D-backs reliever Oliver Perez thought he was going into the press conference room at Chase Field just to speak with the Spanish-speaking media.

The bitter rivalry between the Blue Jays and Orioles was renewed on Friday night in a game that saw Jose Bautista and Adam Jones hit by pitches while Toronto manager John Gibbons, bench coach DeMarlo Hale and right-hander Roberto Osuna were all ejected in the Blue Jays’ 5-4 win at Rogers Centre.

The best team in baseball played the worst team in baseball Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, and the final score reflected as much. The Cardinals (44-23) hit three home runs on their way to a 12-4 victory over the Phillies (23-46).

A year after winning its first College World Series, Vanderbilt will get the chance to play for another national title. With a 7-1 victory over Texas Christian on Friday night, the Commodores advanced to the best-of-three championship series that begins Monday.

Nationals starter Joe Ross was brilliant Friday night, striking out 11 and allowing just one run in Washington’s 4-1 win over the Pirates in front of a sellout crowd at Nationals Park.

Alex Rodriguez homered off Justin Verlander in the first inning of the Yankees’ 7-2 win on Friday, becoming the 29th player in Major League history to collect 3,000 hits.

Asdrubal Cabrera returned to Cleveland, launched a home run and helped lead the Rays to a 4-1 victory over the Indians on Friday night at Progressive Field. Tampa Bay belted a pair of homers and starter Nathan Karns worked into the sixth in the win.

Marco Estrada carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, but pinch-hitter Jimmy Paredes spoiled an otherwise special night with a leadoff blooper to left field in the Blue Jays’ 5-4 victory over the Orioles on Friday night at Rogers Centre.

With Reds third baseman Todd Frazier trailing by a large margin in the latest round of the 2015 Esurance All-Star Game ballot, the club is pulling out all the stops to get more votes. Frazier is pulling out a few stops of his own.

There has never been any question about the ability, the talent and the overall baseball greatness of Alex Rodriguez. The questions have been about the choices he made in attempting to maximize all that wonderful ability, talent and greatness.

Rookie left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez bounced back from a horrific start against Toronto and gave up just one run over 6 1/3 innings to lead Boston to a 7-3 win over the Royals on Friday night at sold-out (38,190) Kauffman Stadium.

What will he do next? Max Scherzer provided one of the most dominant starts of the season last time out, when he threw a complete game one-hitter and struck out 16 Brewers. Washington’s ace will go for an encore against Pittsburgh on Saturday, and he’ll be matched against Francisco Liriano.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, appearing at the Coliseum on Friday as part of a tour to visit all 30 clubs, reiterated to reporters that providing the A’s a new stadium, specifically one in Oakland, remains a top priority.

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones passed all of his early tests on Friday, playing catch and taking some early batting practice, but manager Buck Showalter made a late lineup change and cautiously inserted Jones as the designated hitter for the series opener at Rogers Centre.

Astros second baseman Jose Altuve said Friday his ailing right hamstring feels much better, but he remains day to day and wasn’t in the lineup for the series opener against the Mariners. Altuve did take batting practice and went through his usual pregame rituals.

Take a look at some fun facts and trivia regarding Alex Rodriguez’s historic 3,000th hit.

A few veteran players are on a proper, realistic path to ultimately join Alex Rodriguez in the 3,000-hit club. The bad news is an enormous gap between players able to reach the milestone might be on the horizon.