SEATTLE — It took 15 games, but the Seattle Mariners finally enjoyed a comfortable night at the ballpark.

No nervy high-leverage moments late in the game or extra innings. No walk-offs either for or against.

This win was almost relaxing.

The M’s picked up a second straight series win after a 9-2 thumping of the Texas Rangers on Saturday ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — This is Roki Sasaki’s home now. The San Gabriel Mountains at his back as he stands atop the mound at Dodger Stadium. Stands filled with adoring fans. Warm spring evenings that soon will lip into summer swelter.

Sasaki, 23, is beginning to feel at home in Chavez Ravine and with the heat that comes with choosing the Dodgers ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Kyle Hart retired the first 10 batters he faced Saturday night, which was two more batters than he faced in his previous start.

The Padres got a season-low three hits, but two of them were solo home runs.

They beat the Colorado Rockies 2-0.

Just another victory at Petco Park.

The Padres are perfect through nine games at home, ...Read more

HOUSTON — The most memorable out of Tyler Anderson’s gem was an out that he didn’t even get.

Anderson took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and the recently homer happy Angels hit two more in a 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

The lasting image of the game, though, will be an Astros fan grabbing a foul ball out of ...Read more

CLEVELAND — The Kansas City Royals found themselves in a familiar spot Saturday night against the Cleveland Guardians.

The Royals ran into more good pitching. And the offense continued to struggle to score runs and support the pitching staff.

As a result, Cleveland picked up a 6-3 victory and clinched the early April series at Progressive ...Read more

CINCINNATI — On his bobblehead night, the best player on the field showed out.

Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz hit a grand slam in the third inning, providing Cincinnati with all the offense it needed in an eventual 5-2 win Saturday at Great American Ball Park. The Pirates have lost the first two games of the series, dropping their record to 5...Read more

CHICAGO — One thing we know about the Chicago White Sox — they’re familiar with the task of trying to climb out from an early-season hole.

An eight-game losing streak in the first month of 2022 was a harbinger of what was in store for Tony La Russa’s final season as Sox manager. That would be the beginning of the end for the core of the...Read more

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Mets‘ bats just can’t seem to click.

A lineup that was expected to mash has done so in what seems like fits and starts through 14 games this season. Saturday against the A’s, the Mets put traffic on the basepaths and made right-hander J.T. Ginn throw more pitches than he likely wanted to, but only had one ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Orioles’ offense was backed into a corner.

Entering the fifth inning Thursday, their lineup had yet to produce a base runner against starter Bowden Francis with the Toronto Blue Jays leading 3-0. They had gone 15 consecutive innings without scoring a run and just watched one of their best players from a year ago hit his ...Read more

This is shaping up to be a nightmare of a weekend for the Boston Red Sox.

Following Friday’s embarrassing loss, the Red Sox dropped their second straight to the Chicago White Sox in crushing fashion on Saturday, losing 3-2 on a walk-off single by Brooks Baldwin.

The loss ensures the Red Sox will lose the three-game series to a team that ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — So, you could easily blame another Rays defeat on home runs. After all, they gave up four more in a 5-4 loss against the Braves on Saturday.

But, for argument’s sake, why not consider this:

— Jose Caballero getting thrown out on the bases three different times between a caught stealing, a pickoff and getting doubled off ...Read more

Cody Bellinger had run into bad luck of late.

The Yankees center fielder missed two games at the beginning of the month when his lower back tightened up — an issue he’s dealt with from time to time.

He sat out again on Tuesday when a batch of room-service chicken wings in Detroit left him with food poisoning.

Bellinger entered Saturday ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — Three weeks into the season, the Phillies have tried out three leadoff hitters and five in the cleanup spot. They’ve had big innings and gotten shut out. Most days, the luckless third baseman looks on the brink of disaster.

Overall, the offense has been ... average.

But it’s been just three weeks in mostly frigid weather. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto can win the National League Cy Young Award.

The possibility of Yamamoto doing that has felt increasingly real every time he has stepped on the mound this season, reaching the point in the Dodgers' 3-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday night to where the previously reticent right-hander readily embraced ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — There’s been a photo making the rounds on social media platforms of a 3-year-old Jackson Jobe, in a caddie uniform at The Masters at Augusta National, caddying for his PGA pro dad Brandt at the annual Par 3 contest.

Tigers manager AJ Hinch, an avid and proficient golfer himself, just shook his head.

“I’ve never been to ...Read more

NEW YORK — Injuries continue to pile up among Yankees starting pitchers.

Marcus Stroman is headed to the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation, the Yankees announced Saturday.

The move came a day after Stroman allowed five runs in 2/3 innings in Friday night’s 9-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

Following that rain-shortened ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Major League Baseball’s penalties for a failed drug test aren’t stern enough to adequately deter players’ use of banned performance-enhancing drugs, said a former World Series champion known by many San Diegans.

Eric Hosmer, who retired last year and was with the Padres from 2018 through late 2022, said MLB ought to jack up ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Nick Pivetta was back on the Petco Park mound, out of the cold, and dominant again.

The San Diego Padres turned a gem into a nightmare for Germán Márquez, scoring six runs in the fifth inning en route to an 8-0 victory that kept them perfect in eight home games this season.

The victory also made the Padres 11-3, tying the 1998 ...Read more

SEATTLE — It seemed appropriate that the swing that made Cal Raleigh the Seattle Mariners all-time leader in homers by a catcher also was a late-inning, game-winning blast.

Raleigh clubbed a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the M’s a 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night. Raleigh’s third homer of the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Tommy Edman has never hit more than 13 home runs in any of his six previous MLB seasons.

After just 15 games this year, he’s almost halfway there.

With an easy swing on a knee-high changeup in the sixth inning Friday night, Edman ended what had been a pitcher’s duel between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chicago Cubs left-hander ...Read more