The Oklahoma City Comets allowed seven runs in the sixth inning, breaking a tie in stunning fashion in a road loss to the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres).

Player of the day

Oklahoma City was first on the board with five runs in the third inning, including a three-run home run by James Tibbs III, who was designated to hit and did just that on Saturday.

Tibbs this season was already the first player in the Pacific Coast League with at least 100 runs, 100 RBI, and 100 walks since Greg Brock, Dodgers first base prospect for Albuquerque in 1982. This home run on Saturday was Tibbs’ 30th of the season, second-most in the PCL.

Ryan Fitzgerald, playing third base on Saturday, had three hits and drove in his 101st run of the season. His 171 hits are the most by an Oklahoma City player in the team’s Bricktown rra (since 1998).

Shortstop Noah Miller started the scoring with a two-run home run in the third inning, his second start in a row with a home run.

Transactions

Mike Sirota, yet another Dodgers minor league outfielder ranked among the top 100 prospects in baseball, started the season in High-A Great Lakes, was promoted to Tulsa in May and put up a stunning .450 on-base percentage in Double-A. With the Drillers season over he was promoted to Oklahoma City on Friday and played in his first Triple-A game on Saturday, and batted third, playing right field.

Sirota on Saturday doubled after he walked three times, giving him 100 on the season between the three levels. After the second walk, in the fifth inning, Sirota scored his 100th run of the season. He has played 107 games.

Sirota is the seventh Dodgers minor leaguer to score 100 runs this season, along with Zach Ehrhard (118 runs with Oklahoma City), Tibbs (109), Eduardo Quintero (108 runs for Great Lakes and Tulsa), Josue De Paula (106 runs with Tulsa, not counting his six runs so far with the Dodgers), Midwest League MVP Charles Davalan (103), and Mairo Martinus (103 with Ontario and Great Lakes).

Tibbs (108) and Sirota (100) are the only Dodgers minor leaguers with triple-digit walks this season.

With one day to go in the regular season, Sirota’s overall .463 OBP in 497 plate appearances is third-highest in the minor leagues among batters with at least 300 PA.

Saturday score

El Paso 14, Oklahoma City 8

Sunday schedule

11:05 a.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Ryder Ryan) at El Paso (Ian Koenig)

It’s official. In the historic rivalry between the Giants and the Dodgers (or Bridegrooms, or Superbas, or Dodgers, or Robins, or back to the Dodgers again), spanning a continent, two cities, nearly 140 years, the Dodgers are back ahead: 1,293 wins to the Giants’ 1,292.

After building a sizable lead during the New York era, the Giants have seen their lead dwindle over the decades in California. This most recent era has obviously been lopsided towards LA, and it’s possible, after ending the 2025 season in a dead-lock (1287 – 1287), that 2026 could be the first season since 1895 to end with the Dodgers leading in overall head-to-head wins.

So, if we’re leaning into the dramatics of this clash, was Saturday’s 10-4 loss the 21st century hinge-point? The moment in which the balance shifts, with our Giants stuck on history’s down-slope, increasingly left in the dust, huffing and puffing after a vanishing point on the horizon that is the Dodger machine?

For LA fans, this interpretation is not only attractive, it just makes sense. This era of 13 division titles, back-to-back championships, a roster stuffed with future Hall of Famers certainly feels like a pinnacle, the culmination of a century-long project. How could you not believe that history has a direction? And if that truly is the case for us Giants fans, it’s somewhat laughable that after all these years, our beloved club’s final fingernails, desperately holding onto rivalry relevance, was made, quite unsuccessfully, by a 24-year old scrap reliever, Philip Abner. 

Yup, the man who’s name you learned on Friday when he was shelled for four home runs in the 8th inning of Friday’s loss was somewhat surprisingly called on to take the mound again in another fraught scenario. And just as he did in Friday’s loss, a ballgame became a bust when Abner was introduced to it.

With two outs in the bottom of the 5th, the Giants and Dodgers were knotted at four runs a piece. The San Francisco offense had done their part against Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.

Victor Bericoto, in his return from the IL, reached base three times against the lefty. His 2-run homer — a no-doubter to dead center — lifted the Giants back into the game in the 3rd. He led off the 5th with an opposite field double and knotted the game back up at four runs apiece on Jung Hoo Lee’s double.

San Francisco had kept pace with a Dodgers offense, led by a 4-for-4 night by Mookie Betts, into the 5th. LA had scored in each one of their frames against starter Yunior Marte, but that pattern looked primed to end after Max Muncy grounded into a double play.  The young right-hander had the bases-empty and two outs in the 5th, but couldn’t find a way to get the third. Teoscar Hernandez kept the inning going with an opposite field single. Marte walked Kyle Tucker next, and with his pitch count nearing triple-digits, Tony Vitello decided to go to his bullpen. 

There was certainly an argument for pulling Marte at that point. Command of the zone was clearly waning. Bagging that third out and closing out a frame had been a challenge all evening. When more grit and a finer touch on his pitches was needed, Marte acquiesced to his opponents. 

With two outs and Betts on third, Marte served up a 2-strike fastball right over the heart of the plate for Muncy to rip for an RBI double. Another fastball was served up to Betts with two outs and two runners on in the 2nd. He again allowed number-9 hitter Alex Freeland reach base with two outs in the 4th before hanging a slider to Betts, who doubled the runner home from first.

Marte’s night was certainly done, but it was a bit surprising that Vitello went to Abner to help close out the inning. Abner was really the only southpaw available, and Vitello wanted the left-on-left advantage against Josue De Paula, so much so that he played deaf to the echoes of those home runs still bouncing around Chavez Ravine. 

The first pitch Abner — a spiked curveball — allowed both runners to advance. Down early in the count, he couldn’t get De Paula to chase after elevated fastballs. Five pitches into his outing, the bases were loaded. Five more pitches, and the tie was broken. Behind in the count, Tommy Edman got another fastball and dropped it into shallow left for a two-run single. A pitch later Miguel Rojas punched in one more run and would’ve brought in another if not for Turner Hill’s perfect assist throw to the plate. 

LA went 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position (compared to SF’s 2-for-12), logging six two-out RBIs. The three runs scored on Abner’s watch (two attributed to Marte, and one unearned for the lefty for some ticky-tack reason) proved to be the burst of energy needed for the Dodgers to edge out in front and never look back.

The question is, now with the head-to-head rivalry record in their favor,  will they ever look back?   

Hello everyone and happy Sunday!

The Mariners dropped another stinker in a 5-3 loss to the Rockies yesterday as the team failed to take advantage of a solid outing from Bryce Miller. The M’s will look to secure the series win today with first pitch coming at 12:10pm PT.

In Mariners news…

• Adam Jude at The Seattle Times reports that manager Dan Wilson is unlikely to return to the club in 2027.
• In the latest episode of the Meet at the Mitt podcast, the crew began to look back on the 2026 season as a whole and tried to figure out how the team may approach this offseason. (Spotify link; Apple link)

Around the league…

• Giants first baseman Bryce Eldridge was placed in concussion protocol after he bumped his head on a low archway at the team hotel in Los Angeles.
• Despite recent speculation, Hall of Famer Carlos Beltrán says he has no interest in taking the Mets’ managerial job next year.
• Federal prosecutors have identified 18 potentially rigged pitches as the focus of their illegal gambling case against Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase.
• The Brewers matched a franchise record yesterday with their 97th win of the season.

On the next to last day of the minor league season the Atlanta Braves brought Davis Polo up to Triple-A to make his debut for the Stripers. After getting injured during the 2024 season, forcing him to miss the 2025 season, Polo opened the season and spent the majority of 2026 there – but his rapid rise over the last month has now seen the 21-year-old reach the level directly below the big leagues as he has hit every level of full season ball this year.

Gwinnett Stripers 2, Indianapolis Indians 1

Box Score

Statcast

• Rowdy Tellez, 1B: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .267/.355/.466
• David McCabe, DH: 1-3, BB, .287/.337/.483
• Patrick Clohisy, CF: 0-3, BB, R, SB, .345/.427/.493
• Davis Polo, SP: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA

Davis Polo didn’t just make his Triple-A debut on Saturday night, he shut out a solid Indianapolis lineup through six innings of work. Polo allowed just four hits and a pair of walks as he struck out three and whiffed 11. In total he needed just 84 pitches to get through six, with 50 of them coming as strikes. Polo didn’t rack up the strikeouts the way we’ve been accustomed to seeing this year, as he was pitching to contact more than his normal rate (9.5 K/9 or above at each of his other three stops this year) – however he was missing bats at a solid rate in his toughest test yet with three Indians having big league experience. Polo got five whiffs on 11 swings with his changeup, three whiffs on five swings on his cutter, two on five swings with the slider, and one on 12 swings with his fastball. Only the sinker failed to record a whiff, despite drawing 10 swings on the night. Polo looked quite comfortable with the new challenge, and was throwing harder in his final two innings of work than he did at the beginning of the night – which could be partly due to the game getting a late start due to weather.

Once Polo finished for the night, Rolddy Munoz pitched a scoreless seventh inning. The recently promoted Luis Vargas came in to start the eighth, but didn’t have his command and allowed the lone run on a pair of walks in just a third of an inning. Bailey Falter got the final two outs in the eighth and the first out in the ninth, before giving way to Blake Burkhalter to pick up the save by recording the final two outs. Combined the four pitchers allowed the one run on five hits and four walks with nine strikeouts and 19 whiffs.

The Stripers didn’t have much offense in this one, managing two runs on four hits and three walks. In fact this game was still scoreless in the bottom of the sixth when Rowdy Tellez came up to the plate with a pair of runners on and hit a ground rule double that accounted for all of the Stripers scoring as Luke Williams and Patrick Clohisy came around to score. Williams and Brett Wisely joined Tellez in picking up a double, while the final hit came as a David McCabe single. McCabe also walked in the win, as did Clohisy and Chuckie Robinson.

After the offense brought out some power to secure a series win Saturday and the Phillies struggling a bit, the Braves have a chance to secure the division title with a win or a Phillies’ loss on Sunday. Martin Perez will take the mound for Atlanta, with Hunter Brown his counterpart for Houston.

Perez continues to be a functional innings-eater this season, with a spectacular (and lucky) ERA of 3.07. At this point his job is pretty much done for the season, though he will likely make one more start after this one. The goal at this point is to prevent the Braves from nuking their bullpen heading into the playoffs. It seems extraordinarily unlikely that Perez would be called upon to make a start in the playoffs, though not impossible, given the massive questions around the Braves’ rotation behind Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle. For Martin, give the team 5-6 innings today and if you win it’s a bonus.

Hunter Brown is a tough customer on the other side, as a strong 2/3 starter for years now. He’s got strong strikeout and ground ball rates, but his walked have jumped this season up to 4.55 batters per 9 innings, lowering his overall effectiveness. Brown makes it work off the back of his fastball, featuring mid/upper 90s velocity, high-end extension, and a high release point that gives his four-seamer and sinker exceptional rise. Those two pitches consist of 60% of his mix with the knuckle curveball as his preferred secondary and a slider and changeup mixed in. Brown has really good stuff and the Braves will likely have to beat him by being patient. If they let Brown get some easy outs and keep his pitch-count low, it could be a long night for Atlanta.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Sunday, September 20, 2:10 p.m. ET

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: BravesVision

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, Los Bravos

Ethan Salas will get the headlines and rightfully so after the 20-year-old recorded his first-career walk-off hit to lead the San Diego Padres to a 7-6 win in 10 innings over the Miami Marlins at Petco Park on Saturday night. Jake Cronenworth started the inning on second base as the free runner and Salas got his chance to be the hero after Cronenworth advanced to third base on a wild pitch and Sung-Mun Song struck out for the first out of the inning. Salas was called on to pinch-hit and delivered the game-winning RBI-single on an 0-2 fastball down in the zone. He was able to ground the ball past the Miami reliever and through a drawn in infield to push the Padres ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Wild Card race.

Before Salas got the opportunity to win the game, David Morgan, who was credited with the win, saved the game. The right-hander was called on to pitch the top of the 10th inning after Mason Miller allowed a game-tying home run to pinch hitter Griffin Conine in the top of the ninth inning. Miller got past the home run and completed his outing, but it appeared like a wasted opportunity for one of the best closers in baseball.

Morgan took the ball in the top of the 10th inning with the go-ahead run on second base. He struck out the first two Marlins he faced before an intentional walk put Miami runners at first and second base. Morgan then faced Heriberto Hernandez and got him to line-out to Jackson Merrill in center field after two borderline pinpoint pitches that just missed the plate to end the inning. Miami was unable to advance the runner, let alone, get him home to take the lead.

It was another dismal start for Casey Mize in a Padres uniform. The deadline addition lasted just three innings and allowed five runs on five hits with five walks and two strikeouts. The game turned into an unexpected bullpen game where six different pitchers were needed to cover the final innings. Miller was the only San Diego reliever to allow a run and that was off the solo home run by Conine.

San Diego will look to complete the sweep of Miami today when the teams meet at 1:10 p.m.

Padres News:

• The Padres have been on a run during the second half of the season, and that success has been sparked by the improved play and production of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill.

• Miguel Andujar seems to be finding his stroke as a collected two more hits in his latest rehab appearance.

Baseball News:

• The Texas Rangers jumped into first place in the AL West with a win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

• The Arizona Diamondbacks kept their postseason hopes alive with a walk-off win over the New York Yankees.

• Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a go-ahead grand slam to lead the Atlanta Braves over the Houston Astros.

• The Tampa Bay Rays got a walk-off win over the Boston Red Sox.

• The bullpen helped the Chicago Cubs hold off the Cincinnati Reds en route to a win.

• Carson Benge passed Pete Alonso for the most hits by a rookie in team history when the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies.