It was difficult to tell which was louder: the sound from Yasiel Puig’s bat on another hit by the rookie outfielder, or the cheers from Dodgers fans rooting on the Cuban sensation at the Dodgers All-Star viewing and voting party on Monday night.

Carlos Gomez robbed Joey Votto of a potential go-ahead, two-run homer with a game-ending catch as the Brewers topped the Reds, 4-3, on Monday at Miller Park.

The season is more than half over, and the Royals still need another hot streak or two to put themselves in really good position. But they’ve gotten close enough that when and if that next surge does come, they can get right into the division race.

If the Royals were looking to make a statement against the Yankees on Monday night, they can thank the weather for an assist. Kansas City weathered a 59-minute rain delay and some difficult situations late in the game to take a 5-1 victory in its series opener against New York. Starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie led a full team effort for the Royals, pitching into the seventh inning and allowing just one run.

Baseball has always been a game of inches. Never was that more apparent than in the eighth inning of Monday’s game between the Tigers and Indians.

While his night proved hitless, rehabbing Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter looked more than comfortable running the bases and in the field for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday. Jeter reached base twice, scored a run and made three plays at short in the RailRiders’ 6-3 win over Rochester.

Yunel Escobar’s seventh-inning solo home run broke a tie, and the Rays won their fifth straight game, a 7-4 decision over the Twins on Monday at Tropicana Field.

The Rangers scored six runs in the top of the sixth inning and went on to an 8-5 victory over the Orioles on Monday night at Camden Yards. The victory opened the four-game series against the Orioles and was the Rangers’ fourth win in their last five games.

Three sluggers who have made the finals of the annual All-Star Home Run Derby a total of five times will be back on stage next Monday at Citi Field to try to capture another trophy.

In a predictably low-scoring game between two of baseball’s best teams equipped with a couple of baseball’s best pitching staffs, it was the A’s who came out on top of the Pirates, 2-1, on Monday evening.

The Phillies got a huge effort Monday night from left-hander John Lannan, who allowed four hits, two walks and struck out four in eight scoreless innings in a 3-2 victory over Lannan’s former team, the Nationals, at Citizens Bank Park. Domonic Brown, Darin Ruf and Jimmy Rollins each notched an RBI for Philadelphia.

No team began the season with higher expectations. No team was more of a disappointment for 72 games. But now look at the Dodgers, who entered Monday’s action alone in second place in the NL West.

Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal will need reconstructive surgery to his anterior cruciate ligament that will end his season, an MRI revealed on Monday.

Curtis Granderson is nearly six weeks removed from undergoing surgery on his fractured left pinkie finger, but he still hasn’t progressed to swinging a bat.

Back in injury mode, the Dodgers on Monday placed outfielder Matt Kemp and starting pitcher Stephen Fife on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder injuries.

The Brewers placed third baseman Aramis Ramirez back on the 15-day disabled list Monday with a sprained left knee and replaced him on the active roster with left fielder Ryan Braun, whose return was originally planned for later in the week.

The Phillies announced Monday that Ryan Howard will have surgery to repair the torn medial meniscus in his left knee. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks from the date of the surgery, which has not been set. If Howard recovers as expected he could return between late August and early September, but that is no guarantee.