After tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt will undergo Tommy John surgery, according to the Venezuelan newspaper Mi Diairo. The team has not yet confirmed the news.

Jason Hammel finally made it back to the mound in a real game Thursday night. Even though it was with the Double-A Bowie Baysox, the right-hander was clearly happy to be pitching competitively once more.

The Astros’ banged-up catchers — Carlos Corporan and Max Stassi — are on the mend.

Max Scherzer has spent weeks insisting that his historic win-loss record is a team accomplishment. His no-decision Thursday might have been his best evidence yet. After he gave up six runs in five frames, his team came back, and Torii Hunter walked Detroit off with a three-run homer.

Top Mariners pitching prospect Taijuan Walker arrived at Minute Maid Park on Thursday and took in the sights, even though he won’t officially be added to the club’s roster until just before his Major League debut on Friday.

Miguel Cabrera left Thursday’s 7-6 win over the Athletics after the fifth inning when he aggravated his left abdominal wall strain, which has bothered him for more than a month, but he expects to play Friday against the Indians.

The Nationals have not decided who will start Sunday night’s game against the Mets, but right-hander Ross Ohlendorf is the likely candidate.

With seven shutout innings, while leading the Angels to a 2-0 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field, Jason Vargas put on a display. Vargas gave up only two hits, walked three, struck out seven batters and breezed through the seventh in his fourth start since missing nearly two months on the disabled list, moving to 8-5 with a 3.54 ERA in 18 starts.

In his first game as Matt Harvey’s replacement on Thursday, Carlos Torres, coupled with an offensive onslaught, helped the Mets easily beat the Phillies, 11-3, to split the four-game series.

Capped with an unpredictable 7-6 walk-off win for Detroit, the A’s-Tigers four-game series this week in Motown was a compelling showcase for the drama Major League Baseball can provide as summer turns to fall.

The Angels entered the season with sky-high expectations and poised to make a run at the postseason. At the end of August, the reality is much more bleak for the Angels and manager Mike Scioscia.

Once the Royals get going, in one direction or another, it’s hard to get them to stop. They rolled to their fifth straight victory behind lefty Bruce Chen on Thursday, completing a three-game sweep of the Twins with a 3-1 victory in front of 28,012 fans at sweltering Target Field. The Royals dominated the season series, taking 15 of 19 games from Minnesota.

The Brett Myers experiment has come to an end. Prior to Thursday’s game against the Braves, the Indians released Myers from his contract after activating him from the 60-day disabled list.

Cincinnati — now 75-59 and third in the National League Central — came to St. Louis 2 1/2 games out of first place and left town 3 1/2 behind the first-place Cardinals. The Reds’ focus is now on cleaning up their play with the final stretch of the regular season looming ahead.

Major League Baseball announced on Thursday that the 2014 Draft will begin on Thursday, June 5. The typical format for the Draft would have the opening two rounds on that Thursday, rounds 3-10 on Friday and the remaining 30 rounds coming on Saturday.

The Orioles are aggressively trying to add a hitter, with multiple waivers claims out and at least two that could potentially help bolster the club’s lineup down the stretch in Seattle’s Michael Morse and Minnesota’s Josh Willingham.

The past few seasons, I’ve enjoyed watching Seattle Mariners pitching prospects Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen and James Paxton as they work on the sidelines at the beginning of Spring Training. With the passage of time, I believe the right-handed Walker has the brightest future as well as the biggest upside of the three.