Matt Adams is returning to the field after an extended absence. The Cardinals activated Adams from the 60-day disabled list on Wednesday and designated Nick Greenwood for assignment. Adams went on the disabled list in late May with a strained right quadriceps injury that ultimately required surgery.

Adams, 27, missed 91 games while on the disabled list, and he's batting .243 with seven doubles, four home runs and 20 RBIs this season. The first baseman has played in 320 games for the Cardinals over four seasons, and he's a career .277 hitter with 38 home runs and 152 RBIs.

BOSTON -- After not scoring for eight straight innings, the Blue Jays came out swinging in the top of the 10th, scoring four runs en route to a 5-1 victory over the Red Sox on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

With the Yankees losing in Baltimore, the Blue Jays increased their lead to 1 1/2 games in the American League East.

ANAHEIM -- Clayton Kershaw gave up a leadoff homer and recovered brilliantly on Tuesday night, holding the Angels to two runs over seven innings while leading the Dodgers to a 6-4 win, their fifth in a row and 13th in the last 15 games.

After serving up a home run to leadoff hitter Kole Calhoun -- a half-inning after Justin Ruggiano led off the game with his own homer -- Kershaw allowed only three other hits, struck out eight and gave up an unearned run to capture his 13th win and drop his ERA to 2.15. The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner surpassed 200 innings for the fifth time in the last six years -- he's at 201 -- and is 8-1 with a 0.98 ERA over his last 13 starts, striking out 128 and walking 12 during that span.

ST. LOUIS -- Joe Maddon has found a happy baseball home in the highly competitive confines of the National League Central.

Maddon is speaking of the division in superlatives, and he has his reasons. It's not just the competition, although Maddon, in his first season as manager of the Cubs, says it is the best baseball has to offer.

WASHINGTON -- The way the Mets' season has gone, maybe they saw a remarkable comeback in the offing. But the Nationals and their fans had every right to be stunned as New York rallied from six runs down to beat Washington, 8-7, at Nationals Park on Tuesday night. And even the Mets had to admit that this one stood out.

With the victory, the Mets are now six games ahead of the Nationals in the National League East race with four head-to-head games remaining between the rivals.

NEW YORK -- The significance of Alex Rodriguez's latest home run was not lost on the slugger, who has now equaled Hank Aaron's Major League record of hitting 30 or more homers in 15 seasons. Yet the fact that it came in a defeat left something to be desired.

Rodriguez's sixth-inning shot off Kevin Gausman accounted for the Yankees' only run in a 2-1 loss to the Orioles on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, which dropped New York 1 1/2 games behind the division-leading Blue Jays in the American League East chase.

ST. LOUIS -- Having watched his club be swept and outscored by 11 runs during a June visit to St. Louis, Cubs manager Joe Maddon hoped they would make a September statement upon returning to Busch Stadium for a series budding with playoff implications. Consider that challenge met, as the Cubs, despite a spirited comeback attempt by the Cardinals, held on for an 8-5 victory Tuesday night behind seven RBIs from Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo.

"We're moving in the right direction," Rizzo said of the Cubs. "I feel like this team, every day, we're getting more confident and more confident. With the group we have, that can be really scary."

KANSAS CITY -- Right-hander Edinson Volquez turned in seven strong innings and Eric Hosmer delivered a three-run double as the Royals snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the Twins on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

With the victory, the Royals' magic number to clinch the American League Central dropped to 13. The Twins, meanwhile, fell 2 1/2 games behind the Rangers for the second Wild Card spot with Texas' 9-6 win at Seattle.

CINCINNATI -- Left-hander Francisco Liriano threw six scoreless innings and the Pirates used a third-inning balk and a blast to beat the Reds, 7-3, on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park.

The Pirates' 82nd win of the season -- a figure that would have been celebrated wildly only a few years ago -- clinched their third straight winning season and brought them within 4 1/2 games of the Cardinals in the National League Central. They also maintained a two-game lead over the Cubs in the NL Wild Card standings.

WASHINGTON -- In the visiting clubhouse, Matt Harvey scurried to complete his usual post-start routine, eager to return to the sunflower-seed littered confines of the dugout bench. Harvey had just moved 5 1/3 innings closer to his much-debated season cap, allowing a career-high tying seven earned runs in the process. But the Mets were rallying, en route to an 8-7 win Tuesday over the Nationals. Harvey wanted to be a part of it.

So he finished his exercises and hustled back out to the bench, where he acted not like some mercenary putting in his time. Harvey cheered and whooped and hollered alongside the rest of the Mets.

WASHINGTON -- As the Mets' season-long accomplishments seemed to come unspooling around them in the early innings Tuesday, closer Jeurys Familia sat in the bullpen and watched, and waited, biding his time. Hours later, Familia was asked if, in the deepest part of his heart, he believed the Mets would call on him to close out a victory.

"The way we've been playing this year?" Familia replied after the 8-7 win, not even the faintest of grins crossing his face. "Yes."

ANAHEIM -- The Dodgers have won 15 of the games Clayton Kershaw has pitched this season, and 20 of the games Zack Greinke has pitched.

But where would they be without the 45 games that Kenley Jansen has pitched (40 of them victories)?

WASHINGTON -- The Mets no longer need to negotiate with Yoenis Cespedes during a pennant race or risk losing him forever. The team announced Tuesday that it and Roc Nation Sports have negotiated an amendment into Cespedes' contract, allowing the Mets to pursue him for the entirety of this offseason's free-agent period.

Under their old arrangement, the Mets could negotiate with Cespedes for only five days following the conclusion of the World Series. After that point, Cespedes' unique contract language would have made the Mets ineligible to re-sign him until May 15, making his return to New York a near-impossibility.

CINCINNATI -- Gerrit Cole made it clear Tuesday afternoon: His focus is on each game he pitches, no matter when he's asked to take the mound. That "small picture," as he put it, is his job.

But the Pirates had the bigger picture in mind in several ways when they chose to skip Cole's next scheduled start, as manager Clint Hurdle announced Monday at Great American Ball Park. Even as good as the All-Star right-hander feels, Cole understood the logic behind the decision.

BOSTON -- A matter of inches could have been the difference between two homers and none for Blue Jays slugger Josh Donaldson on Tuesday night, but the third baseman's bat and baserunning remained a deciding factor in sparking his team's 5-1, 10-inning victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Leading off the 10th inning, Donaldson pummeled an 0-1 fastball from Boston reliever Alexi Ogando that bounced off the top edge of the Green Monster and back onto the outfield grass. Unsure if it had cleared the wall, he sprinted around second base and quickly set his sights on third.

ANAHEIM -- An MRI exam on Tuesday revealed that Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal has inflammation in his left shoulder that will keep him out of the lineup for the next few days. He will have to play through it for the rest of the season.

Grandal will need rest to get the inflammation down to a manageable level, then he will be day to day the rest of the season.