Dempster matched the club shutout streak set by Ken Holtzman in 1969. Dempster (5-3) allowed four hits and set a career best by winning his fifth straight start. He leads the majors with a 1.86 ERA. Cubs manager Dale Sveum limited Dempster to 89 pitches. The right-hander made his second start since coming off the disabled list with tightness in his...

Freddy Garcia and three relievers kept Mark Trumbo in the ballpark, denying him a homer in a record sixth straight game against the Yankees. Nick Swisher, who appeared to rob Trumbo of a second long ball Friday night in helping New York rally late for a win, made another leaping catch at the right-field wall. His flashy grab of Howie Kendrick’s drive...

Encarnacion and Escobar both hit two-run shots in Toronto’s highest-scoring inning of the season. The Blue Jays had eight hits in the inning, six of them for extra bases. Shelley Duncan, Michael Brantley and Casey Kotchman homered for the Indians. Down 10-2 early, Cleveland made it close with a five-run eighth before right fielder Jose Bautista made a...

“Last year we’d find a way to scratch back in the ninth inning and squeeze out a win to keep that thing going, but this year a little bit of that magic is lost,” Blum said. “Trying to get that momentum has been a little bit tougher this year.” Ryan Dempster tied the Cubs’ record with a 33-inning scoreless streak, pitching...

Elaine Thompson/Associated PressGeneral Manager Billy Beane of the Athletics obtained starter Jarrod Parker last winter.Tim Sharp/Associated PressJosh Reddick was one of the 10 players General Manager Billy Beane of the Athletics acquired last winter. It is now an annual tradition at the baseball writers’ All-Star lunch with Commissioner Bud Selig. Someone asks...

The Rockies were a laughingstock on June 20, 18 games below .500 and in a 6-15 tailspin. So Manager Jim Tracy had little to lose when he embraced O’Dowd’s retro idea of going to a four-man starting rotation with a modern curveball — limiting each starter to about 75 pitches, no matter how the game is going. Entering Saturday’s game, the Rockies had gone 9-11...

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — Top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and second-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina will play in the final of the Mercedes Cup. Tipsarevic reached his first final on clay by beating Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the semifinals on Saturday. Monaco had to work even harder against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain....

The second-seeded Cilic beat defending champion Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals Saturday, while Granollers upset top-seeded countryman Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-7 (5). With a win in the final, Cilic will become the first Croat since 1990 to win his home tournament. He has a 4-1 record against Granollers, who won their last clash in...