MLB news: Red Sox keep streaking, Ian Desmond has a big night, Matt Cain headed for DL, Shin-Soo Choo admits mistake

The Red Sox’s playoff hopes remain slim, but after winning their fifth straight game Monday, they are making things interesting in the AL East.

Perhaps most importantly, the club’s offense is beginning to heat up after a miserable first half, as the Red Sox crushed the Blue Jays, 14-1.

Boston belted four home runs and recorded 18 hits against Toronto pitching, with David Ortiz hitting two long balls. The home runs were No. 452 and 453 of Ortiz’s career, putting him one ahead of Carl Yastrzemski and into second place on the franchise’s all-time home run list.

Monday’s win marked the second time in their last five games that the Red Sox scored more than 10 runs, a feat they hadn’t accomplished once in their first 94 games, according to the Providence Journal’s Brian MacPherson. With the club’s rotation still among the AL’s best, it is fair to wonder if the Red Sox can sneak back into the AL East race if their offense can stay hot.

Rockies pitchers couldn’t get Ian Desmond out Monday night, as the shortstop went 5-for-5 with a home run, two RBI, and three runs scored in Washington’s 7-2 win.

Desmond’s homer opened the scoring in the fourth inning, putting the Nationals up 2-0 before they tacked on two more runs in the inning. That is all the support right-hander Doug Fister would need against the Rockies. Fister held Colorado to two runs over 5.2 innings and lowered his ERA to 2.92 in the process.

As for Desmond, the shortstop raised his line on the season to .253/.302/.445, while belting his 17th homer of 2014.

With the win, Washington took a one-game lead over the Braves, who fell to the Marlins in extra innings, atop the NL East. If Desmond can heat up at the plate for the Nationals, he would be a big boost for the club’s playoff aspirations.

After receiving a cortisone shot prior to the All-Star break, Matt Cain still felt soreness in his right elbow, forcing the Giants to place the right-hander on the 15-day DL on Monday afternoon, according to Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com.

San Francisco received some good news when an MRI revealed that Cain has no tear in his ulnar collateral ligament. Even so, the Giants are unsure how long Cain will be shelved, with the 29-year-old still experiencing discomfort in his arm when he played catch over the weekend.

Cain has long been one of MLB’s most durable starters, pitching at least 200 innings in every season from 2007 to 2012 before throwing 184 in 2013. Although Cain has struggled over the past two seasons and is on pace to post a career-worst ERA, the righty’s injury comes at a bad time for the Giants, who are in the thick of a divisional race with the Dodgers out west.

The Giants will shift veteran Yusmeiro Petit into the rotation with Cain out. Petit has a 3.86 ERA and 3.05 FIP over 26 appearances (five of them starts) in 2014. In his career as a starter, he’s compiled a 5.01 ERA over 255 innings pitched.

Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo admitted to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News on Monday that he was too aggressive in trying to return from an ankle injury he initially suffered in April.

Choo sat out 10 days at the time, but didn’t go on the DL, and his ankle has remained sore throughout the summer. The Rangers will move Choo to right field over the next few days in hopes that it will help reduce the stress on his ankle.

The 32-year-old Choo has had a tough campaign after signing a seven-year, $130 million contract with Texas in the offseason. After batting .285/.423/.462 with 21 home runs in 2013, his production has dropped considerably, with the Korean native hitting .236/.354/.367 with nine home runs this season.

There is little doubt Choo’s nagging ankle injury has affected his performance, and injuries on the whole have doomed the Rangers, who possess the worst record in baseball.