ERIC SOGARD

Willy Adames and Keston Hiura each hit a three-run homer during a 10-run outburst in the eighth inning that lifted the Milwaukee Brewers a 14-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Cleveland Indians right-hander Aaron Civale appears headed to the injured list because of soreness in the middle finger on his pitching hand, another major hit for a banged-up staff.

Jacob deGrom was pulled from a second straight start with an arm injury, this time leaving after three perfect innings with right shoulder soreness, but the New York Mets bullpen stepped up to finish a three-hitter in a 6-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.

Mets ace Jacob deGrom left his start with right shoulder soreness after three perfect innings, yet another injury scare for the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner amid a historic start to this season.

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 for their third straight win and ninth in 10 games.

Willson Contreras, Jason Heyward and Javier Báez homered off Jon Lester in his return to Chicago, and the Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 7-3.

Shane Bieber pitched out of some early trouble before extending his strikeout record and César Hernández hit a two-run homer, sending the Cleveland Indians to a 3-2 win over the Chicago Cubs.

Scherzer will make his Nationals-record sixth opening day start April 1, facing the New York Mets in Washington. The original lineup released by Washington before the game featured a designated hitter; that was revised to include Scherzer batting for himself. DeGrom struck him out, part of his 4 2/3 scoreless innings with three hits and five Ks. YANKEES 8, BLUE JAYS 3Gerritt Cole struck out eight in five innings, allowing one run in his fourth spring start for New York. BRAVES 11, RAYS 1Atlanta starter Max Fried gave up three hits and struck out five over six innings.

Kluber gets a $1 million buyout, and the club has said it is interested in re-signing Kluber to a less expensive deal. Milwaukee turned down Gyorko and Sogard, a day after declining a $15 million option on 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun. The White Sox declined a $12 million option for Encarnación and a $7 million option for González, who will receive a $500,000. Kluber gets a $1 million buyout, and the club has said it is interested in re-signing Kluber to a less expensive deal. His contract included a $12 million option for 2021 with a $2 million buyout.

Milwaukee Brewers' Eric Sogard celebrates after hitting a walk off two-run home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)MILWAUKEE Eric Sogard bailed out All-Star closer Josh Hader by hitting his first career walkoff home run, a two-run shot that lifted the Milwaukee Brewers over the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-6 on Saturday night. Something you probably wont see again out of Hader, kind of a fluke thing," Sogard said. Entering Saturday, the left-handed Hader was 7-for-7 in save opportunities and had not allowed a run or a hit all season. UP NEXTPirates LHP Steven Brault (0-1, 4.80 ERA) faces Brewers RHP Brandon Woodruff (2-2, 3.19 ERA) in game three of the four-game series.

Several stars chose not to participate from the start, and rarely a day goes by without a positive COVID-19 test in one camp or another. But here we are, mere days from launching a season that's unique in almost every way. But Hyde remains hopeful that the season will start on time and go the distance. While there's reason for optimism, the stark truth is that COVID-19 is not going away. They still have a chance to play this season, manager Don Mattingly said.

Taking a cue from two European soccer leagues, Major League Baseball will play crowd noise from its official video game through ballpark sound systems during games. England's Premier League and Spains La Liga were the first to return to action with crowd sound from video games. Brewers infielder Eric Sogard said Thursday that the crowd noise did help step up the competition for some guys during intrasquad games. The Korean baseball league pipes in crowd noise at stadiums so they are not completely silent but it is barely audible during games aired on ESPN. Some fans and broadcasters are leery of artificial crowd noise because it takes away a unique opportunity to hear players' conversations during games this season.

Puig agreed to a one-year deal pending a physical, a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press. Glasnow re-joined the Rays on after missing the first 11 days of summer camp following his positive test. Outside of briefly losing his sense of taste and smell, the 26-year-old Glasnow said he didnt experience any noticeable symptoms of COVID-19. I had maybe really mild cold symptoms for maybe a day, Glasnow said, wearing a mask during a Zoom call. It would always be at a weird time of the day, and it had to be nobody there, Glasnow said.

Getty ImagesHOUSTON - Justin Verlander looked every bit the October ace, Jose Altuve polished his postseason resume and the Houston Astros kept rolling, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 6-2 Friday to open their AL Division Series. Tampa Bay got its only hit off Verlander when Brandon Lowe singled to start the fifth. He struck out George Springer, but Altuve then tagged him for a two-run homer, lining a fastball into the left field seats. The Astros added two more runs in the seventh after Bregman walked and stole second base. Tampa Bay hit four home runs in its wild-card win Wednesday at Oakland, but did nothing until Verlander left.