Morton, Altuve lead Astros over Mariners 9-2  —  SEATTLE (AP) — Charlie Morton pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, Jose Altuve had a three-run double and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 9-2 on Thursday after Evan Gattis hit into a bizarre 5-4-3 triple play in the fourth inning.

Giants ace Madison Bumgarner has pins removed from broken finger  —  Madison Bumgarner had pins removed from the broken pinkie on his pitching hand Thursday, and the San Francisco Giants are hopeful that their ace can start playing catch in the next two weeks.

Pitcher goes from working at Miller Brewery to facing the Brewers  —  When the Florida Marlins take the field Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers, the man who will take the mound is the same guy who, 15 months ago, was selling trinkets in the MillerCoors gift shop two miles away.

Mets' Matt Harvey bristles over job security question: 'I'm a starting pitcher'  —  ATLANTA — Five years ago Thursday, Matt Harvey had the Citi Field faithful chanting “Harvey's better” as the young right-hander outdueled Washington's Stephen Strasburg.  —  Harvey is no longer that caliber of pitcher …

White Sox are 1st MLB team to ditch single-use plastic straws  —  Photos from a tour of the White Sox's Guaranteed Rate Field before the 2018 home opener.  —  Chicago Tribune  —  The White Sox are ditching straws this season as part of the Shedd Aquarium's “Shedd the Straw” initiative.

Jake Arrieta strikes out 10, allows 1 hit in 7 innings to move to 2-0  —  Jake Arrieta flashed the All-Star form that made Philadelphia covet the free-agent ace, striking out 10 and tossing one-hit ball over seven innings to lead the Phillies to a 7-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night.

Forget the cold, Yankees have bigger concerns to worry about with Giancarlo Stanton, poor starting pitching  —  We are closing in on the last week of April and the Yankees have yet to play an outdoor baseball game in pleasant weather conditions, minus the ski masks.

Link between Alex Rodriguez, kidnapping victim questioned  —  Norberto Susini has told people that he was Alex Rodriguez's nephew for years - a familial link that was called into question after Susini was abducted Wednesday.  —  Susini allegedly was held hostage by two men after a deal to sell a Lamborghini went bad.

Preview: Cardinals vs. Cincinnati  —  • Interim Cincinnati manager Jim Riggleman, who took over from Bryan Price Thursday, is a former Cards farmhand, minor league manager, big-league coach and director of player development.  He has managed with San Diego, the Cubs …

Who's hot (Gyorko), who's not (Fowler) for Cards  —  TRENDING UP  —  Jedd Gyorko, INF: He reached base four times Thursday with two singles and two walks in the 8-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.  While Gyorko is still scraping off some fielding rust after his stint on the disabled list …

The case for 154 games, Fenway's quest and MLB's next big thing  —  Baseball needs to shorten the regular-season schedule.  —  Pausing.  —  Pausing.  —  OK, I guess I can't just leave it at that because that declarative statement is far from self-evident.  Allow me to explain.

Reliever Victor Arano's legendary uncle Ramon would be proud of him  —  With each recorded out, the legend of Victor Arano grows.  It sprouted a little more Thursday night when the 23-year-old reliever from Veracruz, Mexico, worked another perfect inning, closing out a 7-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates with a strikeout of Josh Bell.

Mariners, Rangers aim to end recent losing trend  —  American League West rivals Texas and Seattle will square off for the initial time in the 2018 season Friday at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, with both teams heading into in the opener of a three-game set after losses.