MLB suspends Ryan Braun for remainder of season  —  By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel  —  Major League Baseball has suspended Brewers leftfielder Ryan Braun without pay for the remainder of the 2013 season and he has accepted the penalty, meaning he was caught red-handed either buying and/or using performance-enhancing drugs.

McCutchen Hits 2 HRs as Pirates Beat Nationals 6-5  —  WASHINGTON — Andrew McCutchen hit a pair of two-run homers to back a solid outing by right-hander Charlie Morton, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the skidding Washington Nationals 6-5 Monday night.  —  McCutchen connected in the first inning …

Rangers Acquire Matt Garza  —  9:05pm: Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports (via Twitter) that the Cubs can select right-hander Neil Ramirez as the PTBNL in the deal.  However, if the Cubs select Ramirez, they will not receive a second PTBNL.  Otherwise, they can select …

In desperate need of power, Yankees close to deal for Soriano  —  ARLINGTON — In dire need of a bat with thump and an indication the Yankees may believe that Alex Rodriguez isn't going to play this season, the toothless Bombers are close to acquiring Alfonso Soriano from the Cubs, The Post has learned.

Final: Braves 2 Mets 1  —  The Least You Should Know...  Dillon Gee started for the Mets and flirted with a no-hitter.  Freddie Freeman broke up the bid with a leadoff single in the seventh inning.  After loading the bases a few batters later, Gee struck out Joey Terdoslavich to end the inning.

Games of the Day  —  The Rays travel to Boston on a roll, 14-2 in the month of July to sit just 1 1/2 games behind the Red Sox.  Matt Moore starts game one of the four game series against Brandon Workman.  Moore is tied with Bartolo Colon and Max Scherzer for most wins the American League …

Junior Lake, Cubs help boot Diamondbacks from 1st in NL West  —  PHOENIX, Ariz. — Rookie Junior Lake hit his first major league homer and drove in three runs to power the Chicago Cubs to a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.  —  Lake's two-run homer off Tyler Skaggs with no outs in the fifth inning gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

Marlins score for 1st time since July 14, win  —  Recap  —  Box Score  —  Play-By-Play  —  Photos  —  Conversation  —  Marlins snap scoreless stretch, bring down Rockies  —  DENVER — Tom Koehler tossed seven strong innings, Ed Lucas homered and the Miami Marlins scored …

A plea to stop the obsession with RISP batting average  —  While being tortured by play-by-play announcer Thom Brennaman during Saturday afternoon's Fox game in my region — Reds hosting Pirates — I stumbled upon my absolute limit when it comes to one particular “stat.”

Marlins To Promote Christian Yelich, Jake Marisnick  —  The Marlins have announced that they will select the contracts of top outfield prospects Christian Yelich and Jake Marisnick tomorrow and demote Derek Dietrich and Marcell Ozuna to Double-A Jacksonville.

Davis, Hardy each have three RBIs as Orioles beat Royals  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy each drove in three runs and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Kansas City Royals 9-2 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games.