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Kicking off a critical late-season homestand Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, a breakthrough performance from AJ Smith-Shawver on the mound or a strong performance from its star hitters could have been enough to deliver the Atlanta Braves a tone-setting win.

Unfortunately for them, they got neither of those.

An early exit from Smith-Shawver paired with the offense falling flat after a wasted chance at a big first inning doomed Atlanta to a 7-1 loss in the series opener against the Rays.

Meanwhile, three of the top four hitters in the Tampa Bay lineup each homered to lift Tampa to a win in a battle of teams from opposite leagues attempting to hold onto their respective division leads.

The first of those homers came in the first inning, a two-out solo shot from Junior Caminero.

The Braves responded in the bottom of the frame, with consecutive singles from Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson and Drake Baldwin to level the score and put runners on the corners with one out.

With a chance to potentially force Rays starter Freddy Peralta into an early exit as his first-inning pitch count rose, Atlanta got nothing more out of a bases-loaded situation as Austin Riley was rung up on an ABS-reviewed third strike which was originally called ball three.

Tampa retook the lead, for good this time, on Liam Hicks’ two-run homer in the third. They tacked on another later in the frame on a Victor Mesa Jr. RBI single, made it 5-1 in the sixth on Yandy Diaz’s RBI groundout and closed out the scoring with solo homers from Diaz and Richie Palacios in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.

Smith-Shawver (0-2) dropped his second straight start after lasting a season-low 3 1/3 innings. He surrendered four runs on five hits, striking out three and walking two. He’s now allowed three or more runs in five or fewer innings in each of his last four starts since rejoining the major league club.

Brent Suter saved the bullpen to a degree by allowing one unearned run on three hits over a season-high-tying 3 2/3 innings of work. Elieser Hernández didn’t have the same success, though, getting tagged for two runs over the final two innings.

After Peralta (8-11) struggled mightily in a 32-pitch first inning, he settled in incredibly well from there, allowing just two more baserunners, a pair of singles, on 60 pitches over his final five innings.

That carried over into the bullpen, as Kevin Kelly, Cam Sulser and Bryan Baker followed with a perfect inning apiece to close out the comfortable win.

The Braves, who had more hits in their first four at-bats of the game (three) than they had the rest of the way, were retired in 16 of their final 17 plate appearances.

The saving grace for Atlanta? The Phillies lost 6-5 at home to Houston, wasting a chance to cut into the NL East deficit.

The Braves’ division lead remains four games entering Wednesday’s second game of the series against Tampa Bay.

It turned into a nail-biter, but what a way to start a road trip! Astros 6 Phillies 5.

The fireworks started early, silencing much of the 39,262 in attendance. Daulton Varsho doubled to start things in the second. Yanier Diaz followed with a single and then Christian Walker unleashed a dinger to center field and just like that, it was 3-0. The Astros weren’t done. Cam Smith drew a walk and a double by Jeremy Pena would make it 4-0.   

That would remain the score until Cam Smith launched his 18th home run of the season. The 418 feet blast would travel 10 rows up making things 5-0. Cam has now doubled his total of a year ago in which he hit 9 homers.   

In the bottom of the sixth, Philly would finally get on the board. Justin Crawford doubled to right and came around to score on Kyle Schwarber’s RBI single. Trea Turner would then homer to left and it was 5-3. Each team would score in the 7th. Daulton Varsho would launch the Astros third home run of the night. His solo shot made things 6-3. The Phillies would get that run back. Alec Bohm doubled and he’d eventually score on a Brandon Marsh double.    

Josh Hader came on and recorded his 24th save of the season. He made things interesting allowing multiple runners to reach and Bryson Stott to score but that was as close as things got.     

Hayden Wesneski went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 3. It was Wesneski’s 5th win. The combination of Blubaugh, Sousa and Abreu would combine for a pair of innings, only allowing a run. Abreu’s stuff was borderline electric in spots building up equity as the days tick down to October.   

The Astros are now 74-71 on the season and have snapped their 2-game losing skid.         

Odds & Ends:

Josh Hader’s 21 straight scoreless appearances streak has come to an end. he has converted 24 straight save opportunities to start the season. 

Hunter Brown will take the hill Wednesday for game two tomorrow.     First pitch 5:40 pm CDT.

The Twins got on the board first, with a Josh Bell sac fly RBI. Not as many runs as they wanted considering they loaded the bases with 1 out, but a run is a run.

On the pitching side, Dean Kremer held the Tigers scoreless until the 5th inning, when Kevin McGonigle hit a go-ahead 2-run homer, putting them up 2-1. Kremer was helped by a nice double play turned by Royce Lewis in the 1st inning, who caught a line drive and threw to 2nd to get the runner out.

A.J. Minter tossed a clean 6th, but ran into trouble in the 7th. Ben Malgeri walked, then when trying to steal 2nd, Ryan Jeffers threw the ball into the outfield, allowing Malgeri to get to 3rd with no outs. Luckily, the Twins were able to escape this inning unscathed after Andrew Morris got a strikeout and a lineout to end the threat.

From there, both teams traded 0’s until the end of the game, with Jeff Hoffman getting a hold and Yoendrys Gomez a save. Not a whole lot of offense tonight, with both teams getting just 5 hits. The win brings the Twins record to 69-76, and maintains their 4.5 game deficit in the wild card race with the Guardians win tonight.

Studs:

Kody Clemens: 1-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI

Dean Kremer: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 3 K, HR

The bullpen: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 4 K

Duds:

NO DUDS TWINS WIN!

Aaron Judge made his long-awaited return from the injured list on Tuesday night in the Bronx. The Captain didn’t set the world on fire at the dish—he didn’t even get a hit—but the Bombers were still able to grab a quality victory courtesy of their young star pitcher, who has held it down on the bump all year long.

Cam Schlittler overpowered the Rockies with his signature triple-fastball repertoire, striking out 10 while walking none. The Yankee offense grabbed a few defense-assisted runs before finally putting up a crooked number on an eighth-inning home run by Heliot Ramos, who had subbed in for Judge in the seventh. The Bombers withstood a little bit of late noise by Colorado to start out their homestand with a 5-3 win.

The Rockies are far from masters of the universe, and they proved it when the Yankees grabbed a run aided by two errors on one play. It came right after Judge’s first plate appearance back from injury. Judge looked a little late on his timing, failing to square up sinkers from Gabriel Hughes and ultimately falling on strikes. Thankfully, Luis García Jr. picked him up with a base hit to left center field, which outfielder Jake McCarthy booted to allow both him and lead runner Cody Bellinger to move up a base.

Then, McCarthy’s throw back into the infield just kinda wandered past everybody in the infield and rolled to the backstop. Third base coach Luis Rojas pointed out to Bellinger that home was suddenly wide open, and Cody raced to the dish for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

Gabriel Hughes must be tired of seeing those kinds of poor defensive plays take place on his watch, but he would get a bit more help as the game progressed. First, Adael Amador would wipe away the deficit with a solo homer off Schlittler in the top of the third. Then, McCarthy made up for one of the two errors charged to him—let’s say the one which was actually his fault—with a gorgeous diving catch to rob Ben Rice of extra bases in the bottom half.

But in the fifth, they regressed again. When George Lombard Jr. slapped a seeing-eye single up the middle, the speedy shortstop was well-positioned to take advantage of more subpar defense. This one won’t go down as an error, but it was important.

Ryan McMahon hit a line drive down the right field line for extra bases, and Zac Veen prepared to field the bounce off the wall. But the ball hit the concrete underneath the padded part of the fence, causing it to keep a lot of its zip on the carom. Veen wasn’t prepared for the quick richochet that followed, and had to sprawl out to field it—giving Lombard all the time he needed to motor around third and score all the way from first base. The Yankees retook the lead, though they were unable to add on.

Schlittler, meanwhile, was characteristically cruising. After Amador’s home run, he didn’t allow another hit until McCarthy slapped an opposite-field single with two outs, giving Cole Carrigg an opportunity. The young lefty slugger unsuccessfully challenged a called strike two, then swung through more pure heat from Cam. He slammed his helmet to the ground in frustration as Schlittler picked up his ninth strikeout of the night.

Judge departed the game in the seventh inning after his third at-bat. He finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout swinging, a fly out to center, and a strikeout looking; Ramos took over in right field. It was far from a showstopping debut from Judge—but that’s baseball. For much of the night, the rest of the lineup performed the way we’ve been accustomed to seeing them: not very well.

Schlittler grabbed one last strikeout in a scoreless seventh inning to reach 10 strikeouts for the fourth time this season. He did so without issuing a single walk—which continues to be the part of Cam’s came which has impressed me more than anything else. His rookie season conditioned us all to expect a decent amount of free passes in addition to the strikeouts and dizzying stuff. Yet, he took the hill tonight with just a 6.2-percent walk rate. He faced 24 Rockies and didn’t let any of them on base for free. One more A-plus performance for Cam Schlittler, who now owns a 2.01 ERA.

At last, in the bottom of the eighth, the Bombers got the separator they were looking for.

Former Red Sox reliever Brennan Bernardino entered to try and hold the Yankees at bay, but immediately got into trouble facing the top of the order. Rice worked a walk, then Bellinger managed to dunk a drive just between the outfielders in the left-center gap for a double to put two men in scoring position for what would ordinarily be Judge’s spot in the lineup. Of course, Judge wasn’t in the game anymore—but Ramos put on a great impression, socking a hanging curveball the opposite way for a crucial three-run home run.

The last bit of intrigue in this game came in the form of two unsuccessful challenges, one by New York and one by Colorado. In this writer’s personal opinion, both calls—one in which Jazz Chisholm Jr. was called out at second on a would-be double, and one in which McCarthy was called out on a close call at first—should have been overturned. They both ‘stood’. I think Jazz in particular had a beef, and given the Rockies’ comeback effort in the ninth, it would have been nice to have that extra out to work with. (More concerningly, Jazz left the game with a thumb injury; hopefully it’s minor, but the Yankees won’t know until tomorrow.)

Tim Hill’s start to the ninth inning was orderly enough, as he grabbed the first two outs thanks in part to that second unsuccessful challenge. But he walked former Yankee farmhand TJ Rumfield to give an opportunity to the powerful catcher Hunter Goodman. Goodman didn’t need to get too much of Hill’s 1-1 offering to hit it over the short porch in right for a two-run homer which made the gap a little narrower.

Thankfully, David Bednar entered and struck out Mickey Moniak on three pitches to put this thing to bed. Nice and orderly, and it counts as a save for Bednar.

With that victory, the Yankees have clinched their 34th consecutive winning season. It may not be a championship, but that streak remains extremely impressive, the second-longest in MLB history.

Tomorrow night, Will Warren will lead the Yanks out onto the field as they look for a series win against veteran righty Tomoyuki Sugano, the certified unc of the Rockies pitching staff. First pitch is once again set for 7:05 pm with coverage on YES.

Box Score

After a one-day reprieve, the Orioles were back to their losing ways today. Starter Brandon Young had his worst start of the season, failing to complete four innings. The offense attempted a comeback, but it was too little, too late. And the bullpen wasn’t able to keep the Guardians’ offense in check. In the end, another sloppy loss, which is the team’s seventh in the last eight games.

Before tonight, Guardians starter Tanner Bibee had the lowest run support in baseball at 2.90 runs per game. So naturally, tonight, the Guardians gave him a ton of support. They scored six runs in their first three innings tonight to push his run support up to 3.12 runs per game. He no longer has the lowest run support in baseball; Shane Baz now holds that honor.

Young gave up one run in the first inning after Steven Kwan led off with a double. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a single by Jo Adell. But Young struck out Nathaniel Lowe to end the inning. Unfortunately, more trouble was to come in the second.

The first batter of the second inning, Angel Martínez, is credited with hitting a triple to right field. The ball got past a diving Pete Alonso just inside the foul line. Leody Taveras misplayed the carom off the fence. The ball bounced away from him as it hit off the wall in foul territory. He chased it down inefficiently as it ended up near the base of the out-of-town scoreboard. Martínez landed easily at third. I mean, honestly.

Patrick Bailey immediately singled Martínez in, then Petey Halprin singled behind him. All of these hits went to Taveras in right field. Young almost got out of it with just one run. Brayan Rocchio bunted for the first out. Steven Kwan grounded to second base and Jackson Holliday fired home to get the runner. Then Young battled Travis Bazzana for nine pitches. The ninth pitch was a fastball in the middle of the plate. Bazzana didn’t miss. His 11th home run of the year landed in the Eutaw Street seats, just clearing the wall.

Young walked Lowe in the third inning. He came in to score on singles from Martínez and Halpin. It felt like the game had barely started, and already the Orioles were in a big hole.

Young didn’t get out of the fourth inning. He did get two outs, but he also walked a batter, threw a wild pitch, and hit a guy. Not great. Grant Wolfram came on in relief and got the final out. Young’s final pitching line: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 2 K.

While all that was going on, it felt like the Orioles’ offense had gone back into its slumber. But it stirred in the bottom of the fourth inning. Holliday doubled and Pete Alonso singled him over to third. After Gunnar Henderson grounded into a fielder’s choice that erased Alonso, Coby Mayo walked to load the bases. It was a big opportunity for Samuel Basallo. He didn’t completely blow it, but he sort of blew it. He chopped a ground ball to first base. Lowe touched first for the out and Holliday scored. Dylan Beavers lined out to end the inning.

The bottom of the fifth inning was more exciting. Blaze Alexander led off with a double, then scored on a double by Taveras. Holliday got his second hit of the night, a funky single that bounced weirdly after being deflected by the first baseman Martínez. The hit knocked in Taveras.

Alonso made it a one-run game in the next at-bat. His 34th home run of the year landed in the Bird Bath to make the score 6-5. The homer gave him his 96th and 97th RBI, which is tops in the AL and fourth in baseball.

The home run drove Bibee from the game, and Tim Herrin retired Henderson and Mayo. The Orioles didn’t score again.

Wolfram pitched a scoreless fifth inning, and Luis De León had a nice sixth. He gave up a leadoff single, but induced a double play and faced just three batters.

Things went south in the seventh, with a little bad pitching and a little bad fielding (luck?). Alex Hoppe, who hadn’t allowed a run in 13 games since joining the Orioles, finally cracked. José Ramírez lined a single to center field, then Hoppe walked Adell. He struck out Lowe, then Martínez hit what looked like it might be an inning-ending double play.

Alonso fielded the ball and fired to second base. But the ball hit Adell in the helmet! It bounced into the outfield as Ramírez scored and Adell moved to third base. Martínez was safe at first. Hoppe got the second out, but walked Halpin to load the bases. Rocchio singled in two runs to make the score 9-5 and end Hoppe’s night.

Those three runs were frustrating, but in the end didn’t matter as the Orioles failed to record a hit against four Guardians’ relievers over the final 4.2 innings.

There were some strange goings on with the Orioles at the end of the game. In the eighth inning, Henderson fouled a ball off his leg. The trainers came out to check on him, but he finished his at-bat with a walk and took his base. But after a groundout from Mayo, Henderson was clearly in pain running the bases. He was removed for pinch hitter Carlos Narváez. If you think that’s a weird choice for a pinch hitter, how do you feel about him being a second baseman?

In the top of the ninth, Holliday moved over to shortstop, and Narváez took over at second. The backup catcher! Christian Encarnacion-Strand replaced Blaze Alexander, who was having back spasms. So…ok. Narváez did not have any plays in the inning.

Orioles lose, 9-5. They are back to four games out of the Wild Card, now with 16 games to play.

Going into today’s game the Guardians were 17 wins from clinching the playoffs and 18 games from being eliminated. Every single game is a must win, a fact that is becoming obvious on the field.

A.L. Playoff Magic Numbers
(clinch/eliminated)

After games on Sept 7th

4/33 #Rays
8/29 #Yankees
10/26 #RedSox
14/23 #WhiteSox
16/21 #Astros
17/18 #Guardians
18/17 #BlueJays
19/17 #Rangers
21/15 #Orioles
23/14 #Twins
24/13 #Mariners
25/11 #Tigers
27/9 #Royals
33/3 #Athletics

— MLB Magic Numbers ⚾️ (@MLBMagNum) September 8, 2026

The Guardians took a quick lead in the top of the first with a lead off double from Steven Kwan and a two out single from Jo Adell for the first run. In the top of the second, Angel Martínez led off the inning with a triple to right.

Patty Bailey singled to right to score Angel. A single from Petey Halpin put two runners on and both runners moved over on Brayan Rocchio’s sac bunt, but Steven Kwan hit into a fielder’s choice that got Bailey out at home. With two outs, Travis Bazzana hit a long fly ball to right center for a three run home run to give Cleveland a 5-0 lead.

With two outs and two runners on in the top of the third, Petey Halpin singled on a grounder to right to score Nathaniel Lowe.

Tanner Bibee was looking like he might have one of his best starts of the season going into the fifth. At that point, Bibee had only allowed one run and was sitting pretty pitch count wise. Unfortunately in the bottom of the fifth things quickly fell apart. Bibee finished the night having only thrown 62 pitches in 4.1 innings of work. Bibee allowed 5 runs on six hist and one walk, he only struck out one.

Tim Herrin came on to finish the fifth and pitch into the sixth, marking the start of a dominant bullpen outing. Herrin ended the night not allowing a baserunner in 1.1 innings of work, striking out two. Craig Yoho pitched 1.1 innings, following the same stats as Herrin and giving the offense a chance to recoup.

In the top of the seventh, José Ramírez singled to center to lead off the inning. Jo Adell drew a walk and proved unintentionally pivotal in the next play. Angel Martínez hit into an easy fielder’s choice, but Pete Alonso committed a throwing error by throwing the ball directly into the back of Jo Adell’s helmet. This error allowed Angel to reach first, Adell to advance to third, and José to score.

A sac bunt from Bailey moved Angel to second, but Petey drew a walk to load the bases. Brayan Rocchio has returned to prime September/October form. Rocchio, with two outs and bases loaded, worked an eight pitch at bat. The final pitch was a 101 mph fastball about belt high that Rocchio lobbed into center field, scoring two runners.

With the lead fully reestablished, Hunter Gaddis came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth. He gave up a walk to Gunnar Henderson, but got out of the inning quickly. Small defensive note, Angel Genao replaced Travis Bazzana at second. According to the broadcast, it doesn’t seem like a move based on injury, but a defensive move. Cade Smith came on in the bottom of the ninth, needing the work. Which was made more obvious by the amount of balls thrown by the closer. Cade allowed two base runners via a hit by pitch and a walk, but got the three outs to book it on the Baltimore Orioles.

Aaron Judge's first at-bat back lasted five pitches and ended in a strikeout. Nobody in Yankee Stadium seemed to care.

Judge, who missed 84 games with a fractured rib, went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his return to the New York Yankees on Tuesday, Sept. 8. He played six innings in the field as part of the Yankees' plan to ease him back into the game after he declined to do a minor-league rehab assignment.

After walking to the plate to a standing ovation, Judge struck out swinging in his first at-bat. He flew out to center field in the bottom of the fourth and was called out on strikes in the sixth.

The Yankees beat the Colorado Rockies 5-3 in the opener of a three-game series with the NL West cellar dwellers before a subway series against the New York Mets, beginning Friday, Sept. 11.

Why Aaron Judge missed 84 games

Judge said the injury traced back to a diving play in Houston in late April. He played through rib and shoulder discomfort for about a month before it finally shut him down May 31. He was hitting .248 through 59 games at the time – a career worst – with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs.

He's still not all the way back. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters before Tuesday night's game that Judge will be eased back, pulled from some games early while he works up to nine innings. He also will not play every day.

The Yankees went into Tuesday 81-62, four games behind Tampa Bay in the American League East and two up on Boston for the top wild card spot. They host the Rays Sept. 22-24 for a series that could decided the division.

The Yankees without Judge

In the 84 games Judge missed, the Yankees scored 4.06 runs a game and hit .227 as a team with a .681 OPS. With him in the lineup for 59 games, they averaged 5.17 runs and hit .243 with a .770 OPS. Basically, that's the difference between an average offense and one of the best lineups in the league.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Judge returns to Yankees lineup after missing 99 days with injury

The Dodgers try to match their best winning streak of the year tonight against the Reds.

Tonight's #Dodgers starters vs. Cincinnati: pic.twitter.com/p8c207zCjA

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) September 8, 2026

Tuesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Reds
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Yankees defeated the Rockies 5-3 on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game set in the Bronx.

Here are some takeaways...

-- New York received a massive boost with Aaron Judge returning from the IL. The captain showed some rust after missing three months, though, as he struck out twice (swinging in the first, looking in the sixth) sandwiched between a flyout to center leading off the fourth.  

Judge took three at-bats and logged six innings in RF as the Yanks play it safe building him up. 

-- The Yankees were able to take advantage of some shoddy Rockies defense early. Cody Bellinger got things started, scoring the first run of the night after Jake McCarthy booted a routine two-out single, turning it into a Luis Garcia Jr. little league triple instead. 

-- Cam Schlittler took kindly to being handed the early lead, striking out four of the first six batters he faced. Schlittler served up a solo homer leading off the third, but settled right back into cruise control, retiring the next nine Rockies in order through the top of the fifth. 

-- The Yankee offense responded by getting Schlittler back in front. After Gabriel Hughes kept them at bay into the bottom-half of the fifth, Ryan McMahon lined an RBI double down the left-field line, bringing George Lombard Jr. around from first to make it a 2-1 ballgame. 

-- Schlittler retired the first two Rockies in the sixth, before his streak was ended at 11 with a two-out single. The right-hander struck out the very next batter on a fastball out of the zone, then finished his night working around a leadoff hit in the seventh. He inched closer to the AL Cy Young, allowing just the one run on three hits while striking out 10.

-- Brent Headrick followed him up with a scoreless eighth, then the Yanks tacked on some insurance in the bottom-half. After coming off the bench in place of Judge, Heliot Ramos lifted a three-run homer into the bullpen in right-center to make it a 5-1 ballgame.   

-- Those runs proved to be some big ones, as Tim Hill served up an opposite-field two-run homer to Hunter Goodman before handing the ball over to David Bednar, who needed just three pitches to get the final out and secure the victory with his 32nd save of the season. 

-- The Yankees had a bit of a scare in the ninth too, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. was forced to leave the game after an awkward slide into second base in the previous inning. Chisholm remained in but was replaced by Jose Caballero following a tag play at second. 

Game MVP: Cam Schlittler

The right-hander held his opponent to one run or fewer for the 20th time this season. 

Highlights

The Yankees get on the board on a Little League triple! pic.twitter.com/0ADKMzfzcu

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 8, 2026

An RBI double for Ryan McMahon gets the lead back for the Yankees pic.twitter.com/arzc7Br2IB

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 9, 2026

THREE-RUN HOMER HELIOT RAMOS! pic.twitter.com/ZPdDwhKFUx

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 9, 2026

What's next

The Yanks and Rockies continue their series Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. in the Bronx.

Will Warren (9-6, 4.16 ERA) takes the mound against Tomoyuki Sugano (12-8, 5.19 ERA). 

The Mets won against the Marlins despite Sean Manaea’s pitching implosion in the sixth inning. The offense attacked early against Sandy Alcantara, and Manaea pitched well for the first five innings. The bullpen held up their end for the most part, and the result was a final score of Mets 7, Marlins 5.

Francisco Lindor led off the first inning by hammering a home run over center field on the first pitch he saw from Alcantara. Juan Soto and Bo Bichette walked after that, and Soto scored when Jared Young tapped a single into center field. By the time A.J. Ewing grounded out for the third out, the Mets led 2-0. Manaea worked a 1-2-3, 4-pitch first inning thanks in part to the work of Ewing and Carson Benge in the outfield.

At the top of the second inning, Francisco Alvarez lined a single into left field. He moved to second when Lindor was hit by a pitch on the elbow. Soto then whacked a 3-run dinger into center field to increase the Mets’ lead. Benge walked, and when he tried to steal second base, he was initially deemed caught and called out. However, the Mets challenged the call, which was overturned, and Benge was safe at second base. Unfortunately, he was stranded there to end the top of the inning. It took a few more pitches this time, but Manaea retired the batters in order in the bottom of the second inning, and the score stood at Mets 5, Marlins 0.

With two outs in the top of the third inning, Brett Baty walloped his own home run into center field. At the bottom of the inning, Lindor laid out to take a hit away from Jakob Marsee and get the first out. Thanks in part to this play, Manaea again retired the batters in order. Other than a double from Soto in the fourth inning, both Mets and Marlins hitters stayed quiet. At the top of the fifth inning, Jared Young walked, and with one out, Ewing lined a double into right field. At this point, Tyler Zuber replaced Alcantara on the mound. After that, Baty drove in Young on a sac fly. As Manaea continued to stifle the Marlins’ offense in the bottom of the fifth, the score was now Mets 7, Marlins 0.

Dax Fulton replaced Tyler Zuber in the sixth inning. After the Mets batters went down in order in the top of the sixth inning, Manaea struggled in the bottom of the inning. Marsee led off with a single into left field and advanced to second base on an error by Baty, who bobbled the ball when trying to pick it up. Jared Serna then smacked an RBI double into center field to score Marsee. Brian Navarreto lined an RBI double into left field past Baty to score Serna, and Heriberto Hernández singled to advance Navarreto to third. Otto Lopez hit an RBI single that brought Navarreto in and sent Manaea out. Jonathan Pintaro replaced Manaea after only 61 pitches., There were no outs recorded yet in the sixth inning. Pintaro got Agustín Ramírez to ground into a double play for the first two outs. Unfortunately, Javier Sanoja also socked an RBI single into center field, and Otto Lopez scored. A.J. Ewing tried to throw the ball home, but his throw was high and offline, and Sanoja advanced to third base. Griffin Conine popped out to Alvarez in foul territory to end the inning, but the score now stood Mets 7, Marlins 4.

Benge walked to lead off the top of the seventh, but the Mets offense could not get anything else going, and he was stranded. Nate Lavender replaced Pintaro in the bottom of the seventh inning. He allowed a single to Marsee and a double to Serna, but stranded them both to maintain both the Mets’ lead and his impressive ERA. The Mets batters went down in order in the top of the eighth inning, and Dedniel Núñez replaced Lavender in the bottom of the inning. He retired the batters in order to move into the ninth inning.

Jack Ralston replaced Fulton on the mound, but had pitch-com issues before being able to start. With one out, Bichette lined a single into right field, and Nick Morabito came in to pinch-run for him. Morabito advanced to second base on a wild pitch by Ralston, but Benge struck out, and Young grounded out to strand him there. Kodai Senga replaced Núñez in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, a kerfuffle during Joe Mack’s at-bat did not prevent him from belting a ground-rule double into right-center field. Jakob Marsee bashed an RBI-double into left field that allowed Mack to score. However, Senga struck out the next two batters using only the ghost fork, and the game ended with a Mets win, Mets 7, Marlins 5.

The Mets will look to sweep the series tomorrow at 6:40 PM. Robert Stock will pitch for the Mets, and Janson Junk will pitch for the Marlins.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

Fangraphs

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Juan Soto, +19% WPA
Big Mets loser: Marcus Semien, -6% WPA
Mets pitchers: +20% WPA
Mets hitters: +30% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s 3-run home run, +15.8%
Teh sux0rest play: Jared Serna’s 7th inning double, -10.4% WPA

The Mets took the second game of their three-game set with the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night, 7-5, to win the series and will go for a sweep on Wednesday night.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- New York’s offense wasted no time getting to Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara with Francisco Lindor swinging at the first pitch of the game and sending it over the center field wall for a leadoff home run, his 17th of the season.

Jared Young, back in the starting lineup after two days off with a sore foot, added an RBI single later in the inning to give the Mets a 2-0 advantage.

-- New York was at it again in the second inning with Francisco Alvarez (single) and Lindor (HBP) reaching base in front of Juan Soto who walked his first time up. This time, Soto took a play out of Lindor’s playbook and swung at the first pitch by Alcantara and sent it 417 feet to center field for a three-run bomb that put the Mets ahead, 5-0.

-- An inning later, Brett Baty joined the fun and crushed a solo homer to center field that traveled 426 feet. The home run not only extended New York’s lead, but it extended Baty’s extra-base hit streak as he now has one in five straight games.

The home run was also Baty’s 10th of the season, giving the Mets 10 players with double-digit home runs this year. Baty also added a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

-- In the meantime, while his offense was taking it to Alcantara, Sean Manaea was cruising past Miami’s lineup, retiring the first 15 batters in a row with four strikeouts on just 52 pitches.

The real test for Manaea came in the sixth inning where the left-hander has struggled all year and things came crashing down for him once again. 

-- First, the perfect game was broken with a bloop single by Jakob Marsee who reached second base on Baty’s error. Then the shutout was gone after Jared Serna doubled to bring home a run. Brian Navarreto immediately followed with another well-struck double that cut the Mets’ lead to 7-2 and brought out a visit from pitching coach Justin Willard.

Willard’s words seemed to have no effect on Manaea who allowed a single to Heriberto Hernandez and then a run-scoring single to Otto Lopez that chased him out of the game after five straight hits in the sixth.

-- Jonathan Pintaro entered to try and put out the fire and managed to get a double play for the first two outs of the game, but a single by Javier Sanoja drove in another run and closed the book on Manaea who allowed four earned runs on five hits in 5+ innings while throwing 61 pitches (45 strikes).

Eventually Pintaro closed out the inning and the rest of New York’s bullpen stood strong. Nate Lavender worked around two hits in the seventh to keep his scoreless streak (14 IP) to start his career alive and Dedniel Nunez had a perfect eighth to set it up for Kodai Senga in the ninth.

The new closer wobbled a bit in his inning, allowing a run on two hits, but he struck out the final two batters of the game and earned his seventh save in seven chances.

Game MVP: Nate Lavender

The rookie left-hander had to battle in his inning, but was able to get out of trouble with the tying run at the plate.

Highlights

FIRST PITCH HOMER FOR FRANCISCO LINDOR! pic.twitter.com/cYYvKOdwjR

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 8, 2026

Welcome back to the lineup Jared Young!

He gets an RBI single to make it 2-0 Mets in the first pic.twitter.com/CIRq7pEmpv

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 8, 2026

A four-pitch first inning for Sean Manaea pic.twitter.com/tdGHJqomlS

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 8, 2026

Juan Soto's turn to go deep!

5-0 Mets! pic.twitter.com/3qImODDrLU

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 8, 2026

Make it a five-game extra-base hit streak for Brett Baty!

The Mets' third home run of the night! pic.twitter.com/316XrTUL9p

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 8, 2026

Francisco Lindor with the diving stop! pic.twitter.com/KBB0fvHYy0

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 8, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Marlins close out their series on Wednesday night with first pitch set for 6:40 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Robert Stock (1-3, 5.81 ERA) goes against RHP Janson Junk (6-9, 4.00 ERA).

Welp, the Cincinnati Reds get to face off against 2x Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal tonight!

Nick Lodolo gets the start for the Redlegs as they take on the Los Angeles Dodgers out west with a brutal 10:10 PM ET start time.

Here’s how both clubs will line up to start:

Here’s something I said back in April:

This is something I wrote several times last year, when the Mariners bounced between impossibly hot and impossibly cold stretches. If there’s anything we know about the organization, it’s that they’re generally aiming for between 85-90 wins, and that they’ve yet to miss either high or low. The only thing that’s been consistently true about the Mariners in this era is that they’re a “good” team — nothing more, and nothing less.

If the Mariners lose today, however, they won’t be able to win 85 games in 2026. A loss to the Rangers on Tuesday would mean they will have officially fallen short of even the lowest threshold for a “good” season. Is today the day they begin (or continue) one of the great stretches in franchise history, to uphold the fundamental premise of my “going for good” theory? Or are they about to enter a new era, where seasons are no longer scripted, and anything is possible?

Bryce Miller is on the mound tonight, making his second since being moved to the bullpen. He never actually pitched in relief after the decision because Emerson Hancock quickly landed on the injured list and Miller returned to the rotation. But Dan Wilson pulled him pretty early in his last start, implying the team does still see Miller as a not-quite starter. We’ll see if that’s still the case on Tuesday.

Lineups

News

• Hoby Milner is back from the family emergency medical leave list. He replaces Troy Taylor on the active roster.
• Victor Robles is also back from the family emergency medical leave list. He replaces Stuart Fairchild on the active roster.
• Emerson Hancock threw from flat ground Tuesday afternoon and is likely to throw a bullpen later this week. Once he does, the team will make a decision on his status for the remainder of 2026.

Game Info

First Pitch: 6:40pm

TV: Mariners TV

Radio: Old Reliable