Braves acquire Blue Jays shortstop Gonzalez

The NL East-leading Atlanta Braves, looking to bolster their lineup for the second half of the season, acquired Alex Gonzalez in a swap of shortstops that sent Yunel Escobar to Toronto Wednesday.

The Braves also traded lefthander Jo-Jo Reyes to the Blue Jays in the five-player deal and added lefthanded minor league pitcher Tim Collins and minor league shortstop Tyler Pastornicky.

Gonzalez, 33, is hitting .259 with 17 homers and 50 RBIs. He is tied for fifth in the American League with 43 extra-base hits.

"He's an outstanding defensive shortstop and he's having a very good offensive season," Braves general manager Frank Wren said. "We think he can improve our run production. He immediately leads our team in home runs."

Escobar hit .299 with career-best totals of 14 homers and 76 RBIs last season. He has struggled this year, hitting only .238 with no homers and 19 RBIs.

Harper Golden

Number one draft choice Bryce Harper has won the Golden Spikes Award, given to the country's top amateur baseball player.

Harper hit a school-record 31 home runs and batted .443 with 98 RBIs as a freshman at the College of Southern Nevada. The 17-year-old slugger left high school two years early and enrolled in junior college to become draft eligible sooner. The Nationals picked him first.- AP

Game lowest-rated

The 81st All-Star Game Tuesday night was the lowest-rated on record, attracting only 7.5 percent of homes on Fox. The game averaged 11.7 million viewers.

Fox was hurt by an 8.6 rating for the Los Angeles area, far below the norm for a host city. St. Louis led the All-Star ratings for the fourth year in a row with 20.5 percent of homes.