NEW YORK — Javier Baez and drama: On the way to becoming an iconic Mets duo. Baez walked up to the plate in the sixth inning with the Mets trailing Wade Miley and the Reds by three runs. Pete Alonso was on first after a single. Jonathan Villar would have been at second, but he got picked off for the sixth time this season, the most in the majors. Villar’s pickoff killed the buzz in the ...

ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays seem to have lost another reliever to injury. Jeffrey Springs sustained a right-knee sprain when he fell awkwardly chasing a Rafael Devers bunt down the third-base line during the seventh inning Saturday against the Red Sox. Manager Kevin Cash said Springs is likely to end up on the injured list, pending further medical review and imaging. Springs went down untouched ...

Australia's east coast states of New South Wales and Queensland faced an escalating battle against the COVID-19 Delta variant on Sunday, with millions under strict lockdown and authorities urging more testing and vaccinations to rein in the outbreaks. Sydney and its surroundings, under a stay-at-home order for five weeks already, reported 239 new locally acquired cases of the highly infectious Delta strain, matching the record daily number in the current outbreak that was reported on Thursday. The total number of cases in the outbreak, which began in mid-June, has reached 3,427.