CINCINNATI — The Giants desperately needed a stopper. Landen Roupp played that role to perfection.

Roupp turned in his finest start of the season as the Giants beat the Reds, 3-0, to snap a four-game losing streak on Thursday afternoon at Great American Ball Park, pitching six shutout innings and no-hitting the Reds for the first five frames....Read more

NEW YORK — The Angels have demonstrated this week that, if nothing else, they are resilient.

They suffered two gut-wrenching ninth-inning losses this week, and rebounded both times to win the next day.

It helps to do that when you’ve got Mike Trout doing his best impression of three-time MVP Mike Trout.

Trout homered for the fourth ...Read more

NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole is ready for real games.

The Yankees’ right-hander will begin a rehab assignment with the Double-A Somerset Patriots on Friday. It will be his most significant step yet in his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

On Thursday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the plan is for Cole’s pitch count to be in the mid-40s. The...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The first half of the Pirates’ game Thursday afternoon against the Washington Nationals was a clean, scoreless pitchers' duel. The second half was anything but.

The Nationals beat the Pirates, 8-7, in 10 innings at PNC Park. Each team scored four runs in the fifth, combining for 15 total runs in the final six innings. The ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are too good, and too rich. If the owners of other major league teams ultimately deem that combination so objectionable that they shut down the sport this winter because of it, they will risk a rupture in one of the greatest fan bases in American sports history.

The four million tickets the Dodgers sold ...Read more

Randy Vásquez stumbled Wednesday night. The Padres picked him up anyway.

Jackson Merrill robbed his second homer of the season in the third inning and capped a five-run rally in the ninth inning with a walk-off double in a 7-6 win over the Mariners, extending the team’s win streak to seven games.

The game-winning rally saw pinch-hitter ...Read more

Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani’s spotless ERA finally got its first mark Wednesday. But in the Dodgers’ 8-2 victory on Wednesday, he held the Mets to just one run in six innings.

Ohtani’s streak of innings without giving up an earned run ended at 32 2/3, the longest of his career. He had 10 strikeouts Wednesday, the most he’s had in...Read more

Running on empty. As in far too many empty at-bats.

It hurt the Colorado Rockies again on Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss to the Houston Astros at Dalkin Park. It was the Rockies’ sixth consecutive loss as they slid 6-12 overall and 2-10 on the road.

Colorado struck out 15 times — Houston starter Spencer Arrighetti fanned 10 in his six ...Read more

DETROIT — Wenceel Perez, inserted into the game in the top of the inning, led off the bottom of the inning with a home run to right field, sending the Tigers to their fifth straight win, 2-1 over the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park Wednesday night.

He had been 0 for 10 in the young season, but he launched a 1-1 change-up from reliever Eli...Read more

PITTSBURGH — In Tuesday’s loss, a gamble from Don Kelly backfired. In a win Wednesday at PNC Park, a different Kelly strategy worked to perfection.

Kelly used Mason Montgomery as an opener for Carmen Mlodzinsk, then Montgomery, Mlodzinski, Gregory Soto and Dennis Santana combined for nine shutout innings in the Pirates’ 2-0 win against ...Read more

CINCINNATI — Tyler Mahle has had much, much better days at Great American Ball Park.

In his first start against his former team, Mahle turned in arguably the worst start of his major league career as the Giants lost, 8-3, on Jackie Robinson Day, their fourth consecutive loss. The four home runs that Mahle surrendered were the most he’s ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Jackie Robinson may not have played at Dodger Stadium, but make no mistake, his influence is as much a part of one of baseball’s most storied ballparks as the World Series trophies and the sweeping views of the Sierra Madre mountain range.

His influence extends for miles all over the Los Angeles area, stretching from Pasadena,...Read more

In the middle of Tuesday night’s 6-0 Red Sox loss in Minnesota, NESN cameras captured Jarren Duran raising his left hand toward the stands, his middle finger up.

Duran had just grounded out to lead off the fifth inning and was headed back to the dugout. He claimed postgame that he heard a fan tell him to take his own life.

“Somebody just ...Read more

St. LOUIS — The comeback didn’t have to be as mighty but proved to be just as effective Wednesday afternoon to seize the series from the Cleveland Guardians.

The Cardinals turned constant pressure on the bases and a timely series of singles and productive outs into a late-game chain of runs and, technically, another come-from-behind victory...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles kept finding ways to rally. Arizona just wouldn’t let up.

Baltimore dropped its series finale with the Diamondbacks, 8-5, on Sunday as Tyler Wells allowed three runs in the 10th inning. The loss clinched the series for the Diamondbacks and dropped the Orioles (9-9) back to .500.

Arizona catcher Adrian Del ...Read more

DETROIT — Turns out, his comments after the game Sunday were foreshadowing.

“I love this place already,” Kevin McGonigle said. “I’m looking forward to a long-term future here.”

Long term, indeed.

The Tigers signed McGonigle, the 21-year-old rookie infielder, to an eight-year contract extension worth a guaranteed $150 million with ...Read more

The past few days in Minneapolis did not go according to plan, but the Boston Red Sox managed to get out of town on a high note.

The Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 9-5 in Wednesday’s series finale, avoiding a three-game sweep and salvaging a .500 road trip. Trevor Story led the way by going 2 for 4 with five RBI, including a three-run home ...Read more