Game 91: Red Sox at Rays  —  Hey, the Red Sox are playing again.  Here are the lineups:  —  RED SOX (55-35)  —  Ellsbury CF  —  Pedroia 2B  —  Gonzalez 1B  —  Youkilis 3B  —  Ortiz DH  —  McDonald RF  —  Saltalamacchia C  —  Navarro LF  —  Scutaro SS  —  Pitching: LHP Andrew Miller (3-0, 3.57)

Karstens throws five-hitter as Pirates beat Astros  —  HOUSTON — Jeff Karstens pitched a five-hitter and Andrew McCutchen tripled and drove in two runs as the surging Pittsburgh Pirates opened the second half of the season with a 4-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Friday night.

Lewis, Rangers shutout Seattle in 4-0 victory  —  SEATTLE — Colby Lewis missed pitching a four-hitter by an out and the Texas Rangers got a trio of sacrifice flies plus an RBI single from Michael Young in winning its ninth straight, 4-0 over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

New K-Rod deal removes games-finished clause  —  The Milwaukee Brewers and Francisco Rodriguez have negotiated a new structure of the reliever's contractual clause, and the end result now is that the Brewers can use K-Rod in any role — including closer — without being locked into $17.5 million deal for the 2012 season.

Mayberry Jr. drives in five as Phillies thump Mets  —  NEW YORK — John Mayberry Jr. drove in five runs to set another career best, Vance Worley pitched well enough and the Philadelphia Phillies got off to a strong start after the all-star break by beating the New York Mets 7-2 on Friday night.

Lincecum, bullpen combine to four hit Padres  —  SAN DIEGO - Tim Lincecum and three relievers combined on a four-hitter and Cody Ross homered as the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants beat San Diego 6-1 Friday night, extending the Padres' losing streak to a season-high seven games.

Pirates, Rockies interested in Twins' Slowey  —  Kevin Slowey's future with the Minnesota Twins was in question from the moment he failed to make the major-league rotation coming out of spring training.  —  Now, it's looking more likely that he will be dealt prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

Floyd outduels Verlander as White Sox rout Tigers  —  DETROIT — Gavin Floyd allowed six hits into the eighth inning, outpitching Justin Verlander and leading the Chicago White Sox to an 8-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.  —  Carlos Quentin had three hits and three RBIs for the White Sox.

Prado returns from DL, hits homer to help Braves whip Nats  —  ATLANTA — Martin Prado had two hits, including a homer, in his return from five weeks on the disabled list and the Braves beat the error-prone Washington Nationals 11-1 on Friday night for the 10,000th win in franchise history.

Martin blames himself if Blue Jays knew signs  —  TORONTO — Yankees catcher Russell Martin claimed the Blue Jays were relaying signs on Thursday, Toronto skipper John Farrell said he wasn't aware of it, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi had no comment.  —  Here's one thing they all agreed on, though: Stealing signs is part of baseball.

Dempster throws eight scoreless innings as Cubs beat Marlins  —  CHICAGO — Canada's Ryan Dempster pitched four-hit ball over eight scoreless innings, and the Chicago Cubs overcame another shaky performance by closer Carlos Marmol to beat Florida 2-1, snapping the Marlins' season-high, six-game winning streak on Friday.

Owner Jeffrey Loria will consider Jack McKeon to manage Florida Marlins in 2012, promises changes to minor league system  —  Owner Jeffrey Loria just spoke to Marlins beat writers at Wrigley Field and offered his first public comments since June.  —  I'll have a story up later.

Rookie Hosmer's homer in ninth lifts Royals over Twins  —  MINNEAPOLIS — Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning off Matt Capps to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 2-1 victory Friday night over Minnesota, the seventh blown save this season for the Twins' closer to match the major-league lead.

Beltran, Reyes are top names for unpredictable trading season … The trading season began rather bizarrely, with the Mets rushing to trade Francisco Rodriguez, their star high-priced closer with the scary vesting option, a new agent and a missing no-trade list.

Latest On Extension Talks For J.J. Hardy  —  4:34pm: One holdup in the talks between Hardy and the Orioles has been concern on Hardy's part that the Orioles will trade him, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).  —  4:02pm: The Orioles and Hardy are progressing on a three-year deal …

Indians extend Orioles' losing streak to nine games  —  BALTIMORE — Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore homered, Lonnie Chisenhall singled in the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning, and the Cleveland Indians defeated Baltimore 6-5 Friday night to extend the Orioles' losing streak to nine games …

Clemens gets out of a jam  —  Mistrial is Rocket's biggest victory ever  —  Call it the biggest win of Roger Clemens's career.  —  The Rocket won 354 games in the big leagues.  He won 192 games for the Red Sox, still a franchise record (along with Cy Young, which is somehow fitting).

After K-Rod trade, Mets may close by committee with Bobby Parnell, Jason Isringhausen, Pedro Beato  —  It did not take long to replace Francisco Rodriguez - in the Mets' clubhouse at least.  As the team reconvened for the first time since its former fiery closer was shipped off to Milwaukee …