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.

Wall Street Journal: Baseball in Florida ‘has been a disaster’  —  The Rays and Miami Marlins “are at a moment of reckoning” after histories of low attendance and an offseason in which they sold off many of their top players and were singled out by the MLB Players Association for failing …

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 …

Reds officials disliked Barry Larkin's ‘public campaigning’ to be manager, Rosenthal says  —  It was something Cincinnati Reds fans loved to hear, but did everyone in the team's front office appreciate Hall of Famer Barry Larkin - who grew up in Cincinnati, graduated from Moeller High School …

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.

Robertson 'doesn't blink' in jam to lift Yanks over Jays  —  Toronto Blue Jays' Teoscar Hernandez, left, scores on a base hit by Curtis Granderson as New York Yankees pitcher David Robertson (30) look to back up a throw home during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, April 19, 2018, in New York.

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.

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.

MLB commish Rob Manfred calls shorter season ‘realistic’  —  Cubs star Anthony Rizzo's plea for fewer games has not fallen on deaf ears.  —  MLB commissioner Rob Manfred called Rizzo's idea “realistic” during his annual get together with members of the Associated Press Sports Editors organization …