It might be a cliché this time of year, how injured players who return after the trade deadline can serve as de facto deadline acquisitions themselves.

But in the case of Max Muncy and the Dodgers, the team needed it to be true. Badly.

Immediately after Muncy went down with a knee injury in early July, the club’s lineup entered a deep ...Read more

PHOENIX — The Padres got a big night from their new left fielder, who set them up for a victory.

Then their new relief pitcher allowed a mammoth home run on a blazing fastball.

So they played a little more, scored five runs in the top of the 11th against Jake Woodford, the sixth relief pitcher to work for the Diamondbacks, and held on to ...Read more

Tuesday’s seven-run fourth inning was the kind of breakout performance the Rays have been talking about as a platform to end their extended skid and get back to their winning ways.

After they turned that big inning into a 7-3 win over the Angels, now we’ll see what it leads to.

For the night, anyway, they had reason to be happy, winning ...Read more

Eugenio Suárez hit a mammoth two-run home run — his 37th homer of the season and first since his return to Seattle — and Bryan Woo threw a seven-inning gem to lead the Mariners to a 8-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox in the opener of their three-game series Tuesday night before a crowd of 30,686 at T-Mobile Park.

Dominic Canzone and ...Read more

DENVER — Anthony Molina bombed on Blake Street. That was not a good thing.

Called up from Triple-A Albuquerque as a replacement part for the Rockies’ rickety rotation, the right-hander gave his team a fighting chance for five innings Tuesday night. True, he gave up a solo home run to Nathan Lukes in the third and a two-run blast to Daulton ...Read more

DETROIT – Stepping into a major league batter’s box for the first time in 103 days, Luke Keaschall welcomed himself back with a home run in his first at-bat.

Facing former teammate Chris Paddack at Comerica Park, Keaschall fouled the first pitch he saw Tuesday night. He hammered the next pitch, an 89-mph cutter, and sent the ball sailing ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Between now and October, the Dodgers will be evaluating their increasingly healthy pitching staff, trying to identify the best 13 arms for their World Series push.

And for now, they remain hopeful that rookie right-hander Roki Sasaki could be part of that mix; writing an unexpected end to what once seemed like a lost 2025 ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer understood the gamble the organization might be taking when they acquired right-hander Michael Soroka.

Soroka, the only starting pitcher the Cubs traded for, has a lengthy injury history and experienced a significant decrease in velocity in the last four weeks with Washington, ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Giants haven’t had many complete team victories in recent weeks. Their rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night at PNC Park certainly qualifies.

Christian Koss, Jerar Encarnacion and Willy Adames homered. Patrick Bailey drove in two runs, and Heliot Ramos reached base four times. Logan Webb pitched six innings of one...Read more

BOSTON — Monday’s series opener with the visiting Kansas City Royals was a slugfest.

Tuesday was largely a pitchers' duel: Ryan Bergert versus Garrett Crochet.

Both were Red Sox wins.

In yet another sold-out show at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark, Boston triumphed, 6-2, Tuesday night to extend the winning streak to seven.

Crochet made...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Never mind that the Phillies acquired only one hitter at the trade deadline. Or that Harrison Bader arrived with better numbers than every outfielder on the roster. Or that he hit his first Phillies homer earlier this week.

Max Kepler still started in left field Tuesday night.

Say this, then, for manager Rob Thomson: He keeps ...Read more

CHICAGO — Michael Soroka’s Chicago Cubs debut lasted only two innings.

And now the next time he will pitch in a Cubs uniform is concerningly unclear.

Soroka departed after the second inning Monday because of right shoulder discomfort in the Cubs’ ugly 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. The shoulder issue will land him on ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — José Alvarado left town on May 18 without talking to even his Phillies teammates, most of whom got the news from manager Rob Thomson in a hastily called team meeting.

Eleven weeks later, the reliever finally broke his silence.

Alvarado returned to Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, two weeks shy of the end of his 80-game ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Twins fans are right to be disappointed and even disgusted.

They are right to question the judgment and commitment of the Pohlad family, which has owned the franchise since 1984.

In the wake of the Twins’ historic player purge — nine trades in which 10 major league players departed, including stars Carlos Correa and Jhoan ...Read more

SEATTLE — Gallup doesn’t monitor the approval rating of MLB executives. But if it did, Jerry Dipoto’s would look like a seismograph during an earthquake with its sharp spikes and sudden drops.

There have certainly been times when the court of public opinion was ready to throw the book at the Mariners president of baseball operations. ...Read more

ANAHEIM — Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi didn’t appear like he’d stick around long enough to earn a victory on Monday night.

He needed 71 pitches to get through the first three innings against the Tampa Bay Rays, causing the bullpen to stir in the opener of the three-game series.

Kikuchi settled in over the next three innings, however,...Read more

PHOENIX — The last time the Padres played at Chase Field, in mid-June, the Diamondbacks took two of three games and appeared to be among a group of teams that would make the National League wild-card race a thrill ride.

On Monday, four days after the trade deadline, the Diamondbacks had a much different outlook. They traded their slugging ...Read more

LOS ANGELES – It took another pinch-hit single from the Cardinals' backup catcher to seize a lead for the new setup in the backend of the bullpen.

Yohel Pozo, one of the Cardinals' most reliable bats off the bench, poked an RBI single in the ninth inning to break a tie and give the Cardinals their third lead of the game. It was up to lefty ...Read more