The Baltimore Orioles reinstated outfielder Aaron Hicks from the 10-day injured list on Monday.

Top outfield prospect Colton Cowser was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to make room on the roster.

Hicks, 33, landed on the injured list on July 25 with a left hamstring strain.

He is batting .252 with six homers and 20 RBIs in 42 games since signing with the Orioles on May 30, four days after being released by the New York Yankees.

Hicks is a career .231 hitter with 107 homers and 376 RBIs in 940 games with the Minnesota Twins (2013-15), Yankees (2016-23) and Orioles.

Cowser, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 draft, made his major league debut on July 5. He returns to the minors after hitting .115 with no homers and four RBIs in 26 games.

–Field Level Media

The Toronto Blue Jays regained their ability to hit with runners in scoring position Sunday and aim to continue the trend Tuesday night against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies, meanwhile, will enter the upcoming two-game series at Toronto after scoring a total of one run in two straight home losses to the Minnesota Twins.

The Blue Jays, who rank 22nd in the majors with a .247 batting average with men in scoring position, went 8-for-17 in that spot Sunday in an 11-4 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs. They still stranded 12 runners.

The Blue Jays had been struggling to get hits when needed while losing to the Cubs on Friday and Saturday after splitting a four-game road series with the Cleveland Guardians. The series at Cleveland blunted the optimism created by a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox to open the trip.

Daulton Varsho led the Blue Jays on Sunday with a career-best five RBIs, three on a home run and two on a single.

“We ran into a Cleveland team that pitched us really tough,” Varsho said. “They had good pitching, and we just didn’t capitalize when we needed to. But I thought the Boston series we did great, and this series we did fine. Obviously, winning (Sunday) was a big thing going into (Monday’s) off day and being able to enjoy it.”

Varsho has played well in the outfield but his offense has been a disappointment this season. The past 10 games have been encouraging, though, as he is batting .281 (9-for-32) with eight RBIs in that span.

Whit Merrifield continued to produce with four hits for the Blue Jays on Sunday.

“It’s what this lineup is capable of,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “When you’re getting production at the bottom and turn it back over to the top, you see what happens.”

Blue Jays hitters will be challenged Tuesday by Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler (9-5, 3.74 ERA).

Wheeler held the Blue Jays to one run and three hits over seven innings May 10 but did not factor in the decision as the Phillies completed a two-game sweep at Philadelphia. In five career starts against Toronto, he is 0-2 with a 5.19 ERA.

Toronto is scheduled to start left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (9-4, 3.53), who will be facing the Phillies for the first time.

The Phillies completed a 6-4 homestand. losing 8-1 on Saturday and 3-0 on Sunday to the Twins in the final two games.

“We’re still playing good baseball,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “We’ve just got to get it going again in Toronto.”

Phillies shortstop Trea Turner singled in the ninth inning Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. The streak started when Turner, who has struggled during most of the season, received an ovation of encouragement from Phillies fans during the opening game of the homestand.

Turner was 17-for-39 (.436) with six doubles and two homers on the homestand. His work with hitting coach Kevin Long could be paying off. And the ovation might also have been a factor.

“Maybe it’s the crowd; maybe it’s a little bit better swing; maybe it’s better pitches; maybe I’m relaxed,” Turner said. “I don’t know if there’s one specific thing. I think just everything, as a whole, is in a better direction.”

–Field Level Media

While the Chicago Cubs continue their push for the playoffs, the crosstown White Sox aim for some sustained success down the stretch of a lost season.

Looking to maintain their recent strong play at home, the Cubs will also look to hand to the rival White Sox a fourth consecutive defeat in Tuesday’s series opener.

The state of Chicago baseball couldn’t be more different in the final month and a half of the regular season.

The White Sox, expected to challenge for the American League Central, are 25 games below .500 and a dismal 11-25 since June 30. They were just swept in a three-game home set by the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Cubs are enjoying an 18-7 overall stretch, where they have won 10 of 13 at home. The recent success has them four games over .500 and in contention for both the National League Central title and a wild-card berth.

After taking two of three at Toronto over the weekend, the Cubs host the final two games of the annual series that captures citywide attention. The Cubs outscored the White Sox 17-10 to win the first two high-energy meetings on the South Side last month.

“We have a chance to make some noise,” Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon said.

Scheduled Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (4-6, 3.96 ERA) was charged with three runs, while yielding four hits, in 6 1/3 innings during a 7-3 win against the White Sox on July 25. However, the Cubs have lost Hendricks’ three starts since, during which he’s 0-2 with a 6.19 ERA.

The right-hander allowed only a two-run homer, plus four other hits and two walks, while striking out six, in five innings of Wednesday’s 4-3 road loss to the New York Mets.

In 12 career starts against the White Sox, Hendricks is 2-6 with a 4.77 ERA.

White Sox All-Star Luis Robert Jr. doubled against Hendricks last month and is 4-for-9 (.444) with two homers against him. However, it’s uncertain if Robert will be available after a finger injury prevented him from starting any of the three games against Milwaukee. Robert has three of his 31 home runs in the last 11 games he started.

“We’re going to err on the side of caution, we’re not going to rush (Robert),” said White Sox manager Pedro Grifol, whose team totaled five runs and 14 hits in the last two games.

“I want to make sure that a couple of days, two or three days, doesn’t turn into a couple weeks.”

Meanwhile, teammate Tim Anderson has yet to hear back on his appeal of a six-game suspension from an Aug. 5 fight with Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez. Anderson is a .318 career hitter versus Hendricks.

White Sox right-hander Touki Toussaint (1-5, 4.27) is expected to start Tuesday. He pitched a scoreless inning of relief against the Cubs on July 26 and has a 2.45 ERA against them lifetime in three relief appearances.

Since last facing the Cubs, Toussaint made three starts, going 1-2 with a 4.70 ERA.

Toussaint allowed four runs, six hits and five walks, but struck out nine over five innings during last Tuesday’s 7-1 loss to the New York Yankees. It was his second consecutive start with nine strikeouts.

The Cubs’ Cody Bellinger is batting .328 during his resurgent season first season on the North Side. However, he went 1-for-9 against the White Sox in July.

Teammate Dansby Swanson homered twice and added another hit with four RBIs during the July 25 win over the White Sox. He went 3-for-7 with a double, homer and five RBIs in the last two games versus Toronto.

–Field Level Media

Hall of Fame member Derek Jeter will attend his first Old-Timers’ Day since retiring in 2014 as the New York Yankees honor the 1998 World Series team next month.

Yankees Old-Timers’ Day is scheduled for Sept. 9 ahead of a game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Yankees thus far are expecting 29 members of the 1998 World Series-winning team to participate, including Mariano Rivera, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, Andy Pettitte and manager Joe Torre. The festivities will involve the former players taking part in a roundtable discussion, sharing memories.

No game will be played as it was in many past years.

Jeter, 49, won five World Series with the Yankees. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020.

–Field Level Media

Two teams facing desperate times in the quest for a postseason berth open a brief two-game series Tuesday when the Cleveland Guardians visit the Cincinnati Reds.

Both clubs enter the series after a day off Monday to savor much-needed wins on Sunday that went a big way toward keeping them within striking distance of their division leaders. Cleveland’s optimism is further boosted with third baseman Jose Ramirez set to return to the roster after a two-game suspension.

The Reds had lost nine of 11 since the Aug. 1 MLB trade deadline heading into the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. They dropped the first game Sunday, 4-2, after blowing a 2-0 lead on a three-run, pinch-hit homer by Jared Triolo, his first in the major leagues.

Cincinnati appeared on its way to losing another game to the Pirates before rallying from a 5-3 deficit in the eighth inning of Game 2 and winning it, 6-5, in 10 innings. Reds manager David Bell used six relievers and every position player to record the win.

The win gave the Reds just their second series win since July 28-30 in Los Angeles against the Dodgers and put them at 62 wins on the season, matching their total from 2022.

“We have a long way to go. Our goal is to get a lot more wins,” Bell said. “(Game 2) was just a game where we were absolutely grinding it out and found a way to win. It took everyone. Everyone contributed. Rarely is it easy or pretty and (Sunday) was a grind. That’s what it takes. Because of that, it was an even better win.”

Reds rookie phenom Elly De La Cruz homered and went 2-for-5 in the nightcap Sunday.

“Like I’ve always said, this team never gives up. It’s always up until the end, up until the last moments of the game,” De La Cruz said.

The Guardians, trying to catch Minnesota in the American League Central, needed a win Sunday just as badly. Cleveland batters were hitting .199 and held to single-digit hits in each of their 13 games prior to a series at Tampa Bay over the weekend.

Ramirez’s return should help. A five-time All-Star, he is batting .282 with 18 homers and 65 RBIs in 113 games this season. Ramirez was suspended for his role in an on-field fight with Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox.

Against the Rays, the Guardians managed to score 22 runs on 38 hits despite losing two of three. On Sunday, Cleveland had 15 hits in a 9-2 win over the Rays despite not having Ramirez and Josh Naylor, who is out with an oblique injury.

“Obviously, those are the stars of our team, and we need them in order to make any deep runs,” outfielder Steven Kwan said, “but to be able to do it without them is really confidence-building and big for the young guys.”

“We really needed it,” Cleveland second baseman Andres Gimenez said. “It was kind of like that confidence booster for the offense to get this type of weekend.”

Kwan and Gimenez combined for 14 hits in 29 at-bats over the three-game series.

The Reds will start right-hander Graham Ashcraft (6-7, 4.95 ERA) in the opener of the two-game set. Ashcraft is making his 23rd start of the season and is coming off a dominating performance in his most recent start — a one-run, three-hit outing on Wednesday against the Miami Marlins. He didn’t figure into the decision.

He has never faced the Guardians.

Ashcraft will be opposed by rookie left-hander Logan Allen (5-5, 3.55), who will be making his 18th start of the season but his first appearance against Cincinnati.

–Field Level Media

Rays shortstop Wander Franco was placed on the restricted list and is away from the team starting Monday, when Tampa Bay begins a three-game series with the San Francisco Giants.

The Rays said the move was mutual and would last through the current road trip.

Moving a player to the restricted list, typically used when a player is away from the team for non-baseball reasons or opts to retire, equates to removing them from the active roster. ESPN reported on Monday the Rays are not obligated to pay Franco while he’s on the restricted list.

The team confirmed Major League Baseball began investigating social media posts suggesting Franco was having an inappropriate relationship with an underage girl.

Franco, 22, did not play in Tampa Bay’s 9-2 home loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday afternoon.

“During today’s game, we were made aware of the social media posts that are circulating regarding Wander Franco,” the team said in a statement two hours after the game. “We take the situation seriously and are in close contact with Major League Baseball as it conducts its due diligence.”

Osleivis Basabe started at shortstop on Sunday. Basabe went 1-for-3 with a double in his Major League debut.

The Spanish-language social media posts were made Saturday night and went viral Sunday. Franco was given Sunday’s game off despite a scheduled Wander Franco hat giveaway for fans aged 14 and under.

Franco was in the dugout when the game began but reportedly left the stadium during the fifth inning.

Rays manager Kevin Cash later told reporters that Franco was given a “day off” but acknowledged that he knew about the discussion brewing on social media.

“I am aware of this speculation,” Cash said. “I’m not going to comment any further on that. But the day off was because (of) the day off.”

The Rays signed Franco to a $182 million, 11-year contract in November 2021, with a team option for 2033 that could make the deal worth up to $223 million.

Franco made his first All-Star Game this year and has had a strong season on the field. He is batting .281 with 17 home runs, 58 RBIs and 30 stolen bases over 112 games for a team in line to make the postseason.

The Rays also chose to bench Franco for two games in July in response to his behavior around his teammates and how he would deal with frustration.

–Field Level Media

Teams attempting to maintain their grip on wild-card playoff positions duel in a rare head-to-head series when the Tampa Bay Rays and host San Francisco Giants open a three-game set on Monday night.

The Rays reside in the first wild-card spot in the American League despite having gone just 14-21 since July 1. They’ll play the entire series and seven-day road trip this week without shortstop Wander Franco, who was placed on the restricted list. MLB is investigating claims, first aired via social media on Saturday night, claiming Franco was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a minor.

Franco didn’t play Sunday and “mutually agreed” to a move to the restricted list, the Rays announced Monday.

The Giants are second in the National League chase, although their 3-2 victory in 10 innings over the Texas Rangers on Sunday was just the second win in their last eight games.

The clubs are meeting for the first time since the Rays won two of three in San Francisco in 2019. The sweep allowed Tampa Bay to improve to 7-8 in the all-time series that began in 2002.

The Rays send Tyler Glasnow (5-3, 3.15 ERA) to the mound on Monday, while the Giants are expected to resort to a bullpen day with fellow right-hander Ryan Walker (4-1, 2.40) getting the nod.

Glasnow will be making just his third career appearance (second start) against the Giants. He is 1-0 and has yet to allow a run in eight innings against San Francisco.

The 29-year-old California native will be making his first start since July 31, having been scratched from a scheduled outing last Sunday in Detroit because of back spasms. He received a cortisone shot in his back during his time off.

“Just needed a little bit of time,” he reported after a 15-pitch bullpen session Friday. “I was really encouraged with (Friday’s work), just going out and feeling normal and, like, not really knowing how it was going to be on the mound, and it felt fine. It feels good.”

Glasnow had pitched well in his last four starts in July, going 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA. He has 32 strikeouts in 27 innings during that stretch.

While the veteran has been watching, the Rays have been about as inconsistent as any contender in August. After alternating wins and losses over their first four games, they won two straight, lost two in a row and won two consecutive contests before getting drubbed 9-2 by the Cleveland Guardians in the finale of a six-game homestand Sunday.

The Cleveland series had begun in grand fashion, with the Rays recording walk-off wins both Friday and Saturday.

If they were tuned into the Giants’ series finale against the Texas Rangers during the early stages of their cross-country flight Sunday, they saw more of the same from San Francisco. The Giants were one pitch away from a 1-0 win in regulation, had to rally from behind on a walk-off, two-run homer by Patrick Bailey in the 10th for a 3-2 win.

The heroics came moments after a blown save in the ninth and run-scoring balk in the 10th had the Giants on the verge of a potential three-game sweep at the hands of the Rangers.

“That would have been a pretty heart-wrenching loss,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “It’s a great moment of celebration for the clubhouse. They’re very happy after a walk-off win. But we still have to come back (Monday) and get ready for the Rays.”

Walker will make his ninth start of the season and first career versus the Rays.

–Field Level Media

The Padres will host the Baltimore Orioles in the first of three games Monday night as San Diego opens its longest and arguably most important homestand of the season.

If the Padres don’t play well over the next 10 games, it could be their last important homestand of the season.

The Padres return home from a 1-4 trip to Seattle and Arizona that concluded with two straight losses to a Diamondbacks team that had lost nine straight.

“This was as tough a loss as we’ve had this season,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said Sunday after his club fell 5-4 after leading 3-0 in the top of the first inning. “And we’ve had some really tough losses. It’s not one or two guys — it’s the entire 26-man roster.”

The Padres are six games below .500 and 5 1/2 games out of the last wild-card spot in the National League with 44 games to go. They almost need a series sweep of the Orioles to climb back into playoff contention — and the Orioles haven’t been swept in 77 straight series.

“There are numbers you can point to that are meaningful to a team’s success; that is one,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said of the team’s ability to avoid being swept. “You do that over a season and you’re going to have success.”

Which the Orioles have. They have the second-best record in the major leagues and own a three-game lead over the second-place Tampa Bay Rays in the extremely competitive American League East. The Orioles flew to San Diego from Seattle on Sunday afternoon after defeating the Mariners 5-3 in 10 innings on Cedric Mullins’ two-run home run.

Which brings us to two other stats to compare the Orioles’ and Padres’ seasons. The Orioles are 22-11 in one-run games and improved to 8-5 in extra-inning games with Sunday’s success in Seattle. The Padres fell to 6-19 in one-run games with Sunday’s loss in Arizona and are 0-10 in extra-inning contests.

After the three games with the Orioles, the Padres will host Arizona for four games and the Miami Marlins for three — 10 games in 10 days.

The San Diego-Baltimore series will start Monday night with Padres right-handed veteran Yu Darvish (8-7, 4.19 ERA) going against 23-year-old right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (2-3, 5.84).

Darvish has allowed three runs (two earned) on 14 hits and four walks with 17 strikeouts over 19 innings in his last three starts for a 0.95 ERA. He is 1-0 in those starts.

Darvish will make his 22nd start of the season. He has 125 strikeouts in 120 1/3 innings.

Darvish has made only one start against the Orioles in his career, and that was in 2016 when he gave up three runs on six hits and a walk with nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. But three of the hits were home runs.

Rodriguez has never faced the Padres. He has made 15 starts with the Orioles, with 80 strikeouts in 74 innings.

–Field Level Media

Both the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates harbored high hopes when the season began.

But both teams will just try to avoid falling into last place in their divisions Monday night when the Mets host the Pirates in the opener of a three-game set.

Carlos Carrasco (3-6, 6.42 ERA) is expected to start for the Mets against fellow right-hander Quinn Priester (2-1, 8.75).

The Mets salvaged the finale of a four-game series against the visiting Atlanta Braves on Sunday night when Kodai Senga tossed six solid innings and recorded the win in New York’s 7-6 victory. The host Pirates split a doubleheader with the Cincinnati Reds, earning a 4-2 win in the opener before suffering a 6-5, 10-inning loss in the nightcap.

The win over the Braves — who won 7-0 on Friday night before outscoring the Mets 27-3 in a doubleheader sweep Saturday — served as a reminder of how quickly New York has fallen behind Atlanta in the race for supremacy in the National League East.

The Mets and Braves were each 101-61 last season, when Atlanta was awarded the division title by virtue of a 9-8 win in the season series. New York began 2023 with a payroll of more than $350 million but has been under .500 every day since June 6 and needed to win Sunday night to avoid tumbling behind the Washington Nationals and into last place in the division.

“We won 101 games last year, they won 101, we just lost one more game (head-to-head) than they did,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “So our guys talk about it. It’s not a lesson, but it’s a reminder of how quickly things can change, negatively and positively.”

The Pirates have the same record (53-65) as the Mets and are a game ahead of the last-place St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central.

Pittsburgh, which has four straight losing seasons and has finished with a winning record just once since its most recent playoff appearance in 2015, emerged as a potential Cinderella when it ended April by winning 11 of 13 games to improve to 20-9.

But the Pirates went 8-18 in May and fell out of first place for good on June 16 — the last day Pittsburgh was at .500.

The doubleheader split Sunday symbolized the near-miss nature of the Pirates’ season. After overcoming a two-run deficit in the opener, Pittsburgh squandered a 5-3 eighth-inning lead in the second game.

“We had the opportunity to win the game,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “If we execute, we do win the game.”

Carrasco didn’t factor into the decision on Tuesday, when he allowed two runs over five innings in the Mets’ 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs. He is 2-1 with a 2.96 ERA in five career starts against the Pirates.

Priester didn’t factor into the decision on Wednesday after giving up four runs over four innings as the Pirates fell to the Braves 6-5. The rookie has never opposed the Mets.

–Field Level Media