Judge breaks McGwire's HR rookie record, Yankees top Royals  —  NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge broke Mark McGwire's major league record for home runs by a rookie, hitting a pair for the second straight day to raise his total to 50 and lead the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 11-3 Monday.

Yadier Molina exits Cardinals game after being hit by back-to-back fouls  —  ST.LOUIS - St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina left Monday's game against the Chicago Cubs in the top of the seventh inning after taking two foul balls off his mask, on consecutive pitches …

Angels' wild-card hopes fading after loss to White Sox  —  CHICAGO (AP) — James Shields tossed seven strong innings, Nicky Delmonico drove in a pair of runs and the Chicago White Sox beat the Angels 4-2 on Monday night, dealing a serious blow to Los Angeles' slim playoff hopes.

Rojas has 4 RBIs as Marlins beat playoff-hopeful Rockies 5-4  —  DENVER (AP) — Miguel Rojas had a career-high four RBIs and the Miami Marlins held off Colorado 5-4 on Monday night, cutting the Rockies' lead for the second NL wild card to 1½ games over Milwaukee.

LEADING OFF: Cubs can clinch, Harper hopes to get well  —  A look at what's happening all around the majors Tuesday:  —  ___  —  PARTY TIME?  —  The Cubs can clinch the NL Central for a second straight year with a win against St. Louis or a loss by Milwaukee.

Taylor Homers To Lead Nationals Past Phillies  —  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Michael Taylor homered, A.J. Cole allowed one run while pitching into the sixth inning and the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 on Monday night.  —  Ryan Zimmerman doubled and Jayson Werth drove …

Rangers elimination number falls to 1 after blowout loss to Astros  —  ARLINGTON  —  The Texas Rangers' elimination number is one after a fourth consecutive loss Monday, 11-2 to the Houston Astros at Globe Life Park.  —  The Rangers (76-80) fell six games back of the Minnesota Twins …

Braves blanked until 9th inning of 3-2 loss to Mets  —  NEW YORK - Braves rookie Max Fried worked out of several tight spots and pitched well enough to win on plenty of nights, just not Monday night against the Mets and a pitcher who's becoming a bit of an unlikely Atlanta nemesis.

NL Notes: Cardinals, Jeffress, Kang  —  In a Q&A led by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt provides some reflections on the team's performance so far in 2017, as well as some subtle insights into the organization's plans for this offseason and the future.

White Sox's ‘Women in Baseball’ panel to showcase progress in the sport  —  White Sox pitcher Carson Fulmer talks after he was removed in the first inning of a 3-1 win over the Astros with a finger blister on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017.  (Collen Kane/Chicago Tribune)  —  Chicago Tribune

Nick Hundley's home run lifts Giants over Arizona, and the backup catcher would love to return  —  PHOENIX - They've been sprinkled into postgame interviews, mentioned in passing, added as an afterthought in response to a question on another topic.  —  “And you, know...” a Giants pitcher will say …