DIEGO CASTILLO

Alfonso Rivas had three hits and five RBIs, and the Chicago Cubs stopped a four-game slide by pounding the Pittsburgh Pirates 21-0.

Ty France hit a three-run homer, rookie starter Matt Brash took an odd no-hitter into the sixth inning, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros 7-2 for a rare series victory against their AL West rivals.

Nolan Arenado hit three doubles and a single, Paul DeJong homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2.

Yankees ace Gerrit Cole felt his first spring training start was better than his pitching line.

The Seattle Mariners won for the 10th time in 11 games and stayed in the thick of the AL wild-card race with a 4-2 win over the Oakland Athletics.

José Marmolejos hit a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning and J.P. Crawford padded the lead with a two-run homer as the Seattle Mariners avoided a sweep with an 8-5 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

Abraham Toro hit a grand slam against a player he was traded for last month, connecting in the eighth inning and sending the Seattle Mariners over the Houston Astros 4-0.

Ty France tied the game with a solo home run in the ninth inning and put the Seattle Mariners on top with an RBI single in the 11th before Kyle Seager belted a three-run homer in a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Rookie Taylor Jones had a career-high four RBIs and finished a single shy of the cycle, and Yordan Alvarez hit a three-run homer as the Houston Astros routed the Seattle Mariners for the second straight game, 15-1.

Time is running out for playoff contenders to bolster their rosters through a trade.

Five Tampa Bay pitchers combined for seven hitless innings, and the Rays beat the Indians 4-0 for a doubleheader sweep.

Kevin Kiermaier broke up a combined no-hit bid by the Boston Red Sox with a one-out double in the eighth inning and Manuel Margot scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to give the Tampa Bay Rays a 1-0 victory.

The Rays and Yankees renew their intense AL East rivalry with a Memorial Day matinee in the Bronx to begin a four-game series.

Austin Meadows hit a three-run homer and later scored the go-ahead run on Manuel Margot’s pinch-hit single in the seventh inning as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Houston Astros 5-4.

The last-place New York Yankees lost their fifth straight game as Yoshi Tsutsugo hit a tiebreaking double off Gerrit Cole in the seventh inning that lifted the Tampa Bay Rays to a 4-2 win and a three-game sweep.

After Lowe finally busted out in Game 2 of the World Series, the Rays and Dodgers are tied deep in the heart of Texas. Snell attacked with breaking pitches in the strike zone, not his usual pattern, against a Dodgers team that doesn't often chase. SHORT HOPSSnell’s nine strikeouts were the most in a World Series game by a pitcher who didn't last five innings. Dodgers: Buehler threw six shutout innings to win Game 6 of the NL Championship Series against Atlanta and force Game 7. His only previous World Series start was Game 3 against Boston in 2018, when he fired seven scoreless innings in the only game the Dodgers won.

George Springer and José Altuve delivered big hits, Framber Valdéz pitched six brilliant innings and the Astros beat the Tampa Bay Rays for the third straight time, 7-4 Friday to force a deciding Game 7 of the AL Championship Series. Despite blowing a 3-0 series lead, they remain one win from the second World Series in franchise history — and one loss from joining the 2004 Yankees in ignominy. Game 7 on Saturday night will feature the pitchers who started and finished Houston’s Game 7 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series. He has yet to win a World Series as a manager. As a player, he helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win four straight World Series games in 1981 after falling behind the New York Yankees 0-2.

(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)SAN DIEGO – Kevin Kiermaier and the Tampa Bay Rays — with big assists from two former Padres who know Petco Park's outfield well — are one win from the second World Series berth in franchise history. “We’ve played just tremendous defense all season long,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. Kiermaier, the longest-tenured Tampa Bay player, said it was “an amazing feeling” to be so close to going to the Fall Classic. Wendle lined a single off third baseman Alex Bregman's glove to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. Paredes hit Kiermaier on the hand to load the bases and then grazed Willy Adames on the pinkie with a pitch to bring in another run.

(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)SAN DIEGO – Randy Arozarena homered again at Petco Park and Mike Zunino drove in the go-ahead run for the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the Houston Astros 2-1 Sunday night in the opener of the AL Championship Series. Game 2 is Monday afternoon when the Rays turn to 36-year-old Charlie Morton, who was with Houston when it won the 2017 World Series. They are villains in many people’s eyes for their sign-stealing scandal three years ago, when they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Tampa Bay is trying to reach its second World Series after losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. Rays: Morton got the decision in the Rays’ 8-4 win against the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)SAN DIEGO – Manager Kevin Cash and the Tampa Bay Rays introduced the concept of an opener to modern baseball two years ago. But just as New York almost certainly regretted using an opener in Game 2 when Deivi García and J.A. Glasnow threw 93 pitches in Game 2, getting the victory after tossing four-run ball over five innings. The Rays used an opener seven times in this year's 60-game regular season, going 6-1 when employing the scheme. “(Glasnow) has obviously got his heater, but he’s got one of the best curveballs in the game, too.

For the first time in his three seasons with New York, the Yankees' big-money slugger is putting on a fantastic power display in the postseason. Stanton has homered in every one of New York’s four postseason games to tie a franchise feat previously accomplished by only Lou Gehrig and Reggie Jackson. New York's powerhouse lineup struck out a team-record 18 times, also setting a major league mark for strikeouts in a nine-inning postseason game. That's why Stanton likely won't find many positives in his first career multi-homer postseason game, the 33rd of his career overall. Stanton entered this neutral-site series with eight homers and 15 RBIs in just 19 career games at San Diego's beautiful downtown park.

It was reminiscent of the mammoth shots he hit in winning the Home Run Derby here in 2016. Stanton has three homers this series and five in four postseason games. His grand slam in the ninth inning Monday night was the Bronx Bombers’ fourth homer in the 9-3 Game 1 win. Stanton, who’s from Los Angeles, joined Reggie Jackson and Lou Gehrig as the only Yankees to homer in four straight postseason games overall. His 10 strikeouts surpass the previous Rays postseason record of nine, done three times.

That’s probably the worst thing we can do as a team,” Blue Jays third baseman Cavan Biggio said. Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks followed the starter, limiting the Blue Jays to two singles, two doubles and Bo Bichette's eighth-inning sacrifice fly the rest of the way. The wild-card Blue Jays broke through in the eighth against Anderson, didn't allow a run in 18 of 19 regular season appearances. He’s pretty good,” said Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, who served on Cash's staff with the Rays from 2015-18. UP NEXTLefty Hyun Jin Ryu starts for the Blue Jays against right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who’s been Tampa Bay’s best pitcher.

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow winds up during the second inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020, at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)NEW YORK After a decade spent chasing their big-budget AL East rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays are pummeling the New York Yankees. The AL East leaders improved to 7-1 against the Yankees this season and stretched their division cushion to 4 1/2 games. TRAINER'S ROOMRays: 3B Yandy Daz was pulled with left hamstring tightness in the fifth and is day to day. UP NEXTYankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka (0-1, 3.48 ERA) will start on extended five days' rest against Rays RHP Trevor Richards (0-0, 4.71).

The Blue Jays were blocked by the Canadian government from hosting this season because of coronavirus concerns, and hopes of shifting home games to other big league cities didn't work out. First of all, this whole year has been crazy, but its been especially crazy for our team, Biggio said. You get an opening day start usually because of what you did the year before," Morton said. Blue Jays starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, second in NL Cy Young voting when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, allowed three runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings. Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said it felt awesome after all the uncertainty the Blue Jays have endured recently.

That one run was already more than any that Verlander surrendered in Game 1.Avisail Garcia got on base with a single, and Ji-man Choi was walked by Verlander. It took Verlander 32 pitches to get through the first inning.James "Mattress Mack" McIngvale is in attendance for Game 4, and ABC13's Bob Slovak talked to him. Two of the three ground-outs went directly to the pitchers' mound.Jose Altuve started the fourth inning with a lead-off single. His day finished with 3.2 innings pitched, seven hits, four earned runs and three walks on 84 pitches. Josh James replaced him.Jose Urquidy entered to pitch for the Astros in the fifth.

That one run was already more than any that Verlander surrendered in Game 1.Avisail Garcia got on base with a single, and Ji-man Choi was walked by Verlander. Two of the three ground-outs went directly to the pitchers' mound.Jose Altuve started the fourth inning with a lead-off single. But I'm going to approach it like the first game and any other playoff game I've ever pitched. "Right after the Game 3 loss, Verlander said he's "gonna treat it like it's win or go home. Houston was held to three runs in Game 3.

That one run was already more than any that Verlander surrendered in Game 1.Avisail Garcia got on base with a single, and Ji-man Choi was walked by Verlander. It took Verlander 32 pitches to get through the first inning.James "Mattress Mack" McIngvale is in attendance for Game 4, and ABC13's Bob Slovak talked to him. But I'm going to approach it like the first game and any other playoff game I've ever pitched. "Right after the Game 3 loss, Verlander said he's "gonna treat it like it's win or go home. Houston was held to three runs in Game 3.

#TakeItBack Greg Bailey (@GregBailey13) October 7, 2019Verlander on game 4 start (on 3 days rest): I'm gonna treat it like it's win or go home." Hinch elected to go out of the pitching rotation order and insert Justin Verlander into Tuesday's pivotal game. "I'm gonna treat it like it's win or go home," said Verlander after the Astros maintained their 2-1 series lead despite the loss. Houston drove in four runs before Verlander exited the Game 1 win.Tampa Bay is countering J.V. with right-hander Diego Castillo, a reliever who will most likely start the game in the first few innings.