Boston ace Clay Buchholz, who has been sidelined since straining his neck on June 18, experienced neck irritation Wednesday just 15-18 pitches into a bullpen session.

The Twins have no set timetable for the return of Aaron Hicks, who began his rehab assignment on Tuesday night with Triple-A Rochester. He finished 3-for-4 with a double and two singles for the Red Wings.

Astros prospect George Springer homered twice and drove in three runs in the Texas League All-Star Game on Tuesday night, taking home MVP honors as he makes his way to Triple-A.

Entering Wednesday, the Marlins are 12-9 in June, which gives them the sixth-best winning percentage (.571) of any team in the Majors for the month. In 2012, the Marlins were 8-18 in June, tumbling them out of contention to the point management traded away core players last July.

The league is starting to load up at shortstop again. The established stars are there or will soon be. But there’s a new crop of young players showing remarkably versatile skill sets.

San Francisco Giants right-handed pitching prospect Heath Hembree has the type of quality arm worthy of serious consideration. However, lately this season, his statistical results contradict his upside.

In the spirit of a Trade Deadline in which it’s often the less-glamorous swaps that wind up looking awfully shrewd come October, here are guys whose performances are perhaps overlooked.

Every lineup, every day, as they are made public by the clubs.

Nowhere is the philosophical drift away from small ball in the Major Leagues more evident than in the evolving role of the No. 2 hitter in the lineup. What we’re seeing now are bangers with speed in the table-setting slot, driving balls through gaps and over walls.

The Dodgers got two-run homers from Mark Ellis and Hanley Ramirez, another quality start from rookie Stephen Fife and a game-saving catch in Matt Kemp’s return to the lineup, but they were all out to hang on to a 6-5 win over the Giants on Tuesday.

Young lefty Jeff Locke continued to impress with seven strong innings as the Pirates erupted on offense to down Seattle, 9-4, to run their winning streak to a season-high five games.

Josh Donaldson singled and scored in the A’s two-run second inning and a two-run homer in a four-run third as Oakland jumped on Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo early and held on for the win despite left-hander Tommy Milone only lasting 4 2/3 innings.

The Dodgers aim to extend their winning streak to five Wednesday, as they go for a sweep of the archrival Giants, who now sit below .500 for the first time since Opening Day. Two former Cy Young Award winners — familiar foes Clayton Kershaw and Tim Lincecum — will take the mound at Dodger Stadium.

One day after Cliff Lee and the Phillies’ bullpen blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning against the Padres in what might have been the team’s worst loss of the season, the Phillies bounced back on Tuesday with a relatively easy 6-2 victory at Petco Park behind Domonic Brown’s 20th home run and Kyle Kendrick’s eight strong innings.

Right-hander Nick Vander Tuig tossed eight shutout innings and the Bruins’ offense had its best showing of the postseason to lead UCLA to an 8-0 win over Mississippi State on Tuesday at TD Ameritrade Park to secure the program’s first national championship.

Jason Heyward capped his 11th multihit game this month with a seventh-inning go-ahead solo homer that backed Kris Medlen’s seven-inning effort and helped the Braves earn a 4-3 win over the Royals on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

Josh Hamilton had three hits in his return from wrist soreness and drove in a run in the Angels’ eight-run fifth inning in Tuesday’s 14-8 victory over the Tigers in Detroit.