Nationals complete sweep with 4-3 win over Boston Red Sox  —  BOSTON - Roger Bernadina doubled with two outs in the ninth, driving in Bryce Harper for the go-ahead run and the Washington Nationals held on for a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox [team stats] on Sunday, completing a three-game sweep.

Shields Helps Rays Complete Sweep of Marlins, 4-2  —  MIAMI (AP) — James Shields allowed one run in 6 1-3 innings Sunday to win for the first time in his past five starts, and the Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game sweep by beating the Miami Marlins 4-2 Sunday.

Pregame notes: Gardner suffers yet another setback  —  It's the same thing all over again.  —  Brett Gardner played in a minor league game yesterday, and said afterward that he felt good.  The Charleston RiverDogs even sent a quote in a press release: “All in all, I felt pretty …

Pirates win 4th straight, 3-2 over Royals  —  PITTSBURGH—Andrew McCutchen homered and drove in three runs, A.J. Burnett won his fifth consecutive start and the Pittsburgh Pirates finished their first sweep of an AL team in more than a decade by beating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 Sunday.

Martin Leads Yanks to Subway Sweep of Mets  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Russell Martin led off the ninth with his second homer of the game and the New York Yankees took advantage of some shoddy infield defense to beat the Mets 5-4 Sunday for a three-game sweep.  —  The Mets could not hold an early 3-0 lead …

Francis Has Tough Debut for Rockies in 11-6 Loss  —  DENVER (AP) — Jeff Francis returned to Colorado on Saturday, his homecoming short, painful and without a hint of nostalgia.  —  The Los Angeles Angels knocked Francis out in the fourth and scored in five of the first six innings while beating the Rockies 11-5.

Pirates present test case for draft's rules  —  If they sign all 3 top picks, and take penalty, it might usher in fresh strategy  —  Andrew McCutchen celebrates with Pirates teammates after beating the Reds.  (Tyler Barrick/Getty Images / June 9, 2012)  —  On Baseball  —  New rules, new attitudes.

Girardi not expecting LF to return before the Star break  —  As for finding another outfielder, Chris Dickerson has recently returned from a neck injury for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and is knocking the rust off, having played in just eight games all year.  Eduardo Nunez, who has limited left field experience …

Parker doesn't get strike call, then A's lose 8-3  —  PHOENIX—A strike call Jarrod Parker thought he deserved but didn't get cleared the way for a big inning that cost the Oakland Athletics dearly in an 8-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.

Managers at the top of Major League Baseball  —  The 10 best performances by managers so far:  —  1. Don Mattingly, Dodgers - He has emerged as a good leader, one who has taken a bunch of Triple A players and made them winners.  Mattingly has certainly taken advantage of the weak National League West …

Dodgers bounce back a day after getting no-hit  —  Recap  —  Box Score  —  Play-By-Play  —  Photos  —  Conversation  —  Jerry Hairston Jr. drives in career-high 5 RBIs as Dodgers rebound … SEATTLE — A day after getting no-hit by the Mariners, the Los Angeles Dodgers rebounded …

Twins close to signing Buxton, agent confirms  —  The Twins are close to signing Byron Buxton, the No. 2 overall pick in last week's draft, with the outfielder scheduled to arrive in Minnesota on Monday, his agent Al Goetz confirmed today.  —  Goetz said Buxton probably won't take his physical until Tuesday …