Morton stays unbeaten, leads Astros over Indians  —  CLEVELAND (AP) — Charlie Morton remained unbeaten this season with six solid innings, Alex Bregman and Jake Marisnick hit three-run homers and the Houston Astros defeated the Cleveland Indians 8-2 on Thursday night.

Greg Bird expected back to New York Yankees on Saturday, Aaron Boone says  —  NEW YORK - Greg Bird could be back in the Yankees' lineup as early as Saturday.  —  The plan is for the lefty-hitting first baseman to be activated from the disabled list for Saturday's game against the Angels at Yankee Stadium …

Mets' Brandon Nimmo is on a tear, reaching base eight times straight  —  NY Mets lefty Steven Matz on his six scoreless innings in a 5-0 win over the Brewers Matt Ehalt, Staff Writer, @MattEhalt  —  MILWAUKEE— It all started for Brandon Nimmo with— what else?— a walk.

Hanley Ramirez designated for assignment by Red Sox to make room for Dustin Pedroia  —  SportsPulse: MLB insider Bob Nightengale looks at the historic season Shohei Ohtani is putting together and if he truly can become the ‘next Babe Ruth.’ USA TODAY Sports  —  The Boston Red Sox announced Friday …

Giants, Cubs look to end skids  —  CHICAGO — Joe Maddon acknowledges that the Chicago Cubs' inability to find any measure of consistency this season has allowed some level of frustration to creep in.  —  Before Chicago dropped back-to-back games to the Cleveland Indians this week …

Dose: The Rays Shake It Up  —  The A's had Moneyball.  The 76ers had The Process.  And now the Rays have ... well we don't have a name for it yet (somebody get on that).  But whatever this unnamed thing is, it's weird ... and I like it.  —  But not everyone is enjoying the Rays' grand experiment.

Reyes fans 13, allows one hit at Memphis  —  Alex Reyes emphatically answered Thursday night in Memphis any questions that somehow might have lingered after his first three starts on the Cardinals' medical rehabilitation program.  —  After making three outings covering 16 scoreless innings …

Oldest in majors, Rangers' Bartolo Colon celebrates 45th birthday  —  From across the diamond, Kansas City closer Kelvin Herrera marveled at the oldest player in the major leagues, Texas Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon, who turned 45 on Thursday.  —  “I used to have pictures of him in my bedroom …

DeJong could be out of Cardinals lineup 4-8 weeks  —  St. Louis Cardinals' Paul DeJong (left) talks with third base coach Jose Oquendo as assistant athletic trainer Chris Conroy approaches from the dugout to check on DeJong after DeJong was hit in the hand by a pitch in the eighth inning during …

Juiced baseballs, starting relievers and MLB's next big thing  —  It's a cliche to say something “came out of left field,” but when you're writing about baseball, you get to use that particular cliche.  MLB's league office sent out a press release Thursday that came out of that proverbial left field …

White Sox seek first win of season over Tigers  —  DETROIT — It wasn't supposed to be this way — and maybe it won't be.  —  The early season reckoning was the Chicago White Sox, who play three games in Detroit beginning Friday night, were trending upward thanks to a farm system loaded …

Arizona Diamondbacks at Milwaukee Brewers … OAKLAND - A year ago, right-hander Taijuan Walker was a steady presence in the rotation and infielder Ketel Marte was a late-season lifesaver from Triple-A Reno.  Both came to the Diamondbacks in the same offseason trade with the Seattle Mariners …

Baseball notebook: Castillo suspended 80 games  —  Chicago White Sox catcher Welington Castillo was suspended for 80 games by Major League Baseball on Thursday following a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance.  —  The commissioner's office cited use of EPO.

Yankees need more pitching if they want to make a World Series run  —  Even though the baseball season is barely two months old, it is not too early to draw some conclusions about this fun-to-watch (but otherwise possibly doomed) Yankee ballclub and they are these:

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 19, stays calm as fans beg for call-up: ‘God knows the right time’  —  READING, Pa. - The storybook scene could not have been scripted any better: On baseball's return to Montreal, a native son and the progeny of one of the Expos' greatest players ever delivers a victory …

Welington Castillo is the 1st Chicago baseball player suspended under MLB's drug policy.  Here are the other 87 players since 2005.  —  Players that have been suspended for violations of the Major League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program since 2005 when testing with penalties for first violations began …