PHILADELPHIA — Brandon Marsh took to his new spot in the Phillies batting order right away.

The left fielder, whose .324 average is fourth-highest in baseball, has been hitting well no matter where he’s been in the lineup. But Tuesday was his first time starting a game in the leadoff spot since 2022, when he was with the Los Angeles Angels....Read more

BOSTON — Normally if you were facing one of the game’s best pitchers and someone told you that you’d drive up their pitch count and get them out of the game early, you’d probably feel good about your chances.

Yet while the Red Sox made Dylan Cease work, they got nothing to show for it.

The Red Sox offense spun its wheels again on ...Read more

Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch IV has been a breakout star this season.

Prior to Tuesday’s game against the Washington Nationals, Lynch owned a 1.80 ERA in 30 relief appearances. He limited opponents to a .167 batting average and had issued one hit in his last five outings.

In the seventh inning, Lynch got the call out of the ...Read more

The Giants’ series-opening game against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Tuesday was suspended due to inclement weather.

With rain coming down and infield conditions deteriorating, the game was halted after the top of the second inning with the Giants leading 3-2. The game will resume at 2 p.m. (ET), with the second game of the series set...Read more

LOS ANGELES — If fans all around the major leagues are sick and tired of the Dodgers, they have a funny way of showing it.

The Dodgers win too much and spend too much, so offensive to so many outside Los Angeles that the league shutting down next season has somehow become an acceptable outcome if the Dodgers cannot be stripped of their ...Read more

SEATTLE — Jump on, everybody. The piggyback is back.

The Mariners are reviving their piggyback pitching plan this week, with one significant alteration: All six of their starting pitchers will rotate through and have one piggyback outing through the All-Star break.

This was a “unanimous” decision with all six starters involved in the ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Before Monday’s game at Sutter Health Park, Pirates manager Don Kelly was asked about the game plan for Jared Jones and Carmen Mlodzinski moving forward.

“We have to see how today goes,” Kelly said in part.

This game couldn’t have gone much worse.

Jones struggled, allowing five runs in four innings. The Pirates ...Read more

PHOENIX — Mike Trout looked everything like an All-Star that early voting returns project.

Walbert Ureña probably deserved better.

But a tainted run, an unearned run and a home run that clanked off the right field foul pole negated their best efforts in a 4-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series on Monday ...Read more

Eleven years and one day after Byron Buxton made his major league debut in Arlington, Texas, a highly anticipated arrival for one sport’s best athletes, he’s a hitter at the peak of his powers.

Buxton is the reigning American League player of the week, the second time this season he has earned the award, and he belted a solo homer to left ...Read more

HOUSTON – The Detroit Tigers won a baseball game Monday night, beating the Houston Astros 9-3 in the first of three at Daikin Park.

But, stop us if you’ve heard this before, they might’ve also lost two more players to injury.

Will it ever end?

It started before the game. Right-hander Troy Melton, who was supposed to make the start, was ...Read more

CHICAGO — Two days ago, Pete Crow-Armstrong was a triple away from the cycle at Oracle Park.

The Chicago Cubs’ center fielder was well aware of how close he was to the feat and had it on his mind during the final five innings. He fell short, though, striking out in his final two at-bats.

Crow-Armstrong avoided the same fate Monday night at...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Gabriel Rincones Jr. let the bat flip off his fingertips as he started towards first base.

Miami right fielder Owen Cassie made a futile jog towards the wall, but the ball kept carrying and carrying until it landed just inside the foul pole, Rincones’ first major league hit and home run all at once.

The rookie outfielder ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Kansas City Royals granted right-hander Mitch Spence a spot start Monday night against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.

And it turned out to be a good decision … for about four innings.

Spence had pitched well up to that point. He allowed two earned runs and avoided trouble while navigating the Washington ...Read more

The search for starting pitching continues for the New York Mets, but so too does the search for hits with runners in scoring position.

The Mets recalled right-hander Tobias Myers from Triple-A Syracuse on Monday afternoon to pitch as the opener in an opening game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark. His return to the big ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — The San Diego Padres left Baltimore on Sunday having won a second consecutive game for the first time in three weeks and a second consecutive series for the first time in nearly two months.

On Monday, they ran into the truth coined by one of Baltimore’s greatest sports figures.

It was the late Orioles manager Earl Weaver who ...Read more

BOSTON — As Sunday night’s first pitch approached, the Tartan Army descended upon Fenway Park.

Fresh off their country’s 1-0 World Cup victory over Haiti down the road in Foxborough, Mass., thousands of Scottish fans marched to the historic ballpark and packed it to the gills. From the moment the gates opened until the final out of Sunday...Read more

BALTIMORE — The San Diego Padres routed the Baltimore Orioles by hitting five home runs on Saturday, the latest effort by a resurgent offense that has helped them inch back toward being the team they expected to be.

On Sunday, they hit a big home run as well. But it was a bunch of other things they did well that helped the Padres win a second...Read more

CHICAGO — Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer rubbed a new baseball between his hands as he walked back to the mound, a sold-out Rate Field coming alive around him.

Fireworks crackled over the center-field scoreboard. Digital pinwheels spun. Dreyer had just surrendered his second home run of the inning, transforming a low-scoring ...Read more