Red Sox beat Orioles 6-3 to avoid 3-game sweep  —  BALTIMORE - Clay Buchholz shook off a rocky start to earn his 11th win, Dustin Pedroia [stats] singled in the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning and the Boston Red Sox [team stats] beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 Thursday night to avoid a three-game sweep.

Kap: Cubs, Castro working on long-term deal  —  With the focus of the Cubs management team of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer clearly on a long term plan of overhauling the Cubs organization, nearly every move they have made since taking control of the team has been with a vision towards the future.

Game between Blue Jays and White Sox halted while fan receives CPR  —  The game between the Chicago White Sox and Toronto Blue Jays has been delayed for 4 minutes in the seventh inning while a fan received CPR and was taken away on a stretcher.  —  Blue Jays players left their dugout Thursday night …

Giants' waiver options are slim  —  Alfonso Soriano indicated to Chicago Cubs beat writers on Wednesday that he would not waive his no-trade rights for the San Francisco Giants.  —  Other external options will be available to the Giants if they seek to replace left fielder Melky Cabrera …

Dodgers Leave Pittsburgh Angry With Rare Loss  —  PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers left Pittsburgh in a bad mood, and it had little to do with the end of their four-game winning streak.  —  Dodgers slugger Matt Kemp and manager Don Mattingly were ejected, and teammates Joe Blanton …

Jones homers twice as Braves knock off Padres  —  ATLANTA — Chipper Jones homered twice on a night when a big crowd turned out to get his bobblehead, and the Atlanta Braves won their 15th straight game with Kris Medlen as a starter, beating the San Diego Padres 6-0 on Thursday.

Hart's grand slam lifts Brewers to win over Phillies  —  MILWAUKEE — Corey Hart's grand slam with two outs in the eighth inning prevented Philadelphia's Cliff Lee from getting a rare win as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Phillies 7-4 on Thursday night.  —  Livan Hernandez (4-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory.

Dan Duquette on O's pitching philosophy: “We don't like the cutter”  —  In an interview with Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette on Wednesday at Camden Yards, Duquette made it clear he is not a fan of young pitchers throwing cut fastballs.

SPORTS BITZ AND BOREDOM ...  Olympics  —  Some things, even though they make a ton of sense, are just not worth arguing about.  The NHL should be played on Olympic-sized rinks.  Jockeys should be able to weigh more  —  than 115 pounds.  (115 pounds when you are riding a 1,200-pound animal?

Harvey Does It All in Mets' 8-4 Win Over Reds  —  CINCINNATI (AP) — Rookie Matt Harvey drove in one more run than he allowed in the longest outing of his short major league career, and the New York Mets snapped the Cincinnati Reds' five-game winning streak with an 8-4 victory on Thursday night.