Salvador Perez leads all American League players in All-Star votes in the first returns for the 2016 game.

The Kansas City Royals catcher, who also led the league in votes last season, has received 1,094,942 votes.

The remainder of the leaders at each position are: Eric Hosmer of the Royals (871,222); second
baseman Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros (624,218); third baseman Manny Machado of the Baltimore
Orioles (630,028); shortstop Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox (598,847); designated hitter David
Ortiz of the Red Sox (963,076); and outfielders Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels (934,137), Lorenzo
Cain of the Royals (647,339) and Mark Trumbo of the Orioles (641,594).

The next AL returns will be announced on June 7.

Having served his one-game suspension, Jose Bautista is still weighing in on this month's on-field dust up with Rougned Odor.

Odor punched Bautista after the Toronto Blue Jays outfielder, who had reached base after being hit by a pitch from Matt Bush, slid at Odor's legs in the midst of a double play on May 15. Players from both teams rushed the field, and Odor shoved Bautista and then landed the punch.

"Was [Odor] out to play baseball that day? Maybe partly," Bautista told Sports Illustrated. "Part of me also thinks that he was looking for a fight."

Bautista, who admitted that his slide was late, says he didn't intend to hurt Odor.

"I could have hit him," he said. "I could have hurt him. I chose not to. My cleats were down. I slid through the bag. Was it late? Yes, a hundred percent. But what can I do after they hit me? Should I ask my manager to let me pitch, which he is never going to let me do? Like, what am I supposed to do? Just sit there and take it?"

The owners of the New York Mets plan to make an initial payment of $16 million by Wednesday to return profits from Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

A recent revision of the original court settlement defers another $45 million owed, which should give the Wilpon family more maneuverability to operate the team and its other businesses without being cash-strapped.

The sides stipulated that the Wilpons lost $176.6 million in certain Madoff funds, while making $162 million from other funds, according to an original 2012 court settlement.

David Wright has been diagnosed with a herniated disk in his neck and his short-term availability remains in doubt.

The New York Mets third baseman has been battling through spinal stenosis in his back. The condition limited him to just 38 games in 2015. He's hitting .226/.350/.438 with seven home runs and three stolen bases over his 164 plate appearances thus far this season.

Wright said he should know more about the neck issues on Tuesday.

Matt Harvey was dominant against the Chicago White Sox on Monday, allowing just two hits in seven scoreless innings. He hit has high as 98 mph on the radar gun for the first time this season.

The New York Mets right-hander struggled through his first 10 starts and both Harvey and Terry Collins cautiously described it as just a "first step" back.

"This isn't going to really mean anything unless I continue it," said Harvey, who lowered his ERA from 6.08 to 5.37.

"I think today is a first big step," Collins said. "He feels good about the way it went. He feels good about the way he threw the ball. Now we've just got to build on it, and stay as positive as we can and have him repeat it. No matter what the results are, if he repeats this kind of performance with stuff, I think we're on the right track."

The New York Yankees have sent Luis Severino to Triple-A to regain the form he showed in a brief Major League stint last season.

Severino, who had a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts last year, has a 7.46 ERA in 2016.

It can take time for a pitcher to fully adjust to the Major Leagues, something Joe Girardi believes is hampering his young pitcher.

"This is not unusual," Girardi said. "This is not abnormal. I'll bring up a name right here we saw -- Roy Halladay. He got sent back down because he struggled. He figured it out and was pretty darn good. This is not unusual. This is part of the progress for young players."

As a 22-year-old in 1999, Halladay went 8-7 with a 3.92 ERA. In 2000, he was 4-7 with a 10.64 ERA, appearing lost.

"When you are looking at Luis, you are looking at long term," Girardi said. "Long term, we have to get things straightened out. This isn't a guy who is 34 or 35, who has a long track record. This is a kid with a lot of talent. We want, the next time he comes up, to be a finished product. He came up last year -- and some of it was based on need -- and did very well. Sometimes when you enter your second season you have to make adjustments more than you ever had to make. It is not always so easy. He'll get through this."

With a little more than a week before the Major League Baseball draft, Keith Law of ESPN has posted his second mock draft of the year.

As he did earlier this month, Law has the Philadelphia Phillies taking Florida left-hander A.J. Puk first overall. The remainder of his top five are as follows:

2. Cincinnati Reds - Kyle Lewis, OF, Mercer

3. Atlanta Braves - Jason Groome, LHP, Barnegat High School (NJ)

4. Colorado Rockies - Mickey Moniak, OF, La Costa Canyon High School (CA)

5. Milwaukee Brewers - Delvin Perez, SS, International Baseball Academy (Puerto Rico)

You can view the remainder of Law's projections here: Law's Mock Draft 2.0.

Add another accomplishment to Clayton Kershaw's growing collection, this one of a historical nature.

When the Dodgers' staff ace struck out his fifth batter Sunday night against the Mets, it gave him 100 strikeouts with just five walks. It is the first time in modern history a pitcher has reached the 100-strikeout plateau with only five walks.

Three weeks ago, the White Sox had a six-game lead in the AL Central Division. They woke up Sunday in third place, listening to cries for manager Robin Ventura's head.

Ace Chris Sale wants that talk to stop.

"I don't think he gave up any runs," Sale said. "I don't think he made any errors, and he's in the dugout the whole time. It's on us to win games. I understand people -- I'll keep it that -- want to point fingers and find blame. But at the end of the day it falls on the players. We have to find a way to turn it around. We're going to keep fighting. It will turn. We have too much morale, chemistry and too much talent. Just a rough patch."

Royals catcher Salvador Perez is expected to be out seven to 10 days with a bruised left thigh after colliding with rookie third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert while catching a foul popup on Saturday.

Perez's MRI confirmed the injury was a contusion and there was no structural damage.

"Hopefully it's not going to require a trip to the DL," Royals manager Ned Yost said Sunday. "We're hoping he'll be back in seven to 10 days. It could be earlier or later. We'll just have to wait and see and just manage it day to day."