How Danny Duffy became the Royals' next homegrown ace  —  The pitch began as an experiment, a curious blend of desperation and preservation, a pitcher looking for something to spark a career.  It was a quiet afternoon last October, during the early days of the American League Championship Series …

Ramirez's 2-Run Homer in 8th Lifts Indians Past Blue Jays  —  CLEVELAND — Jose Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Brett Cecil in the eighth inning and the Cleveland Indians rallied past the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 Sunday to win the series between teams that began the game as AL division leaders.

Billy Butler Injured In Clubhouse Altercation With Danny Valencia  —  9:48pm: In an update to her original story, Slusser reports that the dispute between Butler and Valencia stemmed from Butler informing “an equipment representative that Valencia had not, in fact, been wearing the spikes …

Forsythe Homers in Return, Rays Beat Rangers 8-4  —  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Logan Forsythe homered after missing four games due to back spasms, and the Tampa Bay Rays took two of three from the AL West-leading Texas Rangers with an 8-4 victory on Sunday.  —  Forsythe hit an opposite-field …

Syndergaard Outduels Samardzija in Mets' 2-0 Win Over Giants  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Noah Syndergaard and Jeurys Familia combined on a three-hitter and Yoenis Cespedes homered off Jeff Samardzija, leading the New York Mets over the San Francisco Giants 2-0 on Sunday night.

Yelich Hits Early Homer as Marlins Top Pirates 3-2 for Sweep  —  PITTSBURGH — Christian Yelich homered in the first inning, Miami added a pair of unearned runs and the Marlins rallied past the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.  —  Jose Urena (2-4) …

Arizona Diamondbacks ponder replacing La Russa, Stewart after just 2 years  —  The Arizona Diamondbacks are a mess.  —  Once again.  —  Diamondbacks ownership is strongly considering making sweeping front-office changes, firing some of the most respected men in the game.  —  Once again.

Brian McCann buying in to mentoring Sanchez, serving as DH  —  ANAHEIM, Calif. — Brian McCann's diminished role, from starting catcher to occasional catcher and mostly designated hitter, came about quickly.  —  He's added another role to that: mentor to the man who replaced him behind the plate two weeks ago, Gary Sanchez.

Astros To Promote Yulieski Gurriel  —  Over a month after signing him to a five-year, $47.5MM contract, the Astros will promote infielder Yulieski Gurriel to the majors Sunday, reports Julia Morales of ROOT Sports (Twitter link).  —  [RELATED: Updated Astros Depth Chart]

NL Notes: Braun, D'Backs, Marlins, Rodney  —  Here's the latest from around the National League...  - In an interview with Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link), Brewers GM David Stearns said that his team will continue to listen to other teams about Ryan Braun.

Marlins Activate A.J. Ramos From DL  —  The Marlins have activated closer A.J. Ramos from the 15-day disabled list and optioned right-hander Brian Ellington to Triple-A New Orleans, tweets Joe Frisaro of MLB.com.  Ramos landed on the DL Aug. 9 (retroactive to Aug. 6) with a finger injury …

Quintana Wins 10th, Abreu Homers to Lead White Sox Past A's  —  CHICAGO — Jose Quintana pitched into the eighth innings to earn a career-best 10th win and Jose Abreu homered for the second straight game to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

Leake Strong, Cardinals Hit 4 Homers to Rout Phillies  —  PHILADELPHIA — Mike Leake pitched seven strong innings and hit a two-run single and the St. Louis Cardinals homered four times Sunday to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-0.  —  Jedd Gyorko, Stephen Piscotty, Brandon Moss and Jeremy Hazelbaker went deep.