HOUSTON -- When Astros pitcher Hunter Brown hit Minnesota’s Matt Wallner with a full-count curveball Sunday in Minneapolis, supervisor Dusty Baker later pulled him apart and supplied some recommendation. Call it a teachable second, if you'll. “Dusty came to me and said, ‘Hey man, you’ve got to decide when that is the right pitch,’” Brown mentioned. So when Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe got here to the plate Saturday night time with the bases loaded and one out within the third inning, Brown confirmed confidence in his energy curve whereas displaying the heart of a tightrope walker. Lowe swung via the bender for a key strikeout within the Astros’ 8-2 win over the Rangers at Minute Maid Park. “I think in that spot, it was the right pitch. I had to execute it, and I did,” Brown mention...

WASHINGTON -- Terry Francona sat within the visiting supervisor’s workplace Saturday, once more speaking about new guidelines. He spoke with a author from a non-sports publication about them earlier than doing his customary each day meet with baseball writers additionally locked into how the game would react early within the season. Francona is 63 years outdated, which provides him the battling dualities of expertise and stubbornness. He performed within the National League when the St. Louis Cardinals sped by the Nineteen Eighties, stealing 314 bases in 1985, the identical yr they misplaced Game 7 of the World Series. He’s a supervisor who later watched a homer-happy, analytics-swathed league was advised that adjustments have been crucial -- much less time between pitches, bigger bases an...

LOS ANGELES -- The followers at Dodger Stadium have welcomed Cody Bellinger again to city with rousing standing ovations and cheers all through this weekend. The crowd lastly turned on considered one of their former favorites when he pulled off an all-too-familiar catch. And Bellinger seemed amused by the second. In the second inning on Saturday, Jason Heyward -- the previous Cubs star, including one other layer to the intrigue -- launched a pitch from Jameson Taillon to deep middle discipline. Bellinger glided again, checking the wall with a couple of fast turns of the top earlier than timing the right leap. Bellinger left his toes and snared the baseball earlier than it might clear the baby-blue wall, robbing a would-be homer from Heyward. Bellinger's viewers buzzed for a second earlier ...

BOSTON -- Another day, one other milestone for Angels celebrity Mike Trout. With his first-inning double in opposition to the Red Sox in Saturday’s 9-7 loss at Fenway Park, Trout turned the fourth participant all time with not less than 300 profession doubles, 300 profession homers and 200 stolen bases by his age-31 season. And he joined some spectacular firm, as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Hall of Famer Willie Mays are the one different gamers to succeed in these marks earlier than turning 32. Trout, a three-time AL MVP and 10-time All-Star, went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a stroll and is hitting .300/.462/.580 with three homers, 5 doubles and 9 RBIs in 14 video games this season. In his 13-year profession with the Angels, Trout has 353 homers, 301 doubles and 204 stolen bases in 1,...