Aug. 111907 — In the second game of a doubleheader, shortened by agreement, Ed Karger of the St. Louis Cardinals pitched a seven-inning perfect game, beating the Boston Braves 4-0.1926 — Tris Speaker of Cleveland hit his 700th career double but the Indians lost to the Chicago White Sox, 7-2. The double came in the third inning off Joe Edwards.1929 — Babe Ruth hit his 500th career home run in the second inning off Willis Hudlin at Cleveland's League Park. The homer was Ruth's 30th of the year, but it wasn't enough as the Indians beat the Yankees 6-5.1951 — Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Giants 4-0, dropping the Giants 13 1/2 games behind the first-place Brooklyn Dodgers.1961 — Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves scattered six hits to beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1, for his 300th career victory.1970 — Philadelphia's Jim Bunning beat the Houston Astros 6-5 to become the first pitcher to win 100 games in both leagues since Cy Young.1986 — Cincinnati player-manager... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin took another step toward finalizing his pitching rotation Monday, announcing right-hander Frankie Montas will be the team's fourth starter.The 26-year-old Montas has had varied success during parts of two seasons with the A's but was dominant this spring after adding a splitter to complement a 97 mph fastball and slider. The new pitch produced immediate results as Montas went 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in five games with 16 strikeouts and five walks over 16 innings.He joins an A's rotation that includes Mike Fiers, Marco Estrada and Brett Anderson."Deservedly so," Melvin said. "He's had a terrific spring, pitched well whether he was starting a game, whether he was piggy-backing with somebody, and continued pitching the same the entire spring — with some pressure on him knowing that he had to win a job. Proud of him. He deserves to be in the rotation."Melvin didn't use a projected starter in Oakland's 5-4 exhibition win over San Francisco,... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin took another step toward finalizing his pitching rotation Monday, announcing right-hander Frankie Montas will be the team's fourth starter.The 26-year-old Montas has had varied success during parts of two seasons with the A's but was dominant this spring after adding a splitter to complement a 97 mph fastball and slider. The new pitch produced immediate results as Montas went 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in five games with 16 strikeouts and five walks over 16 innings.He joins an A's rotation that includes Mike Fiers, Marco Estrada and Brett Anderson."Deservedly so," Melvin said before a Bay Area exhibition game against the San Francisco Giants. "He's had a terrific spring, pitched well whether he was starting a game, whether he was piggy-backing with somebody, and continued pitching the same the entire spring — with some pressure on him knowing that he had to win a job. Proud of him. He deserves to be in the rotation."Montas' emergence this... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuna Jr. is only 20 years old, so he never gives much thought to his still-fledgling place in baseball history.There'll be plenty of time for that.So, it wasn't until Acuna got back to the Atlanta clubhouse after a long, brilliant day that he finally realized what a feat he had pulled off.Rarer, even, than a perfect game.Or an unassisted triple play.The brilliant Braves rookie joined a very exclusive club by hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader Monday, sparking first-place Atlanta to a sweep of the Miami Marlins.Acuna appears to be only the fourth player to go deep at the start of two games in a single day, joining Brady Anderson, Rickey Henderson and Harry Hooper.By comparison, there have been 23 perfect games and 15 unassisted triple plays."I just found out," Acuna said through a translator when asked if he knew what he had done. "I give thanks to God for the opportunity to make history in my own sense."Acuna worked the count in his favor the first... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuna Jr. pulled off one of the rarest feats in baseball history, hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader to send the first-place Atlanta Braves to a sweep of the Miami Marlins on Monday.The 20-year-old rookie hit an opposite-field drive into the Braves' bullpen in Game 1, powering Atlanta to a 9-1 victory. Haitian-American Touki Toussaint (1-0) pitched six strong innings to win his major league debut.It was more of the same from Acuna in the nightcap. He sent a towering shot into the seats in left-center, sparking the Braves to a 6-1 victory behind another strong outing on the mound from Mike Foltynewicz (10-7).Acuna appeared to be only the fourth player in big league history to hit a pair of leadoff homers in a doubleheader.Merandy Gonzalez (2-1) took the loss in the second game after being called up from Double-A Jacksonville for his first career start.Acuna hit his first leadoff homer off Pablo Lopez (2-3) and added a two-run double in the sixth,... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuna Jr. is only 20 years old, so he never gives much thought to his still-fledgling place in baseball history.There'll be plenty of time for that.So, it wasn't until Acuna got back to the Atlanta clubhouse after a long, brilliant day that he finally realized what a unique feat he had pulled off.Rarer, even, than a perfect game.Or an unassisted triple play.The brilliant Braves rookie joined a very exclusive club by hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader Monday, sparking first-place Atlanta to a sweep of the Miami Marlins.Acuna appears to be only the fourth player to go deep at the start of two games in a single day, joining Brady Anderson, Rickey Henderson and Harry Hooper.By comparison, there have been 23 perfect games and 15 unassisted triple plays."I just found out," Acuna said through a translator when asked if he knew about his unique double. "I give thanks to God for the opportunity to make history in my own sense."Acuna worked the count in his... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuna Jr. pulled off one of the rarest feats in baseball history, hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader to send the first-place Atlanta Braves to a sweep of the Miami Marlins on Monday.The 20-year-old rookie hit an opposite-field drive into the Braves' bullpen in Game 1, powering Atlanta to a 9-1 victory. Haitian-American Touki Toussaint (1-0) pitched six strong innings to win his major league debut.It was more of the same from Acuna in the nightcap. He sent a towering shot into the seats in left-center, sparking the Braves to a 6-1 victory behind another strong outing on the mound from Mike Foltynewicz (10-7).Acuna appeared to be only the fourth player in big league history to hit a pair of leadoff homers in a doubleheader.Merandy Gonzalez (2-1) took the loss in the second game after being called up from Double-A Jacksonville for his first career start.Acuna hit his first leadoff homer off Pablo Lopez (2-3) and added a two-run double in the sixth,... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuna Jr. has pulled off an exceedingly rare baseball feat, hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader for the Atlanta Braves.The 20-year-old rookie hit an opposite-field drive into the Braves bullpen off Miami's Pablo Lopez in the first game, powering Atlanta to a 9-1 victory over the Marlins.Acuna sent another one into the seats in left-center to start the nightcap against Merandy Gonzalez, who was making his first major league start.Acuna may be only the fourth player in baseball history to hit a pair of leadoff homers in a doubleheader. Two others, Rickey Henderson and Harry Hooper, went on to the Hall of Fame.The Elias Sports Bureau says Baltimore's Brady Anderson pulled off the rare double during a home doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 21, 1999. Before that, it was accomplished by Oakland's Henderson at home against the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1993, and Hooper while playing for the Boston Red on May 20, 1913, during a pair of games at the Washington Senators.Acuna has 17 homers this season, four of them leading off games.___More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuna Jr. has pulled off an exceedingly rare baseball feat, hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader for the Atlanta Braves.The 20-year-old rookie hit an opposite-field drive into the Braves bullpen off Miami's Pablo Lopez in the first game, powering Atlanta to a 9-1 victory over the Marlins.Acuna sent another one into the seats in left-center to start the nightcap against Merandy Gonzalez, who was making his first major league start.Acuna was apparently only the third player in baseball history to hit a pair of leadoff homers in a doubleheader. The other two went on to the Hall of Fame.The Elias Sports Bureau says Oakland's Rickey Henderson was the last to do it during a home doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1993. The only other player known to accomplish the feat was Harry Hooper of the Boston Red Sox on May 20, 1913, at the Washington Senators.Acuna has 17 homers this season, four of them leading off games.___More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MIAMI (AP) — The question for Phillies manager Gabe Kapler was posed politely, especially by Philadelphia standards, following a loss to the Miami Marlins."You're not going to beat every team every single time," a reporter said to Kapler. "But a team like the Marlins that's rebuilding, to get where you guys want to go, is it important to beat this team more often than not, considering where you guys are and where they are?"Translation: How in the world did you lose to them?That's a question for several teams of late.Derek Jeter's young Marlins were widely projected to be the worst team in the National League, and perhaps the majors, but they've won consecutive series from the Dodgers, Rockies and Phillies. And while they're still last in the NL East at 11-19, they're showing signs Jeter may be onto something with his rebuilding plan."Those are major league players over there with the capability of beating your butt," Kapler said.It didn't look that way 10 days ago, when Miami was 5-17 and... [More]

HOUSTON (AP) — Charlie Morton pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning and struck out 10 as the Houston Astros snapped the New York Yankees' nine-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory Monday night.Carlos Correa had two hits and an RBI for Houston in the first meeting between the teams since Game 7 of last year's AL Championship Series, when Morton allowed two hits over five innings for the win in a 4-0 victory that sent the Astros to the World Series.Houston has won seven straight at home against the Yankees including the postseason, holding them to no more than one run in their past six games here.Morton (4-0) had allowed just one hit when Gleyber Torres chased him with a two-out double in the eighth. Brad Peacock walked pinch-hitter Aaron Judge, who didn't start for the first time this season, and Torres stole third base.Chris Devenski was greeted with an RBI single by Brett Gardner that cut the lead to 2-1. Devenski then fanned AL player of the week Didi Gregorius on three pitches... [More]

HOUSTON (AP) — Charlie Morton pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning and struck out 10 as the Houston Astros snapped the New York Yankees' nine-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory Monday night.Carlos Correa had two hits and an RBI for Houston in the first meeting between the teams since Game 7 of last year's AL Championship Series, when Morton allowed two hits over five innings for the win in a 4-0 victory that sent the defending champion Astros to the World Series.Houston has won seven straight at home against the Yankees including the postseason, and the Astros have held them to no more than one run in their past six games here.Morton (4-0) had allowed just one hit when Gleyber Torres chased him with a two-out double in the eighth. Brad Peacock took over and walked pinch-hitter Aaron Judge, who didn't start for the first time this season, and Torres stole third base.Chris Devenski replaced Peacock and was greeted with an RBI single by Brett Gardner that cut the lead to 2-1. Devenski... [More]

HOUSTON (AP) — Charlie Morton pitched two-hit ball into the eighth inning and struck out 10 as the Houston Astros snapped the New York Yankees' nine-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory Monday night.Carlos Correa had two hits and an RBI for Houston in the first meeting between the teams since Game 7 of last year's AL Championship Series, when Morton allowed two hits over five innings for the win in a 4-0 victory that sent the defending champion Astros to the World Series.Houston has won seven straight at home against the Yankees including the postseason, and the Astros have held them to no more than one run in their past six games here.Morton (4-0) had allowed just one hit when Gleyber Torres chased him with a two-out double in the eighth. Brad Peacock took over and walked pinch-hitter Aaron Judge, who didn't start for the first time this season, and Torres stole third base.Chris Devenski replaced Peacock and was greeted with an RBI single by Brett Gardner that cut the lead to 2-1. Devenski... [More]

HOUSTON (AP) — Justin Verlander pitched seven sharp innings, AL MVP Jose Altuve hit his first home run of the season and the Houston Astros beat the Angels 5-2 on Wednesday, ending Los Angeles' road winning streak at a team record-tying 11.Albert Pujols connected off Verlander for his 619th career homer. Pujols has 2,994 hits.Alex Bregman hit a three-run double and Jake Marisnick homered as Houston avoided a three-game sweep. The Angels also won 11 straight road games in 1988.Verlander (4-0) held the Angels hitless into the fifth inning. He gave up two runs and four hits, striking out nine without a walk. Verlander won his 11th regular-season decision in a row.Ken Giles pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save. Nick Tropeano (1-2) retired the first 11 batters he faced, striking out six.INDIANS 4, CUBS 1CLEVELAND (AP) — Indians reliever Andrew Miller exited with tightness in his hamstring in the win over Chicago and could miss a few days.Miller grabbed the back of his leg after throwing... [More]