Sinking NY Mets waste quality start from Carlos Carrasco, get swept by Giants  —  NEW YORK — When you look back at the 2021 Mets' season, regardless of when or how it ends, you will likely remember this stretch of 13 games against two West Coast teams as the pivotal point in the schedule.

Sources: Houston Astros, Washington Nationals first MLB teams to mandate vaccine for nonplaying employees  —  The Houston Astros and Washington Nationals have mandated that all nonplaying full-time employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the first two teams in Major League Baseball …

Dodgers outlast Padres to win 16-inning marathon  —  SAN DIEGO — You stay out that late in the Gaslamp Quarter, somebody is going home with regrets.  —  The Dodgers and San Diego Padres played for 16 innings Wednesday night into Thursday morning.  The longest game in baseball's 'Free …

Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale joins Sandy Koufax as only pitchers on record with 3 immaculate innings  —  BOSTON — Red Sox ace Chris Sale joined Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax as the only pitchers on record with three immaculate innings when he struck out the side on nine pitches in the third inning …

Keller exits with shoulder discomfort  —  SEATTLE — The lack of fastball command that caused Brad Keller to throw 79 pitches into the fifth inning against the Mariners wasn't as worrisome as the final pitch the Royals starter threw Thursday night.  —  After a sinker down the middle led …

Little League World Series: Torrance falls in no-hitter by South Dakota's Gavin Weir  —  The left-handed ace earns a 1-0 win and fans 14 against Torrance, which plays Ohio in an elimination game Thursday  —  SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Facing a team that has surrendered just one hit in two games …

Philadelphia Phillies 1B Rhys Hoskins (abdomen tear) to have season-ending surgery  —  MLB, Philadelphia Phillies  —  The Philadelphia Phillies placed slugger Rhys Hoskins back on the injured list Thursday with an abdomen tear that will cause him to miss the rest of the season.

Chicago pitcher Adbert Alzolay struggles in first rehab outing with Iowa Cubs  —  Adbert Alzolay returned to the mound Wednesday night for his first start of a rehabilitation assignment with the Iowa Cubs.  —  The way things went, it may not be his last.  —  Alzolay struggled through …

Miguel Cabrera talks retirement on ESPN: ‘Two more years and I am done’  —  St. Louis, Mo. — Miguel Cabrera has said it before, that he planned to honor his contract with the Tigers and retire.  But perhaps not as definitively as he expressed it in an interview with ESPN's Sage Steele Wednesday morning.

The incredible story of Ray Caldwell, the MLB pitcher who survived a lightning strike to finish a game  —  ON AUG. 24, 1919, Ray Caldwell puts on a Cleveland uniform for the first time.  The weather is brutally hot but clear — for now — and none of the 20,000 or so fans at League Park …