Pham Homers, Drives in 3 to Lead Cardinals Over Marlins  —  MIAMI — Tommy Pham homered and drove in three runs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Miami Marlins 11-6 on Friday night.  —  Kolten Wong had three hits and drove in two runs and Jeremy Hazelbaker hit a two-run homer for St. Louis.

Lester Recovers From Rut of Bad Starts, Cubs Rout Mariners  —  CHICAGO — Jon Lester recovered from a rut of bad starts, pitching six shutout innings that led the Chicago Cubs over the Seattle Mariners 12-1 Friday for their third straight win.  —  Jason Heyward and David Ross homered …

Latest On Jonathan Lucroy Sweepstakes  —  10:54pm: The Rangers could view a strike for Lucroy as a way to improve their pitching, given his highly-regarded work behind the plate, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.  With Texas finding high asking prices on the pitching market …

Yankees' Andrew Miller not upset about giving ninth inning to Aroldis Chapman: ‘The goal here is to win’  —  It was clear to Andrew Miller since before spring training that Aroldis Chapman was going to be the Yankees' closer.  —  Miller — who saved 36 games as the Yankees' closer last season …

Chatwood, Gonzalez lead Rockies over Mets for 4th win in row … NEW YORK — Tyler Chatwood kept winning on the road, Carlos Gonzalez homered and drove in four runs and the Colorado Rockies defeated the New York Mets 6-1 Friday night for their fourth straight victory.

Grandal's Single Caps 5-Run Rally as Dodgers Beat D-Backs  —  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSJULY 30, 2016, 2:00 A.M. E.D.T.  —  LOS ANGELES — Yasmani Grandal's RBI single capped a five-run, seventh-inning rally that carried the Los Angeles Dodgers to a wild 9-7 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

Odorizzi Sharp as Rays Beat Yankees 5-1  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jake Odorizzi pitched masterfully into the seventh inning, Logan Forsythe and Corey Dickerson hit solo homers in the first, and the Tampa Bay Rays cooled off the surging New York Yankees 5-1 on Friday night.

Source: Phillies, Rangers in ‘pretty deep’ trade talks about Vince Velasquez  —  BOX SCORE  —  ATLANTA — The Phillies lost, 2-1, to the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.  —  The big news from this game, however, was that Vince Velasquez might have made his last start with the Phillies.

Orioles Sign Logan Ondrusek To MLB Deal, Designate Chaz Roe  —  The Orioles have signed righty Logan Ondrusek to a major league deal, per a club announcement.  Fellow right-hander Chaz Roe has been designated for assignment to clear roster space.  —  [Related: Updated Orioles Depth Chart]

Mets, Angels Discussing Joe Smith  —  The Mets and Angels are discussing trade scenarios centered around veteran righty Joe Smith, according to Marc Carig of Newsday (Twitter links).  While Halos closer Huston Street is also in play, it doesn't appear as if he's drawing much interest from New York.

Prospect Hot Sheet (July 29): Marquez Silences Opponents  —  This installment of the Prospect Hot Sheet considers what minor league players have done from July 22-28.  Remember, this feature simply recognizes what the hottest prospects in the minors did in the past week—it's not a re-ranking of the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects.

Dodgers Among Teams In Talks On Jay Bruce; Yasiel Puig May Be Involved  —  8:31pm: Morosi says the Rays are still a player; he tweets that the team could end up shipping out two starters, one to each of the two other teams.  —  It seems that the reason for the involvement of a third team …

Suzuki: 'I want to keep playing until I'm 50'  —  Ichiro Suzuki is just two hits away from becoming the 30th player in Major League Baseball to reach 3,000 hits — and his will be one of the fastest journeys ever, just 16 years after winning rookie of the year and MVP in his debut MLB season.

Nationals Hold Off Giants' Rally in 9th in 4-2 Win  —  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSJULY 29, 2016, 2:00 A.M. E.D.T.  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Ryan Zimmerman had two hits and scored a run, Trea Turner added two hits and an RBI and the Washington Nationals beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 on Thursday night …