BOSTON — Typically sports teams only meet the president after they’ve won a championship, but several members of the Boston Red Sox found themselves in the Oval Office on Thursday just the same.

According to a video posted by Margo Martin, a special assistant to the president and communications advisor, members of the Red Sox were invited ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The baseball schedule is unrelenting. Players accept that, they train for it and they don’t make excuses about it.

But playing three games in the span of 30 hours – that’s an uncommon level of drudgery and the Detroit Tigers handled it poorly in the early stages Thursday night and wound up losing the rubber match to the 37-...Read more

ATLANTA — José Soriano and the Angels rebounded nicely on Thursday night.

The right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, which helped him bury the memory of his nightmare outing last week and the team’s disheartening loss a night earlier.

The Angels (43-43) could have swept the Braves if they ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Mets‘ series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers began as a pitcher’s duel, with both starters holding the score at 1-1 going into the sixth inning.

But in the bottom of the sixth, Juan Soto’s ground-ball RBI single broke the tie and Pete Alonso’s double off the center-field wall made it 3-1. The sudden jolt led to a 3...Read more

For the first time in nearly three months, the Yankees have fallen out of first place altogether.

Thursday night’s 8-5 loss in Toronto capped a four-game sweep by the division-leading Blue Jays and dropped the Yankees into a tie for second place in the American League East.

Toronto’s George Springer crushed a pair of two-run home runs and ...Read more

ATLANTA — As Ronald Acuña Jr. answered questions about securing his fifth All-Star appearance — he’ll be starting in right field for the National League at Truist Park in a couple of weeks — he decided to share a career desire.

Acuña, in his eighth season with the Braves, reiterated his desire to spend his entire career with one ...Read more

SEATTLE — The trade deadline is a crutch, not a cure.

Don’t get me wrong: the Mariners will improve this month. Probably, they’ll add an aging infielder, sacrificing prospects for months of rental pop. They’ll bring aboard a reliever who can pass the baton to Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz in an unbalanced bullpen. They’ll overpay to ...Read more

NEW YORK — Clarke Schmidt left early from Thursday’s start due to right forearm tightness, the Yankees said.

The right-hander threw 55 pitches over three innings against the Toronto Blue Jays before reliever Clayton Beeter replaced him to begin the bottom of the fourth at Rogers Centre.

Schmidt, 29, surrendered three runs on four hits with...Read more

SEATTLE — There are three players in baseball who will make you stop what you're doing whenever they step in the batter's box.

One is Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers prodigy who entered Wednesday with 30 home runs. One is Aaron Judge, the Yankees phenom who also had 30 dingers coming into Wednesday. The other is Cal Raleigh, the Mariners catcher �...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Infielder Ha-Seong Kim is being activated off the injured list and will join the Rays on Friday in Minneapolis.

Infielder Curtis Mead was optioned to Triple-A Durham to make room on the 26-man active roster. The Rays had an open spot on the 40-man roster because they designated pitcher Forrest Whitley for assignment last weekend...Read more

DENVER — The Colorado Rockies flipped the script.

Thursday afternoon’s game was the kind they have lost so many times this year. And last year. And the year before that.

But they got the key hits in the key moments and beat Houston, 7-6, at Coors Field.

Of course, Houston made the game interesting in the ninth against closer Seth ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The slider was sizzling. The hitter was frozen. The strikeout was roaring.

With an 85-mph pitch on the black in the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday at a rollicking Dodger Stadium, Clayton Kershaw struck out Vinny Capra looking to become the 20th player in baseball history to record 3,000 strikeouts.

As ...Read more

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz was placed on paid leave Thursday and is facing a gambling investigation from the league, according to multiple reports.

Ortiz, 26, was expected to start the Guardians’ game Thursday night against the Chicago Cubs but will instead be on leave through July 18, the Athletic reported. Multiple sources told ...Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas — When Ryan O’Hearn saw the more than 1.7 million votes that had him leading American League designated hitters in All-Star voting last week, he was blown away. Maybe there was an orange wave, he thought, courtesy of his mom and her friends canvassing their 55-and-over community in Buckeye, Ariz.

“It seems like a lot of ...Read more

MIAMI — A thunderstorm raged outside loanDepot Park on Thursday, the lightning visible through the windows. Underneath the dome, the Twins offense shut down, perhaps out of habit.

The Twins managed only five hits and one run in the matinee finale, losing 4-1 to the Marlins in the rubber game of the series. It’s the eighth consecutive series...Read more

The last time Randy Arozarena found a power streak like this he was on his way to becoming the MVP of the American League Championship Series.

For now, he’s a little bit of pop to an offense that in the first three games of its homestand has been rather punchless.

Arozarena homered for the third straight game on Wednesday night and added a ...Read more

When Clayton Kershaw made his major league debut as a gangly 20-year-old with a devastating curveball, he was considered a one-in-a-million talent.

On Wednesday he entered a much smaller club, becoming the 20th pitcher in history to strike out 3,000 batters. The milestone came in the sixth inning on his 100th pitch of the night, a 1-and-2 ...Read more

PHOENIX — It was not the most sustainable formula for a win, but the Giants will take anything they can get amidst their worst stretch of the season.

Camilo Doval blew a save in the bottom of the ninth inning by allowing a game-tying, two-run homer to All-Star starter Ketel Marte, but immediately rebounded to secure a 6-5 win by pitching a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — When Clayton Kershaw made his major league debut as a gangly 20-year-old with a devastating curveball, he was considered a one-in-a-million talent.

On Wednesday he entered a much smaller club, becoming the 20th pitcher in history to strike out 3,000 batters. The milestone came in the sixth inning on his 100th pitch of the night,...Read more