LaRoche, Gonzalez Lead Nationals Past Pirates 7-4  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Adam LaRoche broke open a tight game with a three-run double for his 1,000th career hit after homering for No. 999, and Gio Gonzalez took over the NL strikeout lead from teammate Stephen Strasburg by fanning 10 …

Jays' Lawrie suspended 4 games for ump altercation  —  TORONTO—Brett Lawrie of the Toronto Blue Jays has been suspended for four games by Major League Baseball after he threw his batting helmet and it bounced off an umpire.  —  The penalty was imposed Wednesday and included an undisclosed fine.

My reactions to Wright/Collins situation  —  Last night, following a solo home run by Rickie Weeks, D.J Carrasco plunked Ryan Braun with the next pitch.  —  David Wright was scheduled to lead off the bottom of the inning, but Terry Collins pulled him from the game and put Jordany Valdespin in instead.

Last-place Padres beat NL West-leading Dodgers  —  SAN DIEGO (AP) - Chase Headley homered, doubled and drove in three runs, and the last-place San Diego Padres rallied to beat the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 Wednesday night, helping left-hander Clayton Richard snap his personal five-game losing streak.

Ex-White Sox, Orioles pitcher Hickey dies at 56  —  CHICAGO — Kevin Hickey, who pitched in six major league seasons with the White Sox and the Orioles and who was a coach with Chicago, has died.  He was 56.  —  The team said Hickey died Wednesday at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Cards' Beltran sits again, hoping to avoid DL  —  SAN FRANCISCO — St. Louis Cardinals slugger Carlos Beltran was out of the lineup Wednesday night for a third straight game with a sore right knee, though he and manager Mike Matheny believe he will avoid a stint on the disabled list.

Mattingly, Hansen working with struggling Gordon  —  SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers held a course in remedial hitting for struggling shortstop Dee Gordon before Wednesday's game.  —  Rather than in the privacy of the indoor batting cage, manager Don Mattingly and hitting coach Dave Hansen …

New pitching approaches can yield dramatic results  —  One of the newer frontiers in baseball analysis is PitchF/X, the system installed in every major league ballpark that collects data on every pitched ball.  This voluminous resource is a treasure trove for researchers …

Stephen Strasburg had issue with Hot Stuff ointment in rocky outing, Davey Johnson says  —  After Stephen Strasburg allowed four runs in four laborious innings against the Padres this afternoon, Nationals Manager Davey Johnson volunteered an unusual postgame revelation.