ANAHEIM Mike Piazza Jersey , Calif. (AP) — Pitching without his best stuff, Mike Minor was still able to continue his second-half success.Minor threw six solid innings, allowing just one run on eight hits as the Texas Rangers ended a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night.“The last two outings, I haven’t felt great — mechanically off a little bit. But I felt like they had chances to capitalize and I only gave up the one,” Minor said. “I felt really lucky for that.”Ronald Guzman homered and Joey Gallo drove in three runs for Texas. Guzman hit a two-run shot, his 15th, in a four-run second to give Minor (12-7) a comfortable lead.After starter Jaime Barria walked Adrian Beltre and Jurickson Profar, Gallo doubled them in for a 2-0 lead. Barria walked Hanser Alberto and then gave up the home run to Guzman.Minor (12-7) had shoulder surgery in 2015, and his 12 wins are his most since then. He had a career-high 13 wins with the Atlanta Braves in 2013.Over his last seven starts, Minor is 6-1 with a 2.59 ERA. He’s won four straight on the road.“The first half, especially the first couple of months, were really bad,” Minor said. “I don’t know but it started in spring training where I didn’t feel great, mechanically and stuff. I wasn’t attacking hitters the way I knew I could. Now, I’ve made more quality pitches. I feel better, more comfortable out there. Feels like (2014) seems so long ago. I thought I was going to step up there and be an easy transition because I’ve (started) my whole career besides last year. I thought it wasn’t going to be an issue. It was just getting out there every six days and getting some innings underneath me.”Jose Leclerc pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 10th save as Texas stopped the Angels’ four-game winning streak.Barria (10-9) walked four batters in three innings. He gave up four runs and three hits while throwing only 31 of 60 pitches for strikes.The four-run second snapped his scoreless streak at 12 innings.“Jaime was out of sync,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.Shohei Ohtani had two hits and an RBI for Los Angeles. Mike Trout added two infield singles and made a couple of fantastic catches in center field. Taylor Cole pitched four scoreless innings of relief, retiring all 12 batters he faced.Cole had shortstop Andrelton Simmons to thank for retiring Elvis Andrus in the fifth. Simmons fielded a grounder deep in the hole and made a one-hop throw from the outfield grass to get Andrus.Simmons made another terrific play in the eighth to catch a ball over his head. Trout robbed Beltre of two hits http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-jose-reyes-jersey , including a diving grab in the eighth.CAMPAIGN SEASONOhtani was selected the American League player of the week after batting .474 with four homers, eight runs, 10 RBIs and two stolen bases. It was recently recommended that the two-way player have Tommy John surgery, but he’ll still hit the remainder of the season. And he could continue to make his case for AL Rookie of the Year.“I think the whole Rookie of the Year embodies much of what a player does. It’s not just one statistic,” Scioscia said. “If you look at how dominant he was when he was healthy pitching, to now the way he’s swinging the bat in the batter’s box and the numbers he’s putting up, it’s been a performance so far worthy of Rookie of the Year consideration, and in my mind winning Rookie of the Year.”TRAINER’S ROOMRangers: OF Ryan Rua (muscle spasms in back) was reinstated from the disabled list. He had been on the DL since July 27.Angels: Ohtani was scheduled to meet with general manager Billy Eppler to discuss whether to have Tommy John surgery on his pitching arm. … Albert Pujols, who recently had knee surgery, will also undergo surgery on his right elbow Wednesday to remove bone spurs. “It was time to shut it down,” Pujols said. “You have to look at the long run to be able to get myself ready for next year. And on top of that take care of my elbow and the little things.” … LHP Tyler Skaggs (left adductor strain) is scheduled to throw a simulated game in the next day or two and then will be re-evaluated.UP NEXTRangers: RHP Adrian Sampson will make his second career start Tuesday night and first for Texas. He made one start with Seattle in 2016 but was injured warming up for what would’ve been his second start and had surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon.Angels: Right-handed reliever Jim Johnson (5-3, 3.81 ERA) is scheduled to start a “bullpen game” for Los Angeles. NEW YORK (AP) — Spending on Major League Baseball payrolls dropped last season for the first time since 2010, an $18 million decrease attributable to drug and domestic violence suspensions and a player retiring at midseason.Still, even a year with flat payrolls is unusual for MLB. The only previous drops since 2002 were by $3 million in 2010 and by $32 million in 2004.Teams combined to spend $4.23 billion on major league payroll last year, according to final figures compiled by the commissioner’s office and obtained by The Associated Press. The decrease followed an offseason with a weak free-agent class that failed to push the average higher.Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano lost about $11.7 million and Chicago White Sox catcher Welington Castillo approximately $3.5 million after positive drug tests. Closer Roberto Osuna’s domestic violence suspension cost him roughly $2.1 million from Toronto and Houston, and Baltimore outfielder Colby Rasmus walked away from about $1.5 million rather than try to come back from a hip injury.World Series champion Boston had the highest payroll for the first time since the free-agent era started in 1976 at $230 million. In a sign of increasing parity, a record 24 teams had $100 million payrolls, and the Red Sox figure was the lowest for the top big league payroll since 2012. Luxury tax surcharges that started for the 2017 season appear to have changed behavior of high-revenue teams.MLB Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem said the slice of revenue going to major and minor league players last year was 54.2 percent Wilmer Flores Jersey , the same as in 2012. He cited a $9.4 billion revenue figure for 2018, up from $9.1 billion in 2017, and luxury tax payrolls, which use average annual values of contracts and include benefits. MLB pegged the average salary increase at 29.1 percent since 2012 and the average luxury tax payroll rise since then at 28.4 percent.“So although the top payroll in 2018 was the lowest since 2012, the average payroll has increased significantly, which means MLB has had payroll compression — which is a good thing for competitive balance,” he said.Union head Tony Clark declined to comment, spokesman Chris Dahl said.Agent Scott Boras claimed the players’ portion of the money has declined.“The luxury tax, the new elements have dramatically quelled the market,” he said. “The allocation of revenues to payroll has gone down.”Both sides agree on one fact: The pace of free-agent signings has slowed dramatically in recent offseasons. Jeff Berry, an agent who co-heads CAA Baseball, suggested a call to action in a memo he circulated last year that included suggestions such as boycotting marketing appearances and delaying arrival at spring training until the mandatory report date in late February.“Despite increasing MLB revenues and franchise valuations, in this new world order of analytics, aging curves, tanking, shifting, openers, bull-penning http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic-neil-walker-jersey , declining attendance and declining salaries, players should and do feel vulnerable and unsure,” he wrote. “Rather than saber rattling about a potential strike in three years, the focus should be on taking pro-active steps to address current labor issues in the hope of avoiding a strike in 2021.”San Francisco had the second-highest regular payroll at $210 million, followed by the Chicago Cubs at $199 million.Top-spending teams cut payroll to get below the luxury tax threshold in order to reset their tax rate. Only the Red Sox and Washington Nationals paid tax.The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped to fourth at $196 million after leading the major leagues for four straight years. The Dodgers, who spent a record $291 million in 2015, cut by $48 million from 2017 and had their smallest payroll since 2012, yet they won a second straight NL pennant.Washington was fifth at $185 million, followed by the New York Yankees at $183 million — a drop of more than $25 million from 2017 and their smallest since 2003. The Yankees had not been as low as sixth since they were ninth in 1992 at $34.5 million in the final season of owner George Steinbrenner’s 2½-year suspension.Just five of the top 10 spenders made the playoffs, with San Francisco and Washington missing along with the Los Angeles Angels (seventh at $177 million), St. Louis (eighth at $166 million) and Seattle (10th at $162 million).Other playoff teams included Colorado (14th at $148 million), Cleveland (15th at $146 million), Atlanta (20th at $127 million), Milwaukee (22nd at $108 million, up $40 million from 2017’s big league low) and Oakland (28th at $78 million).Tampa Bay had the lowest payroll for the first time since 2007, at $71.5 million finishing $92,526 below the Chicago White Sox.Payrolls are for 40-man rosters and include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses, earned incentive bonuses Adrian Gonzalez Jersey , non-cash compensation, buyouts of unexercised options and cash transactions. In some cases, parts of salaries that are deferred are discounted to reflect present-day values.The average salary dropped for the first time since 2004 and for only the fourth time since record-keeping started 50 years ago, according to players’ association calculations. The union pegged its average at $4,095,686, down $1,436 from last year.Since the union started keeping track in 1967, the only previous declines had been by $66 in 1987, when owners were found to have conspired to hold down salaries among free agents; a 5 percent decline in 1995 following a 7½ -month strike that wiped out the World Series for the first time since 1904; and by 2.5 percent in 2004.MLB determined its average was $4,007,987, up from $3,955,920 in 2017. The average is based on 968 players on major league rosters and disabled lists on Aug. 31, the last day before the active player limit expanded from 25 to 40. That figure is impacted by the number of players on the DL because replacements usually make close to the minimum.The union includes option buyouts in its average calculation while MLB does not.
