CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs will be without their top starter for at least the next two weeks.

Left-hander Shota Imanaga went on the 15-day injured list Monday with a left hamstring strain. Right-hander Gavin Hollowell was recalled from Triple-A Iowa.

Imanaga pulled up after attempting to cover first base in the sixth inning of Sunday’s ...Read more

ATLANTA — Dustin May knew how key his sweeper would be this season.

“It’s going to be huge,” the Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander said earlier this spring. “Being able to land that is probably going to be my biggest thing for the whole year.”

Lately, however, he’s learning there’s a flip side to that coin, as well.

For as ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Yankees are promoting 19-year-old George Lombard Jr. to Double-A Somerset, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Lombard, the top farmhand in the team’s system and a top-100 prospect, has gotten off to a stellar start at High-A Hudson Valley this season, slashing .329/.496/.488 with one homer, 13 RBI and 11 stolen bases. The ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — Called up from Class AAA Memphis on Saturday to provide length from the bullpen, rookie right-hander Michael McGreevy gave the Cardinals 5 2/3 scoreless innings in Game 2 of a Sunday doubleheader at Busch Stadium to help lift them to a 5-4 win and a series victory over the Mets.

After starter Andre Pallante left his outing with ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — For a few years now, San Francisco Giants fans have known what staff ace Logan Webb is all about.

In a 9-3 win over the Colorado Rockies Sunday, a crowd of 41,087 began to get a better idea about shortstop Willy Adames.

Webb gave up one run in seven innings to improve his record to 5-2 and Adames, who signed a seven-year, $...Read more

MILWAUKEE — “Let PCA be PCA” is the narrative being tossed around as Pete-Crow-Armstrong has emerged this season as one of the game’s best all-around talents.

But what exactly does that mean?

When I asked manager Craig Counsell before Sunday’s 4-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, he wasn’t sure himself.

“What are we supposed to ...Read more

CHICAGO — Josh Rojas referred to Sunday as his “opening day.”

“I felt like I was out forever,” Rojas said Sunday morning.

The Chicago White Sox reinstated the infielder from the 10-day injured list and he made his debut with the team in the 5-4 victory against the Houston Astros in front of 19,418 at Rate Field. The game was called ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Ranger Suárez returned to a major-league mound Sunday amid modest expectations.

“Throw strikes,” manager Rob Thomson said.

For two innings, Suárez complied. But in his first start for the Phillies since Game 4 of last year’s divisional round playoff series — 207 days ago — he stumbled in the third inning and didn�...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — AJ Hinch wasn’t accepting any bonus points for enduring a rugged patch of the schedule.

“There is no conceding to the schedule or the rigors or the grind or whatever,” he said before the Detroit Tigers took the finale and the series from the Los Angeles Angels with a 13-1 victory Sunday. “Our guys are built to handle...Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas — Rookie right-hander Logan Evans surrendered six runs in a never-ending third inning, and the Texas Rangers ended the Seattle Mariners’ six-game winning streak with a 8-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field.

Making his second major-league start, the 23-year-old Evans was tagged for 11 hits (all singles) in five ...Read more

BOSTON – After the Minnesota Twins piled up low-scoring, close losses throughout the past week, they finally figured out a way to change the formula.

The Twins scored four runs against the Boston Red Sox bullpen Sunday, which included a go-ahead RBI double from Harrison Bader off the Green Monster in the eighth inning, and they earned a 5-4 ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The San Diego Padres completed a sweep of a bad team on Sunday.

They finish a nine-game, 10-day trip next weekend against a horrible team.

It is on the bones of such clubs that good teams climb to the postseason.

So a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, which precedes three games in New York against the American League ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles and Kansas Royals love playing low-scoring games at Camden Yards. Entering Sunday, the two teams combined to score only 23 runs across their previous six contests in Baltimore, including Kansas City’s postseason sweep in October.

So, naturally, the Orioles and Royals combined to blast 11 homers — 10 of ...Read more

NEW YORK — With rain falling in the Bronx before and during the Yankees’ delayed series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Bombers lost at home, 7-5, on Sunday.

The defeat marked the first-place Yankees’ second straight series loss to a divisional opponent, as the last-place Orioles took 2 of 3 from them in Baltimore earlier this week...Read more

The New York Mets nearly crawled their way back, but they were stopped short.

Trailing 6-3 entering the eighth inning, the Mets added two runs on an RBI-single by Francisco Lindor to pull within one. Juan Soto walked to load the bases for Pete Alonso with one out. With the way Alonso has swung the bat this season, you couldn’t have drawn it ...Read more

ATLANTA — The national anthem had been sung. A sold-out crowd was in its seats. The field was raked, chalked and ready for baseball.

More than three hours later, the first pitch was finally thrown.

What was scheduled as a 7:15 p.m. local start at Truist Park in Atlanta on Friday didn’t actually kick off until 10:21 p.m., with the Dodgers ...Read more

ANAHEIM -- Got him again.

The sixth inning is turning into Jack Flaherty’s biggest nemesis.

He cruised into the sixth inning Saturday, allowing only an unearned run, flummoxing hitters with a nasty knuckle-curveball. He struck out the side in the fifth, that was how good he was throwing.

Then, facing the top of the order for a third time, ...Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas — Rowdy Tellez’s pinch-hit single drove in Jorge Polanco for the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning, and the Seattle Mariners won their sixth straight game with a 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.

Andrés Muñoz closed it out in the bottom of the ninth. He’s 12 for 12 in save opportunities and hasn�...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Fernando Tatis Jr. woke up and decided he was OK to play baseball.

A few hours later, he willed a victory.

Tatis led off Saturday’s ninth inning by creating a double out of a ground-ball to left field that he had no business turning into a double.

With one out, he stole third base.

With two outs, he ran home on a wild pitch ...Read more