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 …

Stanton's 2-Run HR Helps Marlins Beat Braves, 8-4  —  ATLANTA (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer and possibly saved two runs with a diving catch and the Miami Marlins beat the Braves 8-4 on Wednesday night, adding another win to their impressive May record.

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.

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.

Twins rally past sloppy Tigers  —  DETROIT (AP) - Jamey Carroll hit a two-run double in the sixth inning to give Minnesota the lead, and the Twins outlasted the sloppy Detroit Tigers 11-7 on Wednesday night.  —  Detroit made four errors in the first three innings.

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.

Final: Rays 2, Red Sox 1  —  Game over:  —  Tough loss for the Red Sox.  They committed three balks, one of them cost them a run and that was the difference in the game.  Fernando Rodney saved it for Tampa Bay.  The five-game winning streak is over.  Time of game was 3:29 before 20,843.

Brian Wilson vows to be ready  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Ever the optimist with his bold personality and bushy black beard, Giants closer Brian Wilson deemed himself ahead of schedule in his recovery from a second Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery and insists he plans to be ready for Opening Day next season.

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.

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 …

Brewers 8, Mets 0: Greinke and Brewers Shut Down the Mets  —  The freakish pitching ability of the Brewers' Zack Greinke was on clear display in one sequence in the third inning against the Mets on Tuesday.  He used three different pitches to strike out catcher Mike Nickeas.  —  One was a 70 mile-per-hour curveball.