Marte Homers, Angels Sweep Rangers to Get Out of Last Place  —  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSJULY 21, 2016, 1:21 A.M. E.D.T.  —  ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jefry Marte hit a three-run homer and the Angels shut down a late rally by the AL West-leading Texas Rangers for a 7-4 win Wednesday night that gave Los Angeles a three-game sweep.

Tillman Gets 14th Win, Orioles Avert 4-Game Sweep vs Yankees  —  NEW YORK — Chris Tillman tied for the major league lead with his 14th win, pitching four-hit ball for seven innings and helping the depleted Baltimore Orioles avert a four-game sweep at Yankee Stadium, beating New York 4-1 Thursday.

Cubs shore up left-handed relief with addition of Mike Montgomery  —  The Cubs acquired relief pitcher Mike Montgomery from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for minor league left-handed hitter Dan Vogelbach.  —  Chicago Tribune  —  The Cubs addressed an urgent need Wednesday …

Yankees' fire sale coming?  Mark Teixeira big fan of MLB Trade Rumors app  —  NEW YORK — Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira has heard a portion of his team's gigantic fan base doesn't want a late July hot streak.  —  He's heard that there are Yankees fans who want management to give …

Orioles' Hunter Harvey To Undergo Tommy John Surgery  —  Orioles top pitching prospect Hunter Harvey will undergo Tommy John surgery, general manager Dan Duquette revealed on today's Baseball Tonight Podcast with ESPN's Buster Olney (audio link).  “He's had a strain in his elbow …

Are Juiced Balls The New Steroids?  —  Maybe it was the 23 first-half homers hit by unknown outfielder Adam Duvall.  Maybe it was when Giancarlo Stanton kept making Chris Berman say “back-back-back,” or when Bartolo Colon broke into a 30.6 second trot around the bases.

White Sox Reportedly Open To Dealing Veteran Bats, Relievers  —  The White Sox appear to have reversed course in the midst of a significant slump, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the club is now open to selling off veteran pieces this summer (Twitter link).

Homer-Happy Hanley (3) Powers Boston to 11-7 Win Over Giants  —  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSJULY 21, 2016, 12:00 A.M. E.D.T.  —  BOSTON — Hanley Ramirez told his Red Sox teammates in the dugout that he wasn't going to swing for the fences in his final at-bat.  —  It doesn't work for him that way.

Stewart defends D-backs from unnamed accusations  —  The trade of Brad Ziegler incited some unexpected controversy when unnamed executives complained to a couple reporters that their teams offered a better package (or packages) for the reliever.  And one exec even told Peter Gammons …

Dodgers looking for outfield help, CarGo and Bruce will get looks  —  The Los Angeles Dodgers are looking hard for a bat as well as an arm, and seem to be in win-now mode.  While they are expected to at least talk about Carlos Gonzalez, they are expecting the price to be quite high.

In Iowa, Dexter Fowler itching for return to Chicago lineup  —  The Chicago Cubs have desperately missed Dexter Fowler as the jump-starter of the offense ever since he went down with a hamstring injury in June.  —  He'll be back helping the lineup soon.  —  Fowler said he planned …

MLB looking at possible limits on the use of relief pitchers  —  Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged that MLB is looking at possibly limiting the use of relief pitchers in games.  —  Average length of MLB games  —  YearAvg.  —  Manfred was a guest Thursday on ESPN's Mike & Mike …