AROUND THE HORN
■ Twins: Max Kepler has Trevor Bauer’s number. Kepler connected for home runs his first two times up Saturday night against Cleveland’s hard-throwing starter, giving the Minnesota outfielder five homers in his last five at-bats against the right-hander. Kepler homered three times off Bauer in Minnesota’s win on June 6 while also drawing a walk. He made it four homers in four straight at-bats with a leadoff shot, then connected in the second inning, one batter after rookie Jake Cave homered off Bauer. Bauer finally got the best of Kepler in the fourth, striking him out but only after he hit a deep foul ball into the upper deck in right.
■ Red Sox: The Red Sox upgraded their starting rotation by obtaining righthander Andrew Cashner in a trade with the Orioles. The Red Sox also got cash while sending a pair of 17-year-old prospects to the Orioles. Cashner is 9-3 with a 3.83 ERA in 17 starts for the team with the worst record in the majors. He has gone at least six innings in his last five starts and has a 1.41 ERA since the beginning of June. Cashner is in the final season of a twoyear, $16 million contract. He has a lifetime record of 55-82 with a 4.00 ERA. Baltimore agreed to send Boston $1,777,839 to cover all but $1,577,000 of the $3,354,839 Cashner is due from his $8 million salary this year. The Orioles received infielder Noelberth Romero and outfielder Elio Prado.
■ Mets: Three-time AllStar outfielder Matt Kemp was released by the Mets. Kemp signed a minor league contract May 24 and played in eight games for Triple-A Syracuse, hitting .235 with one home run and three RBIs. “We’re going to exhaust every effort we can to find the best players we can and we’ve got a couple of veteran guys we have tried out — some work, some don’t,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. Kemp, 34, made the NL All-Star team last season in his second stint with the Dodgers, batting .290 with 21 home runs and 85 RBIs. He was traded to Cincinnati in the offseason and appeared in 20 games for the Reds this season, hitting .200 with one home run and five RBIs.
■ Yankees: Toronto center fielder Randal Grichuk made a diving catch with the bases loaded and hit a two-run single as the Blue Jays held off the Yankees 2-1. The AL East-leading Yankees, who have not been shut out in more than a year, scored with two outs in the ninth on Aaron Judge’s fourth hit, a single off third baseman Brandon Drury’s glove. With runners at the corners, Luke Voit looked at strike three from Daniel Hudson to end it. Hudson posted his second save while Voit went 0-for-3 with two walks after being activated from the injured list.
■ Extra innings: The Nationals put Max Scherzer on the 10-day injury list because the ace righthander has a mid-back strain. An MRI on Scherzer’s back came back negative, and the three-time Cy Young Award winner had his start pushed back from Sunday to Tuesday. But he was placed on the injury list retroactive to July 10 after a bullpen session Saturday.