In Tuesday night’s 5-1 Pirates triumph over the Nationals at Nationals Park, Gerrit Cole twirled two-hit ball for seven innings in the most imposing of his seven big league starts. He allowed just one run, on a solo shot by Wilson Ramos, as he outpitched fellow rookie Taylor Jordan.

Taking their new-found first-place status seriously, the Dodgers overcame a five-run deficit Tuesday night to beat the last-place Blue Jays, 10-9.

Coming off 10 days of rest, Jon Lester put together a strong performance, leading his team to a 6-2 victory over the surging Tampa Bay Rays.

The Orioles acquired veteran pitcher Francisco Rodriguez from the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday, adding the right-handed reliever they coveted in exchange for promising infield prospect Nick Delmonico.

Tony Cingrani held the Giants to two runs in 6 2/3 innings and Zack Cozart had four hits and two of the Reds’ three home runs in a 9-3 rout in the first of two games at AT&T Park on Tuesday night.

Sending Carlos Torres his first win of the season, Ike Davis came through with a double off the right-field wall in the sixth inning for the lead, and the Mets beat the Braves, 4-1, at Citi Field.

Joe Mauer left the Twins to see his twins. Mauer was a late scratch from the lineup on Tuesday against the Angels, as he flew back to Minnesota because his wife, Maddie, went into labor with the couple’s twins.

MLB announced its second cut of the 2013 Cave Dweller cast on Tuesday, meaning White Sox fan Marcus Hall of Aurora, Ill., and Dodgers fan Aaron Roberts of Huntington Beach, Calif., are regular fans like everyone else again.

With their lineup struggling and the status of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez up in the air, reports that the Yankees have targeted Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano, 37, could return to his first Major League team make sense.

Having spent the past several weeks burning up the phone lines searching for a hitter they can import, the Yankees may have found a match, discussing the possibility of going back to the future with Alfonso Soriano.

George Brett says he never tires of talking about the Pine Tar Game, the curious moment of baseball history that defines him to today’s fans. Brett met the press on Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium, a day in advance of the 30th anniversary of what has become a video classic of the incident on July 24, 1983, at old Yankee Stadium.

The Angels may not have a lot of options to replace Joe Blanton in the starting rotation, but that does not mean they aren’t considering making a change.

With the season seemingly spiraling out of control, the Blue Jays held a players-only meeting prior to Tuesday night’s game against the Dodgers in an effort to get things back on track.

In a matter of days, the Red Sox will formally announce that they’ve reached a seven-year, $100 million contract with Dustin Pedroia. Although the financial security is nice, Pedroia made it clear that his motivation in signing is to make sure he never plays a Major League game for any team other than the Red Sox.

Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said he didn’t know the severity of manager Eric Wedge’s condition, but that they had a conversation about Monday night’s 2-1 victory over Cleveland and that the skipper appeared fine.

Yankees captain Derek Jeter joined a batting practice group at Rangers Ballpark on Tuesday, his first time hitting on the field since straining his right quadriceps.

If you’re a talented teenage baseball player, there’s nothing more valuable than exposure. Five-dozen high school players found it in droves on Tuesday, as the annual Breakthrough Series arrived in Houston for its sixth year. The series is part of a combined effort by Major League Baseball and USA Baseball to spotlight and bolster the involvement of urban youth in the sport.