In one of the best starts of his short big league career, Brad Lincoln shut out the Cardinals for six innings and also delivered an RBI double in the Pirates' 7-0 victory Saturday at Busch Stadium.

Despite a lopsided 9-3 victory over the A's, the double-digit hit attack the Red Sox put up was actually merciful Saturday afternoon, for this reason: it came early.

Shin-Soo Choo had been "feeling better every day" and felt healthy enough to start on Saturday. After four innings of play, however, the right fielder was replaced by Ezequiel Carrera.

Jeff Niemann could not keep the Rays' run of seven-inning starts alive on Saturday. But he did get the win as the Rays beat the Blue Jays, 6-5, at Rogers Centre.

Ozzie Guillen was about to make official the news of Dayan Viciedo's promotion from Triple-A Charlotte — as he will replace injured outfielder Carlos Quentin — to the White Sox during his pregame media session Friday at Safeco Field, but he first paused for dramatic effect.

Rays starters have gone seven or more innings in 11 of their last 12 games, and David Price looks to maintain the trend on Sunday against Brandon Morrow and the Blue Jays.

Upset baseball was not played this weekend? So was Roy Halladay, who saw his second straight start affected by inclement weather.

The Houston Urban Youth Academy has held more than 100 baseball clinics, but Saturday it was time for softball players to get their first hands-on instruction at the facility.

As Hurricane Irene made its way onto land and continued up the East Coast on Saturday, the Yankees spent their day in their Baltimore team hotel.

After consulting with Major League Baseball and the National Weather Service, the Orioles announced Friday night that Satuday's scheduled day-night doubleheader against the Yankees has been postponed due to expected bad weather as a result of Hurricane Irene.

As most of the Northeast makes emergency preparations ahead of Hurricane Irene's arrival, Major League teams in affected cities have also taken necessary precautions.

The Giants claimed closer Heath Bell off waivers on Wednesday, which started a 48-hour window — one that expired at 10 a.m. PT on Friday — for the Padres to work out a trade, allow Bell to be claimed or let the waiver period expire. In the end, nothing happened.

Roger Clemens' defense team on Friday issued its reply to the government's argument that the former pitcher's federal perjury case should be retried.

Left-hander Francisco Liriano, who was recently placed on the disabled list, received some good news on Friday as an MRI on his injured throwing shoulder showed no significant damage.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer was held out of the lineup for the third straight day because of a stiff neck sustained while lunging for a popup playing first base on Tuesday.

Former Toronto Blue Jay Sal Fasano, now managing the organization's Double-A franchise, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, has been named as the Eastern League's Manager of the Year for 2011. In addition, Fisher Cats' catcher Travis d'Arnaud was honoured with the Eastern League's Most Valuable Player Award.

With only two games separating the clubs heading into their weekend series at Rangers Ballpark, Angels manager Mike Scioscia decided to throw down his aces — Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and Jered Weaver will work the three games against Texas.