DAVID ROBERTSON

Kevin Gausman returns to the mound — and plate — as he tries to help the Giants protect their lead in the NL West.

Kevin Gausman returns to the mound -- and plate -- as he tries to help the Giants protect their lead in the NL West.

Randy Arozarena, rookie Wander Franco and the Tampa Bay Rays won their ninth straight game, breaking away from Boston soon after Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts was pulled because of a positive COVID-19 test.

If the Colorado Rockies were in the Olympics, they’d have had some shorter nights.

Researchers aim to "set the record straight" on how the virus transferred from bats into humans.

NEW YORK — (AP) — Tampa Bay pitching prospect Shane Baz, 37-year-old left-hander Scott Kazmir and outfielder Bubba Starling were among 10 additions Friday to the U.S. Olympic baseball roster. Miami infielder Eddy Alvarez, a 2014 silver medalist in short-track speedskating, is among the holdovers from the Americas tournament roster. Frazier, released by Pittsburgh in May after going 3 for 35, was the star of the qualifying tournament. Sherfy was brought to the major leagues by San Francisco right after the qualifying tournament. Matt Wieters, cut from the qualifying roster just before the Americas tournament, also was not included.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — (AP) — The United States qualified for the Olympic baseball tournament on its second try, beating Venezuela 4-2 Saturday night behind Todd Frazier’s home run, four hits and two RBIs. Venezuela advanced to a final qualifying tournament from June 22-26 in Puebla, Mexico, which will determine one more qualifier from a field that also includes Australia, the Dominican Republic, Netherlands and Taiwan. He retired pinch-hitter Alexander Palma, a Milwaukee prospect, on a grounder to Frazier for the final out. Japan, which is stopping the Central and Pacific League seasons to make its top players available, is considered the Olympic favorite. Major League Baseball doesn’t allowed its big league players to participate and MLB general managers often discourage the use of top eligible prospects.

The foul call was upheld and Scioscia popped out of the dugout again as plate umpire Edwin Hernandez of Puerto Rico put up his hands, signaling for Scioscia to stop. Second- and third-place teams advance to a final qualifier in June in Mexico, which will include Australia, Netherlands and Taiwan. Juan Francisco, who last played in the major leagues for Toronto in 2014, hit solo homers in the second off Ryan and leading off the ninth against David Robertson, who got the save. Emilio Bonifacio hit a two-run triple off the center-field wall with two outs in the fifth, and Edwin Jackson relieved and retired Melky Cabrera on an inning-ending comebacker. Goris hit a two-run homer for a 5-4 lead.

Kluber gets a $1 million buyout, and the club has said it is interested in re-signing Kluber to a less expensive deal. Lester gets a $10 million buyout from the Chicago Cubs that completes a $155 million, six-year contract rather than a $25 million mutual option. Milwaukee turned down Gyorko and Sogard, a day after declining a $15 million option on 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun. The White Sox declined a $12 million option for Encarnación and a $7 million option for González, who will receive a $500,000. Kluber gets a $1 million buyout, and the club has said it is interested in re-signing Kluber to a less expensive deal.

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Phillies have declined options on relievers Héctor Neris, David Phelps and David Robertson, clearing out the bullpen after it posted the highest ERA in the majors. Neris' option was worth $7,111,111, including $111,111 in escalators for games finished. He had a 2.77 ERA in 12 games prior to the trade and a 12.91 ERA in 10 appearances after. His contract included a $12 million option for 2021 with a $2 million buyout. The 35-year-old Parker was one of the few bright spots in the bullpen with a 2.81 ERA in 14 games.

The California Employment Development Department has paid a staggering $76.9 billion in unemployment benefits since the start of the pandemic, processing more than 11.9 million claims, most the result of Gov. Congress authorized the program earlier this year to help people not normally eligible to receive unemployment benefits, including independent contractors. David Robertson said his son applied for unemployment benefits at the end of April. Amy Brooks said she was denied unemployment benefits months ago. We are now seeing what that waste, fraud and abuse looks like.Before this, the biggest concern about unemployment benefits in California was the backlog of more than 1 million people still waiting on benefits.