WASHINGTON (AP) — Aaron Nola outdueled Max Scherzer in a meeting of All-Star aces, Odubel Herrera hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals 2-0 Thursday.Nola (15-3) was masterful in his matchup with the three-time Cy Young Award winner, allowing five hits and one walk. He escaped his biggest jam with his final pitch, striking out Bryce Harper with runners on first and second to end the eighth.Nola struck out nine and finished with a 2.13 ERA — the exact same ERA as Scherzer.Scherzer (16-6) was nearly as good in the first matchup of starters with at least 150 innings and a sub-2.25 ERA since St. Louis' John Tudor faced Mets ace Dwight Gooden on Sept. 11, 1985. Scherzer gave up two hits in seven innings and struck out 10, increasing his major league-leading total to 244.Pat Neshek pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.BRAVES 5, MARLINS 0MIAMI (AP) — Rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his 21st home run and got hit by another Miami... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Aaron Nola outdueled Max Scherzer in a meeting of All-Star aces, Odubel Herrera hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Washington Nationals 2-0 Thursday.Nola (15-3) was masterful in his matchup with the three-time Cy Young Award winner, allowing five hits and one walk. He escaped his biggest jam with his final pitch, striking out Bryce Harper with runners on first and second to end the eighth.Nola struck out nine and finished with a 2.13 ERA — the exact same ERA as Scherzer.Scherzer (16-6) was nearly as good in the first matchup of starters with at least 150 innings and a sub-2.25 ERA since St. Louis' John Tudor faced Mets ace Dwight Gooden on Sept. 11, 1985. Scherzer gave up two hits in seven innings and struck out 10, increasing his major league-leading total to 244.Pat Neshek pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save.ROCKIES 4, PADRES 3DENVER (AP) — Ian Desmond hit a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth inning, and Colorado... [More]

DENVER (AP) — The 38-year-old All-Star outfielder sauntered into the Colorado clubhouse at Coors Field and instantly felt like a rookie again.Matt Holliday was back at home.The Rockies selected the contract of Holliday from Triple-A Albuquerque on Thursday after he signed a minor league deal last month.A seventh-round pick in 1998 by Colorado, Holliday played the first five seasons of his 14-year career with the Rockies, hitting .290 as a rookie in 2004 and helping lead Colorado to its only World Series appearance in 2007.He's hoping to reprise a similar role this season with a Rockies team in the thick of the playoff chase."Honestly, it felt sort of normal (being back), but at the same time pretty nostalgic a little bit — just thinking back 15 years ago, when I did that for the first time," said Holliday, who was in left field and batting fifth against San Diego on Thursday. "It was kind of that kid at Christmas (feeling) last night. Had a hard time sleeping."Teammate Chris Iannetta made... [More]

DENVER (AP) — The 38-year-old All-Star outfielder sauntered into the Colorado clubhouse at Coors Field and instantly felt like a rookie again.Matt Holliday was back at home.The Rockies selected the contract of Holliday from Triple-A Albuquerque on Thursday after he signed a minor league deal last month.A seventh-round pick in 1998 by Colorado, Holliday played the first five seasons of his 14-year career with the Rockies, hitting .290 as a rookie in 2004 and helping lead Colorado to its only World Series appearance in 2007.He's hoping to reprise a similar role this season with a Rockies team in the thick of the playoff chase."Honestly, it felt sort of normal (being back), but at the same time pretty nostalgic a little bit — just thinking back 15 years ago, when I did that for the first time," said Holliday, who was in left field and batting fifth against San Diego on Thursday. "It was kind of that kid at Christmas (feeling) last night. Had a hard time sleeping."Teammate Chris Iannetta made... [More]

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies selected the contract of former All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday from Triple-A Albuquerque and he was in the starting lineup Thursday.Holliday will play left field and bat fifth against San Diego. He signed a minor-league contract with Colorado last month. He hit .346 in 15 games with Albuquerque.The 38-year-old Holliday hasn't played in the majors since last season with the New York Yankees, when he batted .231 with 19 homers.He played the first five seasons of his 14-year career with Colorado, hitting .290 as a rookie in 2004 and helping Colorado to its only World Series appearance in 2007.The Rockies traded him to Oakland after the 2008 season. He later helped St. Louis win the 2011 World Series.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies have signed former star outfielder Matt Holliday to a minor league contract.The 38-year-old Holliday reported to the Grand Junction Rockies, the organization's Rookie level team on Sunday. He said the plan is to find his footing with the hope of joining the Rockies at some point this season."Getting my baseball legs back under me. We'll see how the next few days go," Holliday said in Grand Junction. "I'll do some pregame stuff, take batting practice, do some pregame defense and we'll see after that. Probably move on to Triple-A. Just see how fast I'm ready to take some at-bats and compete at a high level."Holliday hit .231 with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs with the New York Yankees last season."I spoke to Matt (Saturday)," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "He's excited to give this a shot to see if he can get to a point where he feels good about his game and feels good about his swing and be in baseball shape."Holliday played the first five seasons of his 14-year... [More]

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies have signed former star outfielder Matt Holliday to a minor league contractThe 38-year-old Holliday reported to the Grand Junction Rockies, the organization's Rookie level team on Sunday.Holliday hit .231 with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs with the New York Yankees last season.Holliday played the first five seasons of his 14-year career with the Rockies. He hit .290 as a rookie in 2004 and helped lead Colorado to its only World Series appearance in 2007. His .340 average, 137 RBIs and 216 hits led the NL that year, and he finished second in the MVP vote.The Rockies traded him to Oakland after the 2008 season, and the A's dealt him to St. Louis during the 2009 year. He helped the Cardinals win the 2011 World Series

Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Davidson gave opening day quite a jolt.A new baseball season began with a bang Thursday when Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs homered on the very first pitch.World Series MVP George Springer connected , Adam Jones and Nick Markakis hit walkoff winners and Anthony Rizzo delivered the most emotional drive of the day.Shohei Ohtani also got off to a nice start with a hit in his first at-bat .But a year after big leaguers launched a record 6,105 longballs, Stanton and Davidson staged their own long-distance home run derby.Stanton hit two hard homers and doubled in his debut with the New York Yankees during a 6-1 victory at Toronto. The reigning NL MVP led the majors with 59 home runs last year, then was traded from Miami to the Bronx."You want to get the first one out of the way and then you can relax," Stanton said.Davidson did even better, hitting three home runs for the Chicago White Sox in a 14-7 romp at Kansas City. He became the fourth player with a three-homer performance... [More]

Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Davidson gave opening day quite a jolt.A new baseball season began with a bang Thursday when Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs homered on the very first pitch.World Series MVP George Springer connected , Adam Jones and Nick Markakis hit walkoff winners and Anthony Rizzo delivered the most emotional drive of the day.Shohei Ohtani also got off to a nice start with a hit in his first at-bat .But a year after big leaguers launched a record 6,105 longballs, Stanton and Davidson staged their own long-distance home run derby.Stanton hit two hard homers and doubled in his debut with the New York Yankees during a 6-1 victory at Toronto. The reigning NL MVP led the majors with 59 home runs last year, then was traded from Miami to the Bronx."You want to get the first one out of the way and then you can relax," Stanton said.Davidson did even better, hitting three home runs for the Chicago White Sox in a 14-7 romp at Kansas City. He became the fourth player with a three-homer performance... [More]

Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Davidson gave opening day quite a jolt.A new baseball season began with a bang Thursday when Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs homered on the very first pitch.World Series MVP George Springer connected , Adam Jones and Nick Markakis hit walkoff winners and Anthony Rizzo delivered the most emotional drive of the day.Shohei Ohtani also got off to a nice start with a hit in his first at-bat .But a year after big leaguers launched a record 6,105 longballs, Stanton and Davidson staged their own long-distance home run derby.Stanton hit two hard homers and doubled in his debut with the New York Yankees during a 6-1 victory at Toronto. The reigning NL MVP led the majors with 59 home runs last year, then was traded from Miami to the Bronx."You want to get the first one out of the way and then you can relax," Stanton said.Davidson did even better, hitting three home runs for the Chicago White Sox in a 14-7 romp at Kansas City. He became the fourth player with a three-homer performance... [More]

Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Davidson gave opening day quite a jolt.A new baseball season began with a bang Thursday when Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs homered on the very first pitch.World Series MVP George Springer connected , Adam Jones and Nick Markakis hit walkoff winners and Anthony Rizzo delivered the most emotional drive of the day.Shohei Ohtani also got off to a nice start with a hit in his first at-bat .But a year after big leaguers launched a record 6,105 longballs, Stanton and Davidson staged their own long-distance home run derby.Stanton hit two hard homers and doubled in his debut with the New York Yankees during a 6-1 victory at Toronto. The reigning NL MVP led the majors with 59 home runs last year, then was traded from Miami to the Bronx."You want to get the first one out of the way and then you can relax," Stanton said.Davidson did even better, hitting three home runs for the Chicago White Sox in a 14-7 romp at Kansas City. He became the fourth player with a three-homer performance... [More]

Capsules of American League East teams, listed in order of finish last year:___Boston Red Sox2017: 93-69, first place, lost to Houston in ALDS.Manager: Alex Cora (first season).He's Here: DH J.D. Martinez.He's Outta Here: Manager John Farrell, RHP Doug Fister, OF Chris Young, RHP Addison Reed, OF Rajai Davis, LHP Henry Owens, LHP Fernando Abad.Projected Lineup: RF Mookie Betts (.264, 24 HRs, 102 RBIs), LF Andrew Benintendi (.271, 20, 90), 1B Hanley Ramirez (.242, 23, 62) or Mitch Moreland (.246, 22, 79), DH J.D. Martinez (.303, 45, 104 with Tigers and Diamondbacks), 3B Rafael Devers (.284, 10, 30 in 58 games), SS Xander Bogaerts (.273, 10, 62), CF Jackie Bradley Jr. (.245, 17, 63), C Christian Vazquez (.290, 5, 32) or Sandy Leon (.225, 7, 39), 2B Eduardo Nunez (.313, 12, 58, 24 SBs with Giants and Red Sox) or Dustin Pedroia (.293, 7, 62, .369 OBP in 105 games, expected to be out until late May following knee surgery).Rotation: LH Chris Sale (17-8, 2.90 ERA, MLB-best 308 Ks, MLB-high 214... [More]

A team-by-team look at the American League East 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:___Boston Red SoxManager: Alex Cora (first season).2017: 93-69, first place, lost to Houston in ALDS.Training Town: Fort Myers, Florida.Park: JetBlue Park.First Workout: Feb. 14/19.He's Here: Manager Alex Cora.He's Outta Here: Manager John Farrell, RHP Doug Fister, INF Eduardo Nunez, OF Chris Young, RHP Addison Reed, OF Rajai Davis, LHP Henry Owens, LHP Fernando Abad, RHP Blaine Boyer.Going campin': The Red Sox won 93 games for the second straight season and claimed the franchise's first back-to-back AL East titles. But Farrell was fired after they failed to advance in the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. They are virtually the same team as last year; boss Dave Dombrowski said he was looking for a bat with power and still might add one of the free agents remaining on the market, including... [More]

DH Matt Holliday made his first appearance of the postseason, finishing 0-for-3 while batting eighth. Holliday, who did not appear in the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians, continued a miserable stretch for Yankees designated hitters, who are now 0-for-20 with nine strikeouts against just three walks this postseason.

DH Matt Holliday was not in the starting lineup Tuesday as the Yankees opted to go for a more athletic starting lineup. Holliday batted .231 with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs. In the second half when at-bats were hard to get consistently because of trades and his stint on the disabled list with a back injury, Holliday batted .179 in 37 games. "He was huge for us in the first half, and I think just part of it was he went on the DL, he was on the DL for quite a while," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He came back, and then he struggled."

DH Matt Holliday snapped a 52 at-bat homerless drought with a solo homer in the seventh inning of Sunday's loss to Toronto. He batted .237 (14-for-59) with three homers and 13 RBI after returning from missing nearly four weeks with a back injury. Overall, Holliday batted .231 with 19 homers and 64 RBIs in 105 games this season.

A young girl was hit by a foul ball off the bat of third baseman Todd Frazier in the fifth inning of the New York Yankees' home game against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon.The girl, who was seated in Section 026 down the third-base line, was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital as players -- including Frazier -- were visibly distraught."I saw the whole thing," said Frazier, who kneeled outside the batter's box with his head bowed."I know the dad or whoever was with her was trying their hardest but when that ball's coming 120 miles an hour at them and the ball's hooking and you've never seen a ball like that, which most people in the world haven't, it's tough."Matt Holliday was seen wiping away tears as the girl received medical attention."The child who was struck with a batted ball today was given first aid at the ballpark and is receiving medical attention at an area hospital," the Yankees said in a statement. "The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability... [More]

DH Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and went 1-for-4 in his first appearance for the Yankees Saturday. Holliday missed 25 games with a back injury before getting activated from the disabled list Friday following 10 rehab games. He ended a drought of 75 at-bats when he hit a 443-foot homer off LHP Drew Pomeranz.

DH Matt Holliday was activated from the disabled list Friday but did not play, likely because he is 1-for-10 lifetime against RHP Doug Fister. He missed 25 games with a strained back after missing 13 contests with a viral infection June 25-July 13. Holliday batted .136 (11-for-81) in his last 20 games before going on the DL. Manager Joe Girardi said the reports he received on Holliday's bat during his rehab games were that he was making good contact and impacting the ball effectively.

DH Matt Holliday was activated from the 10-day disabled list on Friday, the New York Yankees announced. A lower back strain sent Holliday to the disabled list on Aug. 6. He began a rehab assignment on Aug. 18 in Tampa and recently played for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Holliday, 37, was first sidelined on June 28 with a viral infection. Since his return after the All-Star break, he hit just .136 (11-for-81) with one home run and two doubles.