LOS ANGELES — Long lines snaked out from Dodger Stadium entrances a good three hours before Thursday night’s game, and most of the 53,527 fans in attendance were in their seats well before first pitch, a rarity for the notoriously late-arriving Chavez Ravine crowds.

The draw? A Shohei Ohtani bobblehead doll, the two-way star’s first as a ...Read more

CHICAGO — Same opponent and a different pitch escaping him. No problem.

Despite not having his fastball Thursday night at Wrigley Field, Jared Jones spun his sixth quality start in nine tries this season as the Pirates beat the Cubs, 5-4. It wasn’t always pretty for Jones, who gave up three earned runs in six innings, but he pitched well ...Read more

BOSTON — Looking to win the series and move both back over .500 and past the rival Red Sox into third place in the American League East, the Rays got off to a good start Thursday, building a four-run advantage by the fourth inning.

But little has come easy this season, so they let that lead slip away before rallying for two runs in the ninth ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — It’s been a dismal week for the Mets that featured blown leads and empty at-bats. Facing the Philadelphia Phillies for the fourth and final time this week, the Mets blew two leads before scoring twice in the 11th inning to finally stop the skid and snap a streak of three straight losses to their divisional rivals with a 6-5 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The epidemic of major elbow injuries that has marred baseball for several years revisited the Dodgers this week, the team announcing that 24-year-old right-hander Emmet Sheehan underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery on Wednesday.

Sheehan, who showed promise by going 4-1 with a 4.92 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The Oakland Athletics are expected to present their plan to play in Las Vegas for at least 30 years to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Thursday.

The so-called “nonrelocation agreement” will be the second of four major agreements that must be approved by the authority, as required by the public financing mechanism for the team�...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Five days after being designated for assignment, Roansy Contreras has a new club. Sources informed the Post-Gazette on Thursday afternoon that Contreras was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for cash considerations. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com was the first to report that Contreras was traded.

The Pirates designated Contreras for ...Read more

After logging 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the Rays on May 10, Clarke Schmidt found himself wanting more.

The right-hander had just matched the longest start of his career, but he put up a small fight when manager Aaron Boone pulled him from the game with two outs in the seventh inning at Tropicana Field.

“We’ll continue to push that ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This is a column about baseball and forward thinking. So naturally, we’ll start with football and the past.

Forty-some years ago, NFL coach and Texas legend Bum Phillips described Don Shula in this way:

“He can take his’n and beat your’n, or he can take your’n and beat his’n.”

And, now, here is the segue...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Before Wednesday’s series finale against the Dodgers, Curt Casali, fresh off signing a one-year deal to re-join the black and orange, was asked about the team’s morale amidst a flurry of injuries. While Casali couldn’t speak to the temperature of the room, he may have instead foreshadowed what was to come in the ensuing ...Read more

BOSTON — After the irritating extra-inning, walk-off loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday, the Rays were looking to feel better about things on Wednesday.

And they did, thanks to a good start from Taj Bradley, solid relief work, key hits by Jose Siri and Yandy Diaz, and some help from the Sox.

The 4-3 win got the Rays back to .500 at 22-22, and ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper smiled and laughed as he took infield practice Wednesday. He spoke to a few British journalists in advance of the Phillies’ London trip next month, then chatted with another reporter in the dugout.

One day after getting hit with a migraine, he was in good spirits.

It was time, then, for Harper to resume being a ...Read more

Aaron Judge remained hot at the plate on Wednesday night, going 4 for 4 with a home run, three doubles and a walk in the Yankees’ 4-0 win over Minnesota.

The homer, Judge’s first hit of the night, crashed into the upper deck in left at Target Field. The first-inning solo blast off of Twins ace Pablo López traveled 467 feet at 113 mph and ...Read more

Remember when the Athletics were a .500 team? It wasn’t that long ago, May 4 to be exact, after a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Now it’s a distant memory, and one that isn’t likely to be reached again in 2024. The Athletics were shut down by Framber Valdez and Seth Martinez Wednesday night, losing 3-0 at Minute Maid Park.

The A’s ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Thirteen months ago, Rockies lefty Austin Gomber was lost.

He had a 0-4 record and a 12.12 ERA. He made an emotional admission, saying that being part of the 2021 trade that sent Nolan Arenado to St. Louis had gotten into his head.

That Gomber is long gone.

On Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park, he blanked the Padres for six ...Read more

SEATTLE — Bryan Woo was efficient and effective in his second start since coming off the injured list, Ty France hit his fourth home run of the season and the Mariners eked out a series victory over the Kansas City Royals with a 4-2 win in the rubber match Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

Gabe Speier relieved Woo in the sixth inning and ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Adley Rutschman has done it again.

The Orioles’ franchise catcher hit his fourth home run in three games to walk off the Toronto Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth inning, 3-2, on Wednesday afternoon, salvaging a win to extend their sweepless streak past the two-year mark.

After rain postponed Tuesday’s game to July, the ...Read more

DETROIT — In what's becoming an unfortunate theme, the Tigers on Wednesday wasted another dominant pitching performance.

Casey Mize allowed two hits and two runs to the first two batters he faced, then was unhittable before leaving to begin the seventh inning. But the Tigers' offense was silent itself in a 2-0 loss to the Miami Marlins at ...Read more

MILWAUKEE — Martin Perez had pitched in 296 career MLB games without giving up five home runs in a single contest.

That fact turned false by the end of Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Brewers at American Family Field. Five different Milwaukee hitters went deep against Perez before the Pirates fell, 10-2, to drop a season-worst six ...Read more

There is an old adage: “Good things come to those who wait.”

And Kansas City Royals designated hitter Nelson Velázquez had certainly waited a long time to hit his third home run of the season — more than a month, in fact.

Velázquez finally snapped that homer drought on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. He drilled an 86.3 mph ...Read more