reds.When manager Dave Martinez visited the mound with a runner on second and two outs in the ninth, Scherzer told him emphatically to keep him in the game. Scherzer then fanned Joey Votto on three straight called strikes.Scherzer (3-5) reached double figures in strikeouts for the fourth time in 13 starts this season and 86th time in his career,Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect ninth for his 12th save as Washington won for the seventh time in nine games.Sonny Gray (2-5) gave up two runs and five hits in five innings.Anthony Rendon had three hits, including an RBI single in the first, and raised his average to .331.TWINS 9, RAYS 7ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jake Odorizzi (8-2) won his eighth straight decision, allowing three hits and striking out nine in six scoreless innings to lower his AL-best... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Eugenio Suárez hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Cubs reliever Steve Cishek, rallying the Cincinnati Reds past Chicago 6-5 on Friday.Joey Votto drew a leadoff walk from Cishek (1-2) and Suárez hit the next pitch for his 14th home run.Yasiel Puig hit a two-run homer and an RBI single for the Reds after missing two games with a sprained right shoulder.Anthony Rizzo homered for the third straight game, and Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant also went deep for the NL Central-leading Cubs, who have lost three of four to the last-place Reds this season.Pinch-hitter Willson Contreras singled home Rizzo in the eighth to put Chicago ahead 5-4. Jesse Winker's double off Brad Brach in the Reds seventh tied it at 4.David Hernandez (1-2) got one out and the win. Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th in 13 chances.PADRES 6, BLUE JAYS 3TORONTO (AP) — Hunter Renfroe hit a tiebreaking, three-run home run in the eighth inning, Greg Garcia and Austin Hedges also went deep,... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors Saturday:WHAT A STRINGRays right-hander Charlie Morton hasn't lost in his last 17 starts, going 7-0 with a 3.21 ERA in a span that started last August with Houston. Morton (4-0, 2.65) faces Carlos Carrasco and the Indians in Cleveland.Morton's streak is the second-longest active run behind Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, who is 10-0 over his last 19 starts.ROOKIE BLUESCavan Biggio tries again for his first major league hit when the Blue Jays host San Diego. The son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio struck out twice in going 0 for 3 in his debut for Toronto on Friday.The 24-year-old infielder was hitting .307 with six home runs and 26 RBIs when he was called up from Triple-A this week.'PEN MANThe Cardinals say struggling right-hander Michael Wacha is going to work out of the bullpen. He is 2-2 with a 6.39 ERA in his last five starts.The 27-year-old Wacha last pitched in relief on Sept. 26, 2016. He was the NL Championship Series MVP as a rookie in... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Eugenio Suárez hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning off Cubs reliever Steve Cishek, rallying the Cincinnati Reds past Chicago 6-5 on Friday.Joey Votto drew a leadoff walk from Cishek (1-2) and Suárez hit the next pitch for his 14th home run.Yasiel Puig hit a two-run homer and an RBI single for the Reds after missing two games with a sprained right shoulder.Anthony Rizzo homered for the third straight game, and Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant also went deep for the NL Central-leading Cubs, who have lost three of four to the last-place Reds this season.Pinch-hitter Willson Contreras singled home Rizzo in the eighth to put Chicago ahead 5-4. Jesse Winker's double off Brad Brach in the Reds seventh tied it at 4.David Hernandez (1-2) got one out and the win. Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th in 13 chances.PADRES 6, BLUE JAYS 3TORONTO (AP) — Hunter Renfroe hit a tiebreaking, three-run home run in the eighth inning, Greg Garcia and Austin Hedges also went deep,... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Cincinnati manager David Bell notices the difference from his playing days."There's just no question that swings are geared for more home runs," he said. "The swings are different than they used to be. It's pretty obvious when you pull up a video of 20 years ago, 30 years ago."Baseball's all-or-nothing trend accelerated in the season's first full month, as batters binged on home runs and pitchers thrived on strikeouts.Players hit 1,144 home runs in 874 games through April 30, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, an average of 1.31 per game. That is on track to break the record average of 1.26 set two years ago."I think we're starting to see more and more, some of the miss-hits are going pretty far, too," Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.Even more significantly, the barrage took place during a time when cold weather in much of the country usually causes many fly balls to die on warning tracks. There were 912 homers in 838 games through April last year, an average of 1.09... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Cincinnati manager David Bell notices the difference from his playing days."There's just no question that swings are geared for more home runs," he said. "The swings are different than they used to be. It's pretty obvious when you pull up a video of 20 years ago, 30 years ago."Baseball's all-or-nothing trend accelerated in the season's first full month, as batters binged on home runs and pitchers thrived on strikeouts.Players hit 1,144 home runs in 874 games through April 30, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, an average of 1.31 per game. That is on track to break the record average of 1.26 set two years ago."I think we're starting to see more and more, some of the miss-hits are going pretty far, too," Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.Even more significantly, the barrage took place during a time when cold weather in much of the country usually causes many fly balls to die on warning tracks. There were 912 homers in 838 games through April last year, an average of 1.09... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — CC Sabathia became the 17th player in major league history and third left-hander to reach 3,000 career strikeouts, but was outpitched by Arizona ace Zack Greinke in the Diamondbacks' 3-1 win over the New York Yankees Tuesday night.Sabathia (1-1) arrived in the desert needing three strikeouts to hit 3,000 and got them all in the third inning.The milestone whiff came when he got John Ryan Murphy swinging, sending the Yankees pouring out of the dugout.Sabathia became the first pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts since Atlanta's John Smoltz in 2008, and joined Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton as the only lefties to do it.Wilmer Flores hit a solo homer and a run-scoring single off Sabathia. He allowed two runs and five hits, and struck out five before being lifted with two on and one out in the sixth inning.Greinke (5-1) won his fifth straight game. He allowed one run in 7 2/3 innings.BREWERS 4, ROCKIES 3MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jesus Aguilar homered again and Milwaukee broke through late... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — CC Sabathia became the 17th player in major league history and third left-hander to reach 3,000 career strikeouts, but was outpitched by Arizona ace Zack Greinke in the Diamondbacks' 3-1 win over the New York Yankees Tuesday night.Sabathia (1-1) arrived in the desert needing three strikeouts to hit 3,000 and got them all in the third inning.The milestone whiff came when he got John Ryan Murphy swinging, sending the Yankees pouring out of the dugout.Sabathia became the first pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts since Atlanta's John Smoltz in 2008, and joined Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton as the only lefties to do it.Wilmer Flores hit a solo homer and a run-scoring single off Sabathia. He allowed two runs and five hits, and struck out five before being lifted with two on and one out in the sixth inning.Greinke (5-1) won his fifth straight game. He allowed one run on five hits in 7 2/3 innings.BREWERS 4, ROCKIES 3MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jesus Aguilar homered again and Milwaukee, held... [More]

April 281901 — Cleveland pitcher Bock Baker gave up a record 23 singles as the Chicago White Sox beat the Indians 13-1.1930 — The first night game in organized baseball was played in Independence, Kan. In a Western Association game, Muskogee defeated Independence 13-3.1934 — Detroit's Goose Goslin hit into four double plays, but the Tigers still beat Cleveland 4-1.1956 — Cincinnati rookie Frank Robinson hit the first home run of his 586 lifetime homers in a 9-1 win over Chicago. Robinson homer came off Paul Minner in Crosley Field.1961 — Warren Spahn, at the age of 40, no-hit the San Francisco Giants 1-0 at Milwaukee.1966 — Cleveland's Sonny Siebert defeated the Angels 2-1 as the Indians tie the modern major league record with its 10th straight win since opening day.1971 — Hank Aaron connected off Gaylord Perry for his 600th career home run in the Atlanta Braves' 10-inning, 6-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants.1982 — Philadelphia's Pete Rose went 5-for-5 to tie Max Carey for the NL record... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — Chris Sale remained winless after five starts but struck out a season-high 10 in five innings as the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 7-4 Tuesday to start their first doubleheader sweep at Fenway Park since August 1965.Spencer Turnbull (1-2) pitched five shutout innings for his first major league win, leading the Tigers to a 4-2 victory in the nightcap that left the World Series champions at 9-15.Brandon Dixon greeted Marcus Walden with a three-run double after the Tigers loaded the bases against Hector Velázquez (0-2), and the Red Sox were swept in a twin-bill for the first time since the Los Angeles Angels accomplished the feat on July 20, 2015.Sale gave up two runs, five hits and two walks, lowering his ERA from 8.50 to 7.43. The 30-year-old, who signed a $160 million, six-year contract late in spring training, had never gone his first five starts in a big league season without a victory.In the first game, Matthew Boyd (2-1) combined with three relievers on a five-hitter... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — Chris Sale remained winless after five starts but struck out a season-high 10 in five innings as the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 7-4 Tuesday to start their first doubleheader sweep at Fenway Park since August 1965.Spencer Turnbull (1-2) pitched five shutout innings for his first major league win, leading the Tigers to a 4-2 victory in the nightcap that left the World Series champions at 9-15.Brandon Dixon greeted Marcus Walden with a three-run double after the Tigers loaded the bases against Hector Velázquez (0-2), and the Red Sox were swept in a twin-bill for the first time since the Los Angeles Angels accomplished the feat on July 20, 2015.Sale gave up two runs, five hits and two walks, lowering his ERA from 8.50 to 7.43. The 30-year-old, who signed a $160 million, six-year contract late in spring training, had never gone his first five starts in a big league season without a victory.In the first game, Matthew Boyd (2-1) combined with three relievers on a five-hitter... [More]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Christian Yelich hit three homers, including a pair of three-run shots, and drove in a career-high seven runs to power the Milwaukee Brewers past the St. Louis Cardinals 10-7 on Monday night.Yelich, the reigning NL MVP, hit his first three-run homer to cap a six-run second inning. After St. Louis tied it with three runs in the sixth, Yelich answered in the bottom half with a towering three-run blast to right off Mike Mayers (0-1).Yelich capped his night with his eighth homer this season, going deep to lead off the eighth. He also lined out in the first and was walked intentionally in the fourth.Junior Guerra (1-0) worked 1 2/3 innings for the victory. Josh Hader struck out the side in the ninth after allowing Marcell Ozuna's sixth home run to open the inning.DODGERS 4, REDS 3LOS ANGELES (AP) — Joc Pederson hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Los Angeles a comeback victory over Cincinnati in Clayton Kershaw's season debut.Raisel Iglesias (0-3) walked... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seattle became the first major league team to homer in each of its first 15 games when Dee Gordon connected in the sixth inning, then beat the Kansas City Royals 7-6 Thursday behind Daniel Vogelbach's home run in the 10th inning.Seattle improved the best record in the major leagues to 13-2, completing a four-game sweep and extending its winning streak to six. The Mariners became just the third team since 1987 to open with at least 13 wins in the first 15 games after Milwaukee (14-1 in 1987) and Boston (13-2 last year).Kansas City has lost 10 straight games, has the poorest record in the big leagues at 2-10 and is off to its worst 12-game start since 2006. The Royals failed to preserve leads of 4-0 in the sixth and 6-4 with two outs in the ninth.Kansas City's Whit Merrifield had his hitting streak end at 31 games. Merrifield went 0 for 6. He had not gone hitless since Sept. 9.Royals center fielder Billy Hamilton was carted off with a knee injury after failing to grab... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seattle became the first major league team to homer in each of its first 15 games when Dee Gordon connected in the sixth inning, then beat the Kansas City Royals 7-6 Thursday behind Daniel Vogelbach's home run in the 10th inning.Seattle improved the best record in the major leagues to 13-2, completing a four-game sweep and extending its winning streak to six. The Mariners became just the third team since 1987 to open with at least 13 wins in the first 15 games after Milwaukee (14-1 in 1987) and Boston (13-2 last year).Kansas City has lost 10 straight games, has the poorest record in the big leagues at 2-10 and is off to its worst 12-game start since 2006. The Royals failed to preserve leads of 4-0 in the sixth and 6-4 with two outs in the ninth.Kansas City's Whit Merrifield had his hitting streak end at 31 games. Merrifield went 0 for 6. He had not gone hitless since Sept. 9.Royals center fielder Billy Hamilton was carted off with a knee injury after failing to grab... [More]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seattle became the first major league team to homer in each of its first 15 games when Dee Gordon connected in the sixth inning, then beat the Kansas City Royals 7-6 Thursday behind Daniel Vogelbach's home run in the 10th inning.Seattle improved the best record in the major leagues to 13-2, completing a four-game sweep and extending its winning streak to six. The Mariners became just the third team since 1987 to open with at least 13 wins in the first 15 games after Milwaukee (14-1 in 1987) and Boston (13-2 last year).Kansas City has lost 10 straight games, has the poorest record in the big leagues at 2-10 and is off to its worst 12-game start since 2006. The Royals failed to preserve leads of 4-0 in the sixth and 6-4 with two outs in the ninth.Kansas City's Whit Merrifield had his hitting streak end at 31 games. Merrifield went 0 for 6. He had not gone hitless since Sept. 9.Royals center fielder Billy Hamilton was carted off with a knee injury after failing to grab... [More]