A look at what's happening around the majors today:HADER RETURNSMilwaukee reliever Josh Hader rejoins the team, three days after years-old racist and homophobic tweets of his resurfaced during the All-Star Game. The Brewers open the second half at Miller Park against the Dodgers.The 24-year-old Hader has apologized for the tweets, saying they did not reflect his values or the person he is now. The commissioner's office will require Hader to participate in diversity and inclusion initiatives and sensitivity training.Hader spoke with Brewers teammate Lorenzo Cain after the All-Star Game in Washington. Cain, who is African-American, said he expects the club to accept Hader's present-day statements and move on.MACHADO DEBUTManny Machado plays his first game for the Dodgers, filling a big gap at shortstop when the NL West leaders visit Milwaukee. Los Angeles traded five minor leaguers to Baltimore during the break for the four-time All-Star. The 26-year-old Machado was hitting .315 with 24 homers... [More]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Athletics have released veteran reliever Santiago Casilla, five days after he was designated for assignment.The A's made the move Thursday.Casilla is 42-31 with 144 career saves in 15 seasons, but has been up and down with the A's this year while having control issues. Used primarily in middle relief, the right-hander has a 3.16 ERA despite 20 walks and four hit batters in 31 1/3 innings. He turns 38 next week,Casilla made his major league debut in 2004 and spent his first six seasons with the A's before signing with San Francisco in 2010. He returned to Oakland last year and had 16 saves.The A's have used a mostly young bullpen this season anchored by rookie Lou Trivino and All-Star closer Blake Treinen.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Athletics have put reliever Santiago Casilla on the 10-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder.The A's made the move Saturday. They also optioned right-handed pitcher Josh Lucas to Triple-A Nashville and recalled righties Chris Bassitt and Carlos Ramirez from their top affiliate.Casilla experienced a similar injury in spring training, A's manager Bob Melvin said. The injury isn't thought to be serious.Casilla is 0-0 with one save and a 3.32 ERA in 16 games. He helped San Francisco win three World Series championships.The 37-year-old has complied 144 saves in 15 seasons. He had 16 saves as the A's closer for parts of last season."Obviously he has a little different workload this year," Melvin said. "He's been prepared for it and he's been great for us, but he felt it enough last night to where we feel like we need to give him some rest."

TORONTO (AP) — Curtis Granderson hit a walk-off homer in the 10th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 4-3 win over Boston on Tuesday night and hand the Red Sox their season-worst third straight defeat.Boston (17-5) still owns the best record in the majors.Granderon's his third home run of the season came off Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1), a towering solo blast off the facing of the third deck in right field. He went 3 for 5 with three RBIs in the Blue Jays' first game since a deadly van attack in Toronto a day earlier. The victims of the attack, which killed 10 and injured 14, were honored along with first responders before the game.Tyler Clippard (3-0) worked a scoreless 10th for the win.Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was handed a 3-1 lead in the ninth but allowed the Red Sox to tie it, his first blown save in seven chances. Left fielder Granderson threw out Eduardo Nunez at the plate to prevent Boston from taking the lead.REDS 9, BRAVES 7, 12 INNINGSCINCINNATI (AP) — Tyler Mahle... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — Curtis Granderson hit a walk-off homer in the 10th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 4-3 win over Boston on Tuesday night and hand the Red Sox their season-worst third straight defeat.Boston (17-5) still owns the best record in the majors.Granderon's his third home run of the season came off Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1), a towering solo blast off the facing of the third deck in right field. He went 3 for 5 with three RBIs in the Blue Jays' first game since a deadly van attack in Toronto a day earlier. The victims of the attack, which killed 10 and injured 14, were honored along with first responders before the game.Tyler Clippard (3-0) worked a scoreless 10th for the win.Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was handed a 3-1 lead in the ninth but allowed the Red Sox to tie it, his first blown save in seven chances. Left fielder Granderson threw out Eduardo Nunez at the plate to prevent Boston from taking the lead.REDS 9, BRAVES 7, 12 INNINGSCINCINNATI (AP) — Tyler Mahle... [More]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Kendall Graveman will take the ball on opening day for Oakland in a second straight season, eager to be the leader of a young rotation at age 27."It's fun. I feel healthy," Graveman said as he begins his fourth season with the A's. "It's special. It's the longest I've ever been somewhere. ... It just feels like home. This is a special place and I think we've got something really good going on."The right-hander spent a pair of stints on the disabled list last season with soreness in his pitching shoulder. Now, he is thankful for a new year.Slugger Khris Davis will try to keep the baseballs flying out of the ballpark after hitting 85 home runs over the past two seasons.Manager Bob Melvin is counting on the production of both Graveman and Davis.Melvin said of Graveman's spot atop the rotation, "He's ready for it.""It's an honor to be able to go out and kind of set the tone for the season and to be that guy," Graveman said.He will have a new catcher in Jonathan Lucroy... [More]

Capsules of American League West teams, listed in order of finish last year:___Houston Astros2017: 101-61, first place, won World Series.Manager: A.J. Hinch (fourth season).He's Here: RHP Gerrit Cole, RHP Joe Smith, RHP Hector Rondon.He's Outta Here: DH Carlos Beltran, RHP Luke Gregerson, RHP Joe Musgrove, RHP Mike Fiers, RHP Michael Feliz, INF Colin Moran.Projected Lineup: CF George Springer (.283, 34 HRs, 85 RBIs), 3B Alex Bregman (.284, 19, 71, 39 2Bs), 2B Jose Altuve (MLB-best .346, 24, 81, 39 2Bs, 32 SBs, AL MVP), SS Carlos Correa (.315, 24, 84), 1B Yuli Gurriel (.299, 18, 75, 43 2Bs), LF Marwin Gonzalez (.303, 23, 90, 34 2Bs), DH Evan Gattis (.263, 12, 55), RF Josh Reddick (.314, 13, 82, 34 2Bs), C Brian McCann (.241, 18, 62).Rotation: LH Dallas Keuchel (14-5, 2.90 ERA, 251 Ks), RH Justin Verlander (15-8, 3.36, 219 Ks with Tigers and Astros), RH Gerrit Cole (12-12, 4.26, 196 Ks with Pirates), RH Lance McCullers Jr. (7-4, 4.25), RH Charlie Morton (14-7, 3.62).Key Relievers: RH Ken... [More]

The Seattle Mariners are running out of healthy outfielders. To the rescue — Ichiro?Ben Gamel will miss opening day, the Mariners said Monday, because of a strained oblique muscle that's expected to sideline him four to six weeks.That could open a spot for Ichiro Suzuki, and a deal with the Mariners might be close.Suzuki was the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year for Seattle in 2001 and remained a fan favorite until he was traded away in 2012. The 44-year-old Suzuki spent the past three seasons in Miami, batting .255 last year and starting 23 times in the outfield.Gamel hit .275 with 11 home runs and 59 RBIs in 134 games last year during his first full season in the majors.The Mariners were hopeful Gamel would miss only a few days, but an MRI showed a more extensive problem. He first felt the injury after batting practice late last week.Gamel joined a growing list of banged-up Mariners. Seattle has already seen first baseman Ryon Healy (hand), outfielder Mitch Haniger (hand) and pitcher Felix... [More]

The Seattle Mariners are running out of healthy outfielders. To the rescue — Ichiro?Ben Gamel will miss opening day, the Mariners said Monday, because of a strained oblique muscle that's expected to sideline him four to six weeks.That could open a spot for Ichiro Suzuki, and a deal with the Mariners might be close.Suzuki was the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year for Seattle in 2001 and remained a fan favorite until he was traded away in 2012. The 44-year-old Suzuki spent the past three seasons in Miami, batting .255 last year and starting 23 times in the outfield.Gamel hit .275 with 11 home runs and 59 RBIs in 134 games last year during his first full season in the majors.The Mariners were hopeful Gamel would miss only a few days, but an MRI showed a more extensive problem. He first felt the injury after batting practice late last week.Gamel joined a growing list of banged-up Mariners. Seattle has already seen first baseman Ryon Healy (hand), outfielder Mitch Haniger (hand) and pitcher Felix... [More]

The Seattle Mariners are running out of healthy outfielders. To the rescue — Ichiro?Ben Gamel will miss opening day, the Mariners said Monday, because of a strained oblique muscle that's expected to sideline him four to six weeks.That could open a spot for Ichiro Suzuki, and a deal with the Mariners might be close.Suzuki was the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year for Seattle in 2001 and remained a fan favorite until he was traded away in 2012. The 44-year-old Suzuki spent the past four seasons in Miami, batting .255 last year and starting 23 times in the outfield.Gamel hit .275 with 11 home runs and 59 RBIs in 134 games last year during his first full season in the majors.The Mariners were hopeful Gamel would miss only a few days, but an MRI showed a more extensive problem. He first felt the injury after batting practice late last week.Gamel joined a growing list of banged-up Mariners. Seattle has already seen first baseman Ryon Healy (hand), outfielder Mitch Haniger (hand) and pitcher Felix... [More]

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Oakland found its closer in Blake Treinen last summer, and its bullpen transformation continued when it acquired offseason targets Yusmeiro Petit and Ryan Buchter this winter.For a team that had 25 blown saves, one short of the major league high, and converted only 58 percent of its save chances a year ago, it is another step forward."We feel like we're a lot better," A's manager Bob Melvin said, "and we feel like we have a deep bullpen, too."We have a number of guys who can give us multiple innings now, where you are not having to go through one-inning guys and use so many guys during the course of a game."Everything starts with the closer, of course, and Treinen is ready to continue that role after recording 13 saves following his acquisition from Washington for veteran relief arms Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson in mid-July.Treinen was used in a setup role upon arriving in Oakland before being given the ninth inning almost exclusively in early August. It took.He converted... [More]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — With Khris Davis slugging in the middle of a young lineup, the Oakland Athletics realize they still have much ground to overcome in a division featuring the World Series champion Houston Astros.And that's fine with this group, which is counting on using the momentum from a strong September finish going into spring and a new season.Last month, Davis received a $10.5 million, one-year contract, more than doubling his salary after he beat the team in arbitration last winter.He hit a career-best 43 home runs in 2017, connecting on the season's final day to surpass the season high he set the previous year for Oakland. The 30-year-old is the only A's player aside from Jimmie Foxx from 1932-34 with consecutive 40-homer seasons.The A's won 17 of their final 24 games after trading more stars in favor of the youth movement."I'm glad we had the success that we did at the end of the year because we talked about it the last day going into this next season, 'Remember what's happening... [More]

RHP Santiago Casilla had a tough beginning to his relief appearance Sunday. Seattle C Carlos Ruiz hit his second pitch into the left-field seats for a solo homer, then Casilla's fourth pitch resulted in a Jean Segura double. Casilla settled down and got through the inning, thanks in part to a nifty double play on a lineout to first base, and he ended up allowing just one run off two hits over his inning of work.

RHP Santiago Casilla, who was hit by a foul ball on his left shoulder on Saturday, was available to pitch out of the bullpen Monday against Houston, according to manager Bob Melvin. Casilla, Oakland's closer, did not get into the 4-1 loss to the Astros.

RHP Santiago Casilla said his left shoulder was still sore before Sunday's game after being hit by a foul ball Saturday, but he's OK to pitch. Of the fluke incident, Casilla said, "I saw the ball coming at my head. I have to be more careful."

RHP Santiago Casilla was hit in the left shoulder by a foul ball in the A's dugout on Saturday during a 5-2 victory against the Yankees. Casilla, the A's closer, had X-rays, which were negative. "He's OK," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He's a tough guy, but that was pretty scary for a minute because it came in there pretty good." Melvin said Casilla was unavailable to pitch Saturday even before being hit by the foul ball.

RHP Santiago Casilla didn't address the media after blowing a save in Friday's series opener at Texas. The closer allowed four runs in the ninth inning of the 5-2 loss, including a 3-run walk-off homer by Joey Gallo. Casilla was available Saturday before the game. "It's very difficult when you feel like you have good stuff and you're making good pitches and the results don't come out," he said. "Yesterday I felt that way. I felt like I made great pitches, and they just didn't work out in my favor. I'm not a stranger to baseball -- I know that sometimes when you make pitches like that, it's not going to be the right result every time. It hurt. It was difficult."

RF Matt Joyce opened the scoring Friday night with a solo homer in the fifth inning. It was Joyce's third home run and his first since April 26 against the Angels. Two of Joyce's three home runs this season have occurred in Arlington.

RHP Santiago Casilla pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save on Monday night in Oakland's 4-2 victory against the Angels. Casilla returned to the A's as a free agent this year after pitching for the Giants the previous seven seasons. He pitched for the A's from 2005 to 2009. Last year, he struggled for the Giants, going 2-5 with a 3.57 ERA and a career-high nine blown saves. "Did what we asked him to do," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He's been in that situation before, but to be able to go out there in the first game after a little bit of a rough end to last year and close it out, I know was pretty rewarding for him and makes him feel good. Makes us feel good, too."

RHP Santiago Casilla pitched so poorly for the San Francisco Giants last season, he became one of A's fans' favorite players. Such is the San Francisco Bay Area rivalry. Well, all the laughter is coming from the west side of the bay this season, as Casilla has done little right since signing with the A's as a free agent. First, he was delayed in his native Dominican Republic with visa issues. Then he was roughed up on the mound after finally getting issued his A's uniform. Nonetheless, he remains in the mix of what's expected to be a closer-by-committee situation in Oakland.