WASHINGTON (AP) — A person familiar with the negotiations says that right-hander Jeremy Hellickson and the Washington Nationals have agreed in principle to a $1.3 million, one-year contract.The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the deal was subject to a successful physical exam.The 31-year-old Hellickson could earn up to $4 million more in performance bonuses, based on the number of games he starts.He was 5-3 with a 3.45 ERA in 19 starts for Washington last season.The Nationals are Hellickson's fifth club in a big league career that began in 2010 with the Tampa Bay Rays.He is 74-72 with a 4.07 ERA in the majors.Hellickson is expected to be the front-runner to claim the No. 5 spot in Washington's starting rotation, following Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez.The agreement with Hellickson comes one week before the Nationals' pitchers and catchers are due to report to spring training in Florida.___AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

NEW YORK (AP) — The price of qualifying offers for Major League Baseball free agents will be $17.9 million this year.That figure is up from $17.2 million last year and $15.8 million the year before. It was determined by the average of the top 125 major league contracts this year by average annual value.This year's anticipated free agent class could include Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson, Brian Dozier, Daniel Murphy, Michael Brantley, Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen, A.J. Pollock, Nelson Cruz, Patrick Corbin, Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton and Craig Kimbrel. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw could also decide to opt out of the remaining two years on his contract.A qualifying offer can be made through the fifth day after the World Series, and a player has a week after that to accept. If a team makes a qualifying offer to a player who signs a major league contract with another club before the June amateur draft, his former club would receive a draft pick as compensation at the end of the... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Washington Nationals pitcher Jeremy Hellickson may miss the rest of the season after reinjuring his right wrist while batting in the fourth inning of Saturday's 7-1 win over the Atlanta Braves.Hellickson sprained his right on Aug. 15 when he landed awkwardly while covering home plate after throwing a wild pitch at St. Louis.He made his first appearance since and got hurt again. The 2011 AL Rookie of the Year is scheduled for an MRI on Sunday.Hellickson missed 22 games in June because of a right hamstring strain. He is 5-3 with a 3.45 ERA in 19 starts."The injuries have been pretty frustrating," Hellickson said. "All three were out of my control. To only make 19 starts stinks, so I've just got to think about other things and just try to get healthy."Hellickson grimaced after fouling off the first pitch of his at-bat in the fourth inning, then swung and missed at a low and outside pitch. Hellickson walked to the dugout and was examined by director of athletic training Paul... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Washington Nationals pitcher Jeremy Hellickson left his start against the Atlanta Braves after re-injuring his right wrist while batting in the fourth inning.Hellickson had been sidelined by a sprained right wrist, and Saturday's start was his first since Aug. 15.He grimaced after fouling off the first pitch of his at-bat in the fourth, then swung and missed at a low and outside pitch. Hellickson walked to the dugout and was examined by director of athletic training Paul Lessard.Andrew Stevenson pinch hit, took two balls and swung and missed at strike three, a strikeout charged to Hellickson. Jefry Rodriguez relieved to start the bottom half.Hellickson allowed two hits and one unearned run in three innings.___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sunday's game between the Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals was postponed because of rain and rescheduled for Thursday at 4:05 p.m.The decision was announced three hours after the scheduled 1:35 p.m. start time. Thursday is the teams' only remaining mutual day off.Rain fell at Nationals Park throughout the weekend.The start of Friday's game was delayed 1 hour, 21 minutes. The rain returned with two outs in the top of the second inning and play was stopped. The game was postponed after a wait of 2 hours, 55 minutes when the rain had stopped.Saturday became a doubleheader that was supposed to start at 3:05 p.m. but didn't get underway until 5 p.m. A between-games ceremony honoring former National Jason Werth and another rain delay in the nightcap led to 1:44 a.m. conclusion as Washington swept the Cubs.Chicago began Sunday with a 2½-game lead in the NL Central while Washington was 7½ games behind Atlanta in the NL East.The Cubs, in the midst of 23 games in 23 days,... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sunday's game between the Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals was postponed because of rain and rescheduled for Thursday at 4:05 p.m.The decision was announced three hours after the scheduled 1:35 p.m. start time. Thursday is the teams' only remaining mutual day off.Rain fell at Nationals Park throughout the weekend.The start of Friday's game was delayed 1 hour, 21 minutes. The rain returned with two outs in the top of the second inning and play was stopped. The game was postponed after a wait of 2 hours, 55 minutes when the rain had stopped.Saturday became a doubleheader that was supposed to start at 3:05 p.m. but didn't get underway until 5 p.m. A between-games ceremony honoring former National Jason Werth and another rain delay in the nightcap led to 1:44 a.m. conclusion as Washington swept the Cubs.Chicago began Sunday with a 2½-game lead the NL Central while Washington was 7½ games behind Atlanta in the NL East.The Cubs, in the midst of 23 games in 23 days,... [More]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Nationals have put Jeremy Hellickson on the 10-day disabled list with a right wrist sprain and recalled pitcher Jefry Rodriguez to start against the Miami Marlins.Washington made the moves before Saturday night's game. The Nationals also recalled pitcher Jimmy Cordero from Syracuse and optioned reliever Trevor Gott to Triple-A.Hellickson's DL stint, retroactive to Aug. 16, occurs as Washington remains without Stephen Strasburg, who's sidelined with a cervical nerve impingement. The 31-year-old Hellickson is 5-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 18 starts.Strasburg threw 40 pitches in a bullpen session Saturday. He is expected to either start Tuesday's game against the Phillies or make a rehab start in the minors.Strasburg was put on the DL retroactive to July 22."We'll talk to him (Sunday)," manager Dave Martinez said. "We don't know if it's Tuesday here, or Tuesday in a rehab stint. We don't know that. We'll figure that out tomorrow."Rodriguez, set for his fifth start with the Nationals, has a 5.84 ERA in six prior appearances.Gott is 0-2 with a 5.68 ERA in 20 games.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Washington Nationals right-hander Jeremy Hellickson was removed from Wednesday night's game in St. Louis in the fifth inning after colliding with Cardinals outfielder Harrison Bader at the plate.Hellickson was covering home after a wild pitch. He stumbled over Bader as Bader slid home safely.Hellickson was charged with three runs, two earned, on three hits in his 4 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked two.___More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

NEW YORK (AP) — Ronald Guzman became the first rookie to hit three home runs in a game against the Yankees, powering the Texas Rangers past New York 12-7 on Friday night.Eight days after Boston's Steve Pearce connected three times off the Yankees, Guzman duplicated the feat in ending New York's four-game winning streak.Guzman grounded out his first time up, then hit solo home runs in three straight at-bats. The 23-year-old first baseman batted again in the eighth with a chance to tie the big league record for homers in a game — no rookie has ever hit four — but struck out swinging against Chad Green.Guzman's two homers off Masahiro Tanaka (9-3) and one off A.J. Cole made him the first Texas player to hit three home runs in a game since Adrian Beltre in 2012.Overall, Guzman has 12 home runs this season, six against the Yankees.Beltre also joined in the fun with his seventh homer of the season, tying recent Hall of Fame inductee Chipper Jones for the 33rd spot on baseball's career list with... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Ronald Guzman became the first rookie to hit three home runs in a game against the Yankees, powering the Texas Rangers past New York 12-7 on Friday night.Eight days after Boston's Steve Pearce connected three times off the Yankees, Guzman duplicated the feat in ending New York's four-game winning streak.Guzman grounded out his first time up, then hit solo home runs in three straight at-bats. The 23-year-old first baseman batted again in the eighth with a chance to tie the big league record for homers in a game — no rookie has ever hit four — but struck out swinging against Chad Green.Guzman's two homers off Masahiro Tanaka (9-3) and one off A.J. Cole made him the first Texas player to hit three home runs in a game since Adrian Beltre in 2012.Overall, Guzman has 12 home runs this season, six against the Yankees.Beltre also joined in the fun with his seventh homer of the season, tying recent Hall of Fame inductee Chipper Jones for the 33rd spot on baseball's career list with... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Ronald Guzman became the first rookie to hit three home runs in a game against the Yankees, powering the Texas Rangers past New York 12-7 on Friday night.Eight days after Boston's Steve Pearce connected three times off the Yankees, Guzman duplicated the feat in ending New York's four-game winning streak.Guzman grounded out his first time up, then hit solo home runs in three straight at-bats. The 23-year-old first baseman batted again in the eighth with a chance to tie the big league record for homers in a game — no rookie has ever hit four — but struck out swinging against Chad Green.Guzman's two homers off Masahiro Tanaka (9-3) and one off A.J. Cole made him the first Texas player to hit three home runs in a game since Adrian Beltre in 2012.Overall, Guzman has 12 home runs this season, six against the Yankees.Beltre also joined in the fun with his seventh homer of the season, tying recent Hall of Fame inductee Chipper Jones for the 33rd spot on baseball's career list with... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Jason Heyward broke up a no-hitter with a tying two-run single in the sixth inning, Anthony Rizzo drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh and the Chicago Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Friday.In the first meeting between the teams since Chicago beat Washington in the NL Division Series, the Cubs won even though they didn't get a hit against Nationals starter Jeremy Hellickson.Rizzo walked three times. Manager Joe Maddon got ejected, but the Cubs pulled out the victory.Hellickson was sailing along, retiring 17 in a row after issuing a leadoff walk to Rizzo in the first. But things took a wild turn with two out in the sixth.He walked Rizzo on 13 pitches and both Javier Baez and Ben Zobrist on four to load the bases. Heyward took two balls from Sammy Solis (1-2) before lining the tying single past second baseman Daniel Murphy.Chicago took a 3-2 lead in the seventh after Maddon got tossed for arguing an interference call against Willson Contreras on the bases.Kyle... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Corey Kluber pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout this season and new arrival Leonys Martin homered again as the Cleveland Indians beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-0 Saturday night.After the game, there was a report that Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia is expected to step down at the end of this season. The report by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic cited unidentified major league sources.The 59-year-old Scioscia is the longest-tenured manager in the majors and has guided the Angels since 2000. They are 55-57 this year.Kluber (14-6) matched zeros for five innings with Felix Pena (1-3), who carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Martin led off with a homer. Martin has two homers in three games since coming to Cleveland in a trade with Detroit.The Angels were again without All-Star outfielder Mike Trout, who missed his third straight game with a sore right wrist.ASTROS 14, DODGERS 0LOS ANGELES (AP) — Josh Reddick's three-run homer highlighted Houston's... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Corey Kluber pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout this season and new arrival Leonys Martin homered again as the Cleveland Indians beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-0 Saturday night.After the game, there was a report that Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia is expected to step down at the end of this season. The report by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic cited unidentified major league sources.The 59-year-old Scioscia is the longest-tenured manager in the majors and has guided the Angels since 2000. They are 55-57 this year.Kluber (14-6) matched zeros for five innings with Felix Pena (1-3), who carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Martin led off with a homer. Martin has two homers in three games since coming to Cleveland in a trade with Detroit.The Angels were again without All-Star outfielder Mike Trout, who missed his third straight game with a sore right wrist.REDS 7, NATIONALS 1, 1ST GAMENATIONALS 6, REDS 2, 2ND GAMEWASHINGTON (AP) — Nationals slugger... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Sean Newcomb came within one strike of pitching the first no-hitter by the Atlanta Braves since 1994, denied when Chris Taylor sharply singled in a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.Newcomb had a 2-2 count with two outs in the ninth inning when Taylor hit a hard grounder beyond the reach of diving third baseman Johan Camargo. That came on the career-high 134th and final pitch by the 25-year-old lefty.Newcomb (10-5) left to a thunderous standing ovation from the sellout crowd at SunTrust Park as manager Brian Snitker removed him. Snitker took the ball and gave it back to Newcomb as a keepsake — instead, Newcomb simply tossed it toward the Atlanta dugout as he walked off, wanting no souvenir of the near-miss.Newcomb apologized about an hour after the game for racist, homophobic and sexist tweets he sent as a teenager, calling them "some stupid stuff."Ross Stripling (8-3) was subpar in his second straight start, allowing four runs, seven hits and one walk with five... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Sean Newcomb came within one strike of pitching the first no-hitter by the Atlanta Braves since 1994, denied when Chris Taylor sharply singled in a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.Newcomb had a 2-2 count with two outs in the ninth inning when Taylor hit a hard grounder beyond the reach of diving third baseman Johan Camargo. That came on the career-high 134th and final pitch by the 25-year-old lefty.Newcomb (10-5) left to a thunderous standing ovation from the sellout crowd at SunTrust Park as manager Brian Snitker removed him. Snitker took the ball and gave it back to Newcomb as a keepsake — instead, Newcomb simply tossed it toward the Atlanta dugout as he walked off, wanting no souvenir of the near-miss.Newcomb apologized about an hour after the game for racist, homophobic and sexist tweets he sent as a teenager, calling them "some stupid stuff."Ross Stripling (8-3) was subpar in his second straight start, allowing four runs, seven hits and one walk with five... [More]

BALTIMORE (AP) — Manny Machado homered before making an early exit, Adam Jones hit a three-run double and the Baltimore Orioles rallied past the Texas Rangers 6-5 Sunday.Machado was removed in the fifth inning by manager Buck Showalter after a 26-minute rain delay, taking the All-Star shortstop off a sloppy field. The last-place Orioles are entertaining offers for Machado, who is expected to be dealt before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.After being replaced by Jace Peterson, Machado sat in the dugout, wearing a sweatshirt and joking with his teammates.In a matchup between two teams staggering into the All-Star break, Texas got a first-inning grand slam from rookie Ronald Guzman but quickly gave the lead away in losing for the seventh time in nine games.Machado ignited the comeback with his 24th homer, and Jones' bases-clearing double in the third off Mike Minor (6-6) put Baltimore ahead to stay.Tanner Scott (1-1) earned his first big league win. Zach Britton worked the ninth for... [More]

BALTIMORE (AP) — Manny Machado homered before making an early exit, Adam Jones hit a three-run double and the Baltimore Orioles rallied past the Texas Rangers 6-5 Sunday.Machado was removed in the fifth inning by manager Buck Showalter after a 26-minute rain delay, taking the All-Star shortstop off a sloppy field. The last-place Orioles are entertaining offers for Machado, who is expected to be dealt before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.After being replaced by Jace Peterson, Machado sat in the dugout, wearing a sweatshirt and joking with his teammates.In a matchup between two teams staggering into the All-Star break, Texas got a first-inning grand slam from rookie Ronald Guzman but quickly gave the lead away in losing for the seventh time in nine games.Machado ignited the comeback with his 24th homer, and Jones' bases-clearing double in the third off Mike Minor (6-6) put Baltimore ahead to stay.Tanner Scott (1-1) earned his first big league win. Zach Britton worked the ninth for... [More]

BALTIMORE (AP) — Manny Machado homered before making an early exit, Adam Jones hit a three-run double and the Baltimore Orioles rallied past the Texas Rangers 6-5 Sunday.Machado was removed in the fifth inning by manager Buck Showalter after a 26-minute rain delay, taking the All-Star shortstop off a sloppy field. The last-place Orioles are entertaining offers for Machado, who is expected to be dealt before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.After being replaced by Jace Peterson, Machado sat in the dugout, wearing a sweatshirt and joking with his teammates.In a matchup between two teams staggering into the All-Star break, Texas got a first-inning grand slam from rookie Ronald Guzman but quickly gave the lead away in losing for the seventh time in nine games.Machado ignited the comeback with his 24th homer, and Jones' bases-clearing double in the third off Mike Minor (6-6) put Baltimore ahead to stay.Tanner Scot (1-1) earned his first big league win. Zach Britton worked the ninth for... [More]

A look at what's happening around the majors today:MIDSUMMER SKIDThe Nationals open a series against Miami hoping to end a five-game skid and get back to .500. Washington fell to 42-43 with a loss to Boston on Wednesday, the first time the preseason NL East favorites have been under .500 this late in the year since being 60-61 on Aug. 21, 2015. The Nationals held a players' only meeting after a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox highlighted by Adam Eaton's throwing error and a wild pitch from Ryan Madson. Jeremy Hellickson (2-1, 2.63) makes his second start since returning from the DL, while Marlins righty Pablo Lopez (1-0, 3.00) makes his second MLB start.NOT VERY VERLANDERJustin Verlander (9-4, 2.12) tries to stop a personal slide when the Astros open a series against the White Sox. Verlander has allowed nine runs in 11 2/3 innings over his past two starts, taking losses to Toronto (four runs) and Tampa Bay (five runs). Verlander hasn't allowed four or more earned runs in three straight starts since... [More]