Red Sox give Jeter Downs a debut surprise as he starts at third base, not shortstop  —  Xander Bogaerts originally had an off day for Wednesday's series finale against the Tigers.  The plan was for Jeter Downs to make his big league debut at shortstop in place of Bogaerts; Trevor Story, meanwhile, would remain at second.

Chicago White Sox can't pull off sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays — and Tony La Russa keeps tuning out the noise  —  With runners on second and third and two outs in the top of the 11th inning of Tuesday night's marathon on the South Side, the few thousand fans remaining began shouting unsolicited advice …

Los Angeles Angels' Reid Detmers optioned to minors 6 weeks after no-hitter  —  ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels have optioned Reid Detmers to the minors just six starts after the rookie left-hander threw a no-hitter.  —  The Angels assigned Detmers to Triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday …

Aaron Judge in Queens?  Boston? 7 teams that could challenge Yankees for MLB's biggest likely free agent  —  The long-standing refrain about baseball free agents is that it takes just one aggressive owner to change everything.  Arte Moreno swooped in to sign Albert Pujols for the Angels.

Michael King and Clay Holmes have been dominant, but their heavy workload is concerning  —  ST. PETERSBURG — In the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday night, Michael King popped up onto the bullpen mound.  The Yankees' reliable right-hander had been noticeably missing from the game the night before.

Carlos Carrasco exits with back tightness as Mets get swept by Astros  —  HOUSTON — The last thing the Mets needed was another injury to a starting pitcher.  —  Carlos Carrasco exited his start with lower back tightness in the third inning of the Mets' 5-3 loss to the Astros on Wednesday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

Ravens outside linebacker Jaylon Ferguson dies at age 26  —  Ravens outside linebacker Jaylon Ferguson has died, the team announced Wednesday.  He was 26.  —  “We are profoundly saddened by the tragic passing of Jaylon Ferguson,” the Ravens said in a statement, which did not list a cause of death.

Dodgers set to promote Stefen Romero to majors for first time since 2016  —  The 33-year-old outfielder played in Japan from 2017-21 before signing a minor league contract with the Dodgers in February  —  A long and winding road is bringing Stefen Romero back to the big leagues.

Memo: MLB to require all teams to ‘muddy’ ball using exact same technique  —  Major League Baseball is now requiring teams to “muddy” baseballs before games using the exact same technique, according to a league memo sent to all 30 teams on Tuesday and obtained by ESPN.