Gio Gonzalez allowed just two runs on nine hits over 6 1/3 innings to guide the Nationals to a 7-5 win over the D-backs on Tuesday night at Nationals Park.

Boston combined for season-high 20 hits Tuesday, including 12 in the first three innings, en route to an 11-4 victory over the Rockies in the series opener at Fenway Park.

On a night that began with two Japanese starting pitchers facing each other for just the 11th time in Major League history, Ichiro Suzuki stepped in to end it, homering in the ninth inning to lift the Yankees to a 4-3 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

Alex Rodriguez delivered a message to the world via Twitter on Tuesday evening, announcing that his hip surgeon has cleared the slugger to begin playing in Minor League rehabilitation games. The Yankees bounced A-Rod’s message back to sender, and general manager Brian Cashman left little question that he would prefer it if his rehabbing star could just stay under the radar.

Matt Carpenter might be the National League’s best second baseman, and isn’t it funny how things work out? When the Cardinals opened Spring Training, he’d made just two career starts at second. He had no history there, either, having played third base in high school and at Texas Christian University.

The Rays busted the Blue Jays’ 11-game win streak on Monday and may have started a streak of their own as they prevailed again, 5-1, on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field for their third consecutive win.

On the 10th anniversary of the first placement of All-Star statues and the fifth anniversary of the positioning of replica Statues of Liberty for the Yankees’ All-Star Week in 2008, Major League Baseball continued a tradition Tuesday by announcing that “Apples on Parade” has come to New York.

The Cubs officially parted ways with Ian Stewart on Tuesday, granting the third baseman his unconditional release.

The Cubs designated reliever Carlos Marmol for assignment on Tuesday. To take his place on the active roster, the team promoted outfielder Brian Bogusevic to the big league squad.

John Buck doesn’t want any attention. But the Mets backstop is getting his fair share of it for his actions both behind and at the plate.

Yadier Molina has long been a premier backstop who was worth his weight in gold just for his game-calling and defensive skills. Today, he’s a frontrunner for the National League Most Valuable Player Award.

While some prominent teams are looking for a closer, a prominent closer has re-emerged as a viable option. Two division-leading teams, the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox, are both in the market for a closer and Francisco Rodriguez might be that player.

Stellar stats have thus far been produced by players many knew little about during the spring. Meanwhile, several stars have fallen short of expectations. In compiling the below list of fantasy studs and duds, we considered every Major Leaguer currently active on his team’s 25-man roster.

The Blue Jays hit a little bump on Monday, when their winning streak came to an end after 11 games, but the overall trajectory for them is up, up, up. And while going two weeks without losing is not the kind of thing that’s sustainable, a lot about what the are doing can, in fact, continue.

In case you missed it — and it happened so quickly, there’s a chance many did — the Padres and Blue Jays have seemingly come out of nowhere and established themselves as contenders. Left for dead by many, they have battled back from 10 games under to surpass the .500 mark and put themselves in a position to be a factor for the remainder of the season.

Yasiel Puig collected three more hits in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory on Monday night. It was the young slugger’s 20th game, and the numbers he’s put up in that time are among some of the best in history.

After five consecutive shows at first-time venues, the MLB.com “Bucks on the Pond” crew returned to Wrigley Field for Tuesday’s release of episode 16 in the series’ second season, powered by Ford. For Kent Thomas, that meant having to rethink his own list of favorite experiences at the Friendly Confines.