CHICAGO (AP) — Javier Báez lined a two-run homer, Anthony Rizzo had two doubles among three hits and the surging Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 6-1 on Wednesday for their third straight win and ninth in 10 games. Baez’s shot to the left-field bleachers was his 14th homer and third in three games, and it capped a three-run seventh that allowed Chicago to put it away. Rizzo drove in two runs in the fifth with his first double to snap 1-1 tie. The Cubs homered eight times as they swept the Padres in a three-game set at Wrigley Field for the first time since May 2012. San Diego lost its fourth straight, its longest skid since last August. Pierce Johnson (1-2) was charged with the loss. Adbert Alzolay (4-4) allowed one run on three hits and struck out seven in five innings for the win. Four Cubs relievers followed with four scoreless innings. ORIOLES 6, TWINS 3 BALTIMORE (AP) — DJ Stewart and Ryan Mountcastle homered as Baltimore beat Minnesota for its second straight win following a... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Javier Báez lined a two-run homer, Anthony Rizzo had two doubles among three hits and the surging Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 6-1 on Wednesday for their third straight win and ninth in 10 games. Baez’s shot to the left-field bleachers was his 14th homer and third in three games, and it capped a three-run seventh that allowed Chicago to put it away. Rizzo drove in two runs in the fifth with his first double to snap 1-1 tie. The Cubs homered eight times as they swept the Padres in a three-game set at Wrigley Field for the first time since May 2012. San Diego lost its fourth straight, its longest skid since last August. Pierce Johnson (1-2) was charged with the loss. Adbert Alzolay (4-4) allowed one run on three hits and struck out seven in five innings for the win. Four Cubs relievers followed with four scoreless innings. ORIOLES 6, TWINS 3 BALTIMORE (AP) — DJ Stewart and Ryan Mountcastle homered as Baltimore beat Minnesota for its second straight win following a... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Javier Báez lined a two-run homer, Anthony Rizzo had two doubles among three hits and the surging Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 6-1 on Wednesday for their third straight win and ninth in 10 games. Baez’s shot to the left-field bleachers was his 14th homer and third in three games, and it capped a three-run seventh that allowed Chicago to put it away. Rizzo drove in two runs in the fifth with his first double to snap 1-1 tie. The Cubs homered eight times as they swept the Padres in a three-game set at Wrigley Field for the first time since May 2012. San Diego lost its fourth straight, its longest skid since last August. Pierce Johnson (1-2) was charged with the loss. Adbert Alzolay (4-4) allowed one run on three hits and struck out seven in five innings for the win. Four Cubs relievers followed with four scoreless innings. ORIOLES 6, TWINS 3 BALTIMORE (AP) — DJ Stewart and Ryan Mountcastle homered as Baltimore beat Minnesota for its second straight win following a... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins reinstated outfielders Max Kepler and Kyle Garlick from the COVID-19 injured list and recalled catcher Ben Rortvedt from Triple-A St. Paul before beginning a three-game series against Kansas City on Friday. The return of Kepler and Garlick cleared the last of the quarantines for the Twins, who had three straight games postponed two weekends ago due to virus troubles. Kepler and Garlick will also get the Twins almost to full lineup strength, with only first baseman Miguel Sanó (strained right hamstring) sidelined. Catcher Ryan Jeffers and outfielder Brent Rooker were sent to the Triple-A team, and infielders Tzu-Wei Lin and JT Riddle were designated for release or assignment. Riddle was first reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list. Garlick was batting .280 with three doubles and three RBIs in 25 at-bats before his hiatus. Kepler was hitting .234 with four doubles and eight RBIs in 47 at-bats. Rortvedt is a native of Verona, Wisconsin, who was drafted in the second round in 2016. He has yet to appear in the majors. ___ More AP MLB coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers assistant athletic trainer Dave Yeager spent Saturday night in a hospital after appearing to collapse while treating home plate umpire CB Bucknor during a game with the Minnesota Twins. Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he is hopeful Yeager will get released sometime Sunday. Counsell said Sunday that Yeager had been feeling dehydrated after the game but was doing better. “They don’t believe it’s serious, but anytime you’re spending the night in the hospital, obviously, we’re concerned,” Counsell said. The situation involving Yeager was part of a chain of events that occurred before the Twins recorded the final out in a 2-0 victory. First a foul ball from Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich bounced off the right thigh of Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers and hit Bucknor in the throat area. Play was halted while Yeager and others went on the field to assist Bucknor. It was during this delay when Yeager fell backward to the ground. The Twins briefly were pulled off the... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The trade that sent Kenta Maeda to the Minnesota Twins last year gave the right-hander a dose of excitement from the elimination of doubt about whether he would be a full-time starter. The assignment the Twins handed Maeda this season to take the mound on the opening day gave him just as much of a thrill. He'll pitch Thursday at Milwaukee. “It’s an honorable thing, regardless of where I am or which team I play for,” Maeda said Wednesday through a team interpreter. “I’ve never even dreamed of being an opening-day starter in the major leagues, and since coming from overseas, I realized how high-level the game is played here, especially the starting pitchers. I’ve witnessed many pitchers that are, I guess, better than me. So just to have the ball handed to me for this special day means a lot.” After finishing second in the AL Cy Young Award voting in 2020, Maeda was being quite humble about his stature in the sport. The pitching-rich Los Angeles Dodgers, once they reached... [More]