Boston loses its heart and soul as year of hurt, hardship continues … Now it's Dustin Pedroia.  —  The Red Sox have faced a lot of adversity this year.  Theo Epstein and his minions preached “run prevention” during spring training, but it looked more like “win prevention” when the season started at Fenway in April.

Pirates end 17-game road skid, beat Cubs 2-1  —  CHICAGO—Paul Maholm pitched a season-high eight innings, Jose Tabata hit a go-ahead double in the ninth and the Pittsburgh Pirates ended a 17-game road losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

Cardinals' 3-run ninth beats Arizona 6-5  —  ST. LOUIS—The Arizona Diamondbacks' defense collapsed in the ninth inning, with two throwing errors allowing three runs to score in the St. Louis Cardinals' 6-5 victory on Monday night.  —  Closer Aaron Heilman threw wildly to third base trying …

Time for ‘Big 3’ to play like it  —  Mets on Twitter  —  These 2010 Mets have ticked off a few more items from the “Prove You're Contenders List.”  —  They rebounded from a lost series against the Yankees to win consecutive sets against two strong AL contenders, the Tigers and Twins.

LEREW PICKS UP FIRST CAREER WIN AS ROYALS DOWN CHISOX  —  The Sports Network  —  Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Billy Butler drove in two runs to back Anthony Lerew's solid performance on the mound, as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox, 3-1, in the opener of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

Rolen's 300th HR leads Reds over Phillies 7-3  —  CINCINNATI—Scott Rolen hit his 300th career homer Monday night, and Johnny Cueto shut down the team that gave him an historic loss the last time they faced, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Team not looking for help at shortstop  —  MILWAUKEE — With starting shortstop Tommy Manzella out for about five more weeks with a fractured left index finger, the Astros are relying on rookie Oswaldo Navarro and veteran infielder Geoff Blum to split time at shortstop and are not looking outside …

Braves break through vs. Strasburg in seventh  —  ATLANTA — Despite the heat and humidity, Stephen Strasburg appeared to be getting stronger inning by inning as the Nationals rookie matched Braves ace Tim Hudson in a classic pitchers' duel Monday night.  —  Then came the seventh inning.

Minor League Transactions  —  Arizona Diamondbacks  —  Signed: RHP Robbie Andrews (NDFA—Virginia Commonwealth), RHP Trey Watt (NDFA—Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)), C Richie Rowland (NDFA—Campbellsville (Ky.))  —  Draft picks signed: RHP Victor Lara (34), 2B Michael Weber (28), SS Zach Walters (9)

WESTBROOK, INDIANS HAND JAYS SIXTH LOSS IN LAST EIGHT GAMES  —  CLEVELAND — Jake Westbrook pitched six solid innings and Jayson Nix's suicide squeeze bunt in the sixth scored the go-ahead run, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.

Long HRs, 21-game hit streak for patient Hamilton  —  ARLINGTON, Texas—Josh Hamilton no longer has a need for Home Run Derby — not during the All-Star break or with impressive pregame batting practice shows.  —  Oh, he can still hit the ball a long, long way.

Marlins mangling manager moves  —  Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005.  He appears weekly on MLB on FOX.  Follow him on Twitter.  —  Fredi Gonzalez must be laughing his butt off.  —  The Marlins fired Gonzalez as manager last Wednesday with the idea of hiring Bobby Valentine.

Dodgers need relief — and then some  —  The team needs help in its starting rotation and the bullpen.  The question is whether management will spend the money to make a move.  —  It's not just about a starting pitcher anymore.  —  As the Dodgers demonstrated to a national television audience Saturday …