The Atlanta Braves have called up right-handed pitching prospect AJ Smith-Shawver.

At 20 years and 191 days old, Smith-Shawver would be the youngest pitcher to appear in a game for the Braves since Julio Teheran in 2011.

Smith-Shawver was a seventh-round draft pick in 2021.

Diamond Sports Group has decided not to pay the San Diego Padres their latest rights fee, a decision that will revert the club's broadcasting rights to Major League Baseball and establish precedent for a rapidly evolving landscape.

Diamond, the Sinclair subsidiary that operates under the name Bally Sports, skipped its payment to the Padres a couple of weeks ago and had until the end of its grace period on Tuesday to maintain their long-term agreement. 

Choosing not to meant Tuesday's game against the Miami Marlins was the last Padres game under the Bally Sports umbrella. Moving forward -- starting Wednesday, continuing through the end of the season and resuming in perpetuity -- MLB will air Padres games through its streaming service and on different cable channels.

MLB will provide Padres games through its MLB.TV app for free through Sunday. After that, in-market fans can continue to stream games for $19.99 a month or $74.99 for the rest of the regular season on MLB.com and Padres.com (postseason games air on national platforms).

Anthony Bass has issued a public apology one day after sharing a video on social media that endorses anti-LGBTQIA+ boycotts.

The Toronto Blue Jays reliever shared a video on his Instagram stories Monday that called for viewers to boycott Target and Bud Light because of those companies' recent promotion of LGBTQIA+ Pride campaigns.

"I recognize yesterday I made a post that was hurtful to the Pride community, which includes friends of mine and close family members of mine. I am truly sorry for that," Bass said in a brief statement. "I just spoke with my teammates and shared with them my actions yesterday. I apologized with them, and as of right now I am using the Blue Jays' resources to better educate myself to make better decisions moving forward.

"The ballpark is for everybody. We include all fans at the ballpark. We want to welcome everybody. That's all I have to say."

John Schneider said Bass apologized to him and general manager Ross Atkins when he arrived at the ballpark Tuesday. Schneider suggested Bass speak to the team.

Schneider said Bass' post "doesn't represent our overall feelings as an organization," while the Blue Jays said in a statement to the Toronto Star that "individual player sentiments are not representative of the club's beliefs."

Clayton Kershaw disagrees with the Los Angeles Dodgers' decision to welcome an LGBTQIA+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the club's annual Pride Night.

Kershaw told the Los Angeles Times that the team's decision to honor the group after it rescinded its original invitation prompted him to approach the Dodgers about expediting the announcement that the team was bringing back Christian Faith and Family Day later this season.

"I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up," Kershaw said. "Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence [by the Dodgers]."

Kershaw, who has been with the organization since being drafted in 2006, said his issues were with the Sisters and not the LGBTQIA+ community.

"This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or Pride or anything like that," said Kershaw, who held a players-only meeting in the clubhouse before Monday's game. "This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don't agree with."

The Dodgers rescinded their original invitation to the Sisters on May 17 after receiving backlash from some conservative Roman Catholics and politicians, including Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who accused the group of mocking nuns and the Christian faith.

The Baltimore Orioles placed center fielder Cedric Mullins on the 10-day injured list Tuesday and replaced him on the roster with former New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks.

The Orioles announced the signing of Hicks and activated him for Tuesday night's home game against the Cleveland Guardians.

The Houston Astros' Twitter account poked fun at the Oakland Athletics' low attendance numbers during Sunday's contest.

Following a solo home run by Yordan Alvarez in the ninth inning, the Astros tweeted "10 runs in front of tens of fans," which was accompanied by a video of Alvarez's home run.

The tweet has since been removed from the Astros account.

The A's attendance has been the worst in baseball this season as they're averaging 8,887 fans per game. No other team is averaging less than 12,000 fans per contest. 

The St. Louis Cardinals entered Tuesday's action at 24-32, but that doesn't mean they've given up on the season.

John Mozeliak said the club is preparing to make additions at the trade deadline, and "I don't anticipate us [selling] at all. I think ... where our division is headed, it's going to remain very competitive. So really we're going to be looking at ways that can really help this club."

The Cardinals are just 5.5 games out of first place in the National League Central, and five games back in the wild card race.

Nevada lawmakers questioned whether a proposal to subsidize a new Major League stadium with tax credits and bonds would further boost Las Vegas' economy, or simply serve as a handout that would strain resources.

In a committee hearing on Monday, the Republican governor's chief of staff and the Democratic treasurer both said it would provide tax revenue and well-paying jobs while further aiding Las Vegas' transformation into a sports city.

However, lawmakers questioned whether an A's stadium on the site of the Tropicana Las Vegas would be worth it. 

The meeting was likely the only before a vote on the proposal to help fund the Oakland A's potential stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.

"Regular citizens see us having a conversation and a discussion around funding a stadium," said state Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas). "Yet, we don't have enough revenue to fund and give a 20% (salary) increase to teachers."

Liam Hendriks allowed two runs on three hits and a walk in one inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, his first outing since recovering from non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Hendriks, 34, got several standing ovations, both before he took the mound and when he entered the game in the top of the eighth inning.

"It was definitely emotional," Hendriks said after the Chicago White Sox's 6-4 loss. "It was humbling going out there and seeing the amount of people wearing my shirts, the amount of people having signs or flags or anything like that -- the amount of people that were chanting when I came into the game."

Hendriks threw 27 pitches, giving up runs on a sacrifice fly by Zach Neto and an infield single by Mike Trout. He eventually got Shohei Ohtani to ground out to end the inning, his first since Oct. 3.

He kept his first pitch of the inning as a keepsake.

"The outpouring of love, not only online and on social media, but in person, has been huge and I want to thank the city of Chicago for embracing us in this way," Hendriks said.

The reliever was diagnosed with cancer in December, going public with the news in early January. His goal was to come back without being placed on the 60 day injured list. He accomplished that.

Mike Soroka took the mound for the Atlanta Braves on Monday night for the first time since suffering two separate tears to his right Achilles tendon.

Soroka pitched six innings in the Braves' 7-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

"Today was a big one," he said, "a day like today and the people that believed in me. I always said I was going to be back here for the people that believed in me, not the ones that said I couldn't."

Soroka was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett to start on Memorial Day -- a whopping 1,030 days between outings for the Braves' 2020 Opening Day starter. He allowed four runs on five hits, struck out three and walked two. 

"When I think about how long ago it really was, to be honest with you, we can even go back to 2019 because there was nobody in the stands in 2020 so it didn't really feel like big league baseball that year," Soroka said.