Red Sox beat first-place Royals in series opener  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The last-place Boston Red Sox took advantage of three critical errors by the first-place Kansas City Royals, pulling away late in a 6-3 victory Thursday night that ended a four-game losing streak.

Postseason schedule set; Fall Classic opens Oct. 21 Playoffs begin with AL Wild Card Game on Sept. 30, followed by NL game a day later  —  Major League Baseball announced the postseason schedule on Thursday, starting on Sept. 30 with the American League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser …

Stanton hit in face by pitch, exits on stretcher  —  Miami Marlins star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton was driven off the field in an ambulance after being hit in the face by a pitch during Thursday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers.  —  Stanton was bleeding from the face after being struck …

Game Recap: Nationals 6 - Mets 2  —  Result: The Mets lost to the Nationals, 6-2, Thursday night at Citi Field.  —  Need to Know: Bartolo Colon hit the showers early, getting ejected in the fourth inning after the umpire thought Jayson Werth was hit on purpose.

BASEBALL'S NEXT BIG COMPETITIVE EDGE … Everything a front office or MLB GM does comes down to one mandate: gain a competitive edge over the other 29 teams.  This has been explored from multiple angles since baseball's inception.  Most recently, the introduction of advanced metrics …

Cuban slugger Tomas moves closer to MLB eligibility  —  Outfielder unblocked by US government; showcase in Dominican Republic next week  —  3/6/13: Yasmany Tomas launches a deep home run to left-center field to give Cuba a 1-0 lead against Japan in the World Baseball Classic

Cobb On the Corn  —  Alex Cobb owns a no-hitter through five innings against the Yankees.  He would have been perfect except for a dropped fly ball by Kevin Kiermaier.  It was a no doubt error, as he was under the ball and it hit his glove.  Cobb struck out three so far.

Rafael Montero wins first as Mets blank Rockies again … It might be hard to tell from the meager body count in the seats at Citi Field, but suddenly, Mets games in September have taken on some meaning.  Call the wild-card chances of a sub-.500 team a major long shot if you like …

Royals Today: 9/11/14.  —  Playoff Odds (ESPN/Fangraphs): 78.9% (62.3% Division, 16.6% Wild Card)  —  Playoff Odds (Baseball Prospectus): 77.9% (47.4% Division, 30.5% Wild Card)  —  Well, I hope all of you who criticized the Royals for making the James Shields trade are preparing your apologies.

Sale outduels Kazmir, White Sox beat Athletics  —  CHICAGO — Chris Sale bested Scott Kazmir in a brilliant pitchers' duel, light-hitting Marcus Semien homered for the only run and the Chicago White Sox edged the rapidly fading Oakland Athletics 1-0 Thursday.  —  The A's lost for the 11th time in 14 games.

Cueto Outlasts Lynn as Reds Beat Cardinals 1-0  —  CINCINNATI — Johnny Cueto pitched eight scoreless innings to beat Lance Lynn and send the St. Louis Cardinals to their third consecutive loss 1-0 Thursday.  —  Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth for his 33rd save and third in the last three games.

Sternberg: Rays' payroll likely to go down  —  NEW YORK — Stu Sternberg spoke to reporters prior to Wednesday night's game at Yankee Stadium, and the Rays' principal owner made it clear that he expects a payroll reduction for 2015.  —  “It's clearly going to be lower,” Sternberg said.