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The New York Mets’ struggles against the Miami Marlins continued Saturday afternoon in a 4-1 loss, as the Mets couldn’t get anything going against Miami’s starting pitcher Max Meyer.

Meyer pitched seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and gave up just one hit as the Mets failed to get a runner into scoring position against the right-hander. Meyer is in the midst of a breakout year, recording his fourth scoreless outing of the season, and New York is 2-8 in their last 10 games against Miami.

The Mets’ lone run came with two outs in the ninth inning when Tyrone Taylor hit a pinch-hit double, followed by an RBI single from Mark Vientos. Taylor’s double represented the first runner in scoring position for the Mets since the ninth inning of Thursday’s 2-1 win against the Nationals.

The Mets had Freddy Peralta on the bump to start the game, but he was unable to match Meyer’s dominance despite getting an extra day of rest entering the game. Peralta gave up two solo home runs to Marlins cleanup hitter Liam Hicks, while completing a season-high seven innings to go with a season-high nine strikeouts. Ultimately, Peralta was let down by an offense that has recorded two runs and six hits in its last two games.

Peralta got through the first inning on six pitches, but ran into trouble in the second. He walked Jakob Marsee on four pitches, then gave up a single to Connor Norby. Juan Soto threw to third base rather than to the cutoff man in a failed attempt to throw out Marsee, allowing Norby to advance to second. Owen Caissie immediately made the Mets pay for the mistake when he knocked in a two-run single. Entering the game, batters had gone 3 for 43 with RISP against Peralta before Caissie’s RBI hit.

In the bottom of the third inning, Hicks hit his first solo home run to put the Marlins up 3-0. Otto Lopez followed up with a double, but Peralta retired Kyle Stowers and Marsee to end the threat.

The Marlins put more pressure on Peralta with a two-out rally in the fourth inning. Graham Pauley singled, Joe Mack walked, then Xavier Edwards hit a slow groundball towards first base that Vientos bobbled. Unable to get Edwards out at first base, he threw home to get Pauley out by a considerable margin.

Hicks hit his second homer in the fifth to cap the scoring. Peralta gave up one hit total in the sixth and seventh innings before being relieved by Jonathan Pintaro in the eighth. Pintaro earned a 1-2-3 inning in his second career appearance in the Majors.

The Mets had a base runner in each of the first four innings, but never got traction against Meyer. Juan Soto earned a two-out walk, but Brett Baty struck out to end the first. Vientos snapped a 0-for-10 streak with a softly hit single to lead off the second inning, but Marcus Semien eventually ground into a double play to cancel out the Mets’ only hit against Meyer. Luis Torrens and Brett Baty were stranded after drawing walks in the third and fourth innings, respectively.

Baty hit cleanup for the 13th time in his career and went 0 for 2 with a walk and two strikeouts. The rookie outfield duo of Carson Benge and AJ Ewing each had three strikeouts. Soto and Bo Bichette combined to go 0 for 7 with a walk and a strikeout. MJ Melendez got the start at DH despite having a .242 OPS since May 8, going 0 for 3 with a strikeout.

The Mets look to avoid the sweep on Sunday at 1:40 PM EDT.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Mark Vientos, +3% WPA
Big Mets loser: Freddy Peralta, -15% WPA
Mets pitchers: -15% WPA
Mets hitters: -35% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos single in the second, +3.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Own Caissie double in the second, +12% WPA

The Milwaukee Brewers are looking to keep their four-game winning streak alive and secure a series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night.

The Crew took care of business on Friday with Logan Henderson on the mound, and now they’ll try to do it again with another young starter in Robert Gasser. Gasser is making his second start of the season with the big league club. He last pitched against the Twins and allowed two earned runs over four innings.

On the mound for the Dodgers is right-hander Roki Sasaki. Sasaki has a 5.09 ERA on the season. He’s a talented pitcher, but very young and still has a lot of development ahead of him. He’s likely a starter long-term, but spent time in the Dodgers’ bullpen last season, primarily in the playoffs. Sasaki has been exclusively starting this season and is coming off his best start yet, going seven innings and allowing just one run against the Angels.

William Contreras is getting a scheduled day off today, according to Pat Murphy. He homered in Friday night’s win and has been on a hot streak at the plate. Andrew Vaughn jumps into the three-hole in the order with Gary Sánchez batting fifth and catching. Garrett Mitchell is out of the lineup once again, as Murphy is giving him an extra day to make sure he’s recovered from the sore back that he’s been dealing with. Mitchell is available to pinch-hit later in the game if needed.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers will continue to roll out their trio of future Hall of Famers atop their lineup with Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman. Kyle Tucker drops to sixth in the lineup.

This is going to be a big test for Robert Gasser as he tries to prove he should stay in this rotation.

First pitch is at 6:15 p.m., and this one will be nationally televised on FOX. You can also listen in on the Brewers Radio Network.

To national television we go.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Brewers
• Ballpark: American Family Field, Milwaukee
• Time: 4:15 p.m. PT
• TV: Fox
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

In today’s game thread, I wrote that Stephen Kolek’s second-best career start probably came against the Mariners last September, and we might need him to do even better if they were going to win today. As it turned out, they probably didn’t need him to be quite that good, but he absolutely was anyway.

Things got started fast for the Royals today. Stephen Kolek retired the Mariners in order on 10 pitches to start the game. Then, on the second pitch he saw, Maikel Garcia tattooed a line drive into the left-center gap for a leadoff double. Bobby Witt Jr. got an infield single that sent Maikel to third, and then Maikel scored on a groundball from Vinnie Pasquantino that was only ever likely to be worth one out, but became none when J.P. Crawford couldn’t hang on to Cole Young’s glove flip at second.

Salvador Perez came to the plate, and Bobby and Vinnie each took off on the first pitch, successfully swiping their bags and giving the Royals second and third with no one out. This is where you’d expect the Royals to completely choke, and it looked like that’s exactly what was going to happen. Salvy grounded to the pitcher, though George Kirby could only deflect it to Crawford. Crawford still managed to throw Sal out because he’s so dang slow. Then Carter Jensen hit a soft roller to first, and when Josh Naylor realized he was going to have to run to the bag for the out, Bobby took off and scored.

Sure, that gave the Royals two runs, but getting two straight weak outs after putting runners at second and third didn’t feel good. Fortunately, Jac Caglianone came through with a single to right that scored Vinnie from second, and the Royals had a three-run lead. That was when it finally felt like maybe things could go their way today.

Bobby scored again in the third when Carter hit a shallow fly to left-center and Randy Arozerena couldn’t get the throw home quite quickly enough. They scored their final run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a single from Carter, a groundout by Jac that advanced Jensen to second, and a solid single to center from Isaac Collins.

But Kolek will be the talk of today’s game as he pitched the first complete game shutout by a Royals pitcher since Brad Keller in 2020. Despite the fact that he got only two strikeouts on the day, and none until the eighth inning, Kolek made it look easy.

As you can see, this was far from what we’ve come to expect from dominant pitching performances in 2026. He wasn’t necessarily in the strike zone very often, he didn’t get an excessive amount of chase, and the whiff% is frankly abysmal. But the Mariners couldn’t square him up at all; they had four hits all day, and three of those were from Luke Raley. Even one of Raley’s hits was an infield single. Thanks to his pitch efficiency, the inability of the Mariners to do anything with his pitches, and some slick infield defense that turned a pair of double plays on the day, Kolek faced only two batters over the minimum in this one. That is just absolutely wild.

This game was the first in a while for a lot of different things:

• As noted earlier, this was the first CGSO for a Royals pitcher since Brad Keller on September 13, 2020.
• It was the Royals’ first complete game with any number of runs scored since Seth Lugo got the White Sox on July 21, 2024.
• It was Kolek’s second career CGSO; he also got one against the Rockies in Coors Field while pitching for the Padres on May 10, 2025. He allowed 5 hits and 2 walks in that one, but did get 7 strikeouts, so it’s up to you which one was more impressive.
• It was the first time the Royals had scored more than three runs in a game since last Friday, May 15.
• It was the first time the Royals had a three-run inning since May 13.
• It was the first time the Royals won a game by more than 2 runs since May 9.
• It was the first time the Royals had a three-run first inning since May 1 against Bryan Woo and the Mariners.
• It was the best the Royals have looked on the field since at least May 13 and probably more like May 9
• Unfortunately, it did not end the Hawaiian Bros Curse, as the Royals still haven’t scored six runs in a game since May 4

Today’s win gives the Royals a victory in the season series regardless of tomorrow’s outcome, giving them a tiebreaker should it somehow matter by the time the season comes to an end. It would be really cool if this win was something of a turning point for the Royals. If so, hopefully we’ll see more evidence of it in a victory tomorrow to win their first series since the Detroit series two weeks ago.

Tomorrow’s game will air on Royals.TV at 1:10 p.m. Central time. Seth Lugo (3.68 ERA) will face Bryan Woo (3.51 ERA) in the rubber match. Woo has been one of the better pitchers in the AL this year, but the Royals got to him in Seattle to start the month. It would be fun to do it again.

After a memorable game 1 where the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Cincinnati Reds 8-1, the second game of the doubleheader is scheduled to get underway at 6:15pm central time in Great American Ball Park as the Cardinals will send Kyle Leahy (5-3, 3.94 ERA, 34 SO) to the mound while the Reds will rely on the arm of Chase Petty (0-0, 4.76 ERA, 1 SO). Game 2 will be watchable on Fox during a national broadcast.

Washington Nationals right-hander Jake Irvin held the Atlanta Braves hitless through five innings Saturday before leaving with an apparent injury at Truist Park, putting his health in question.

After the game, Nationals manager Blake Butera told reporters that Irvin felt something in the back of his shoulder or lat area during the game. Butera says Irvin will have an MRI Sunday. Irvin told his manager this was something he has felt before.

Irvin was dominant through the first five innings, striking out seven and walking just one over 80 pitches against one of the National League's most dangerous lineups.

Then, after walking out to the mound and trying to warm up for the bottom of the sixth inning, Irvin departed with a trainer.

Brad Lord entered in relief with the no-hit bid still intact, but gave up a single to Michael Harris in the bottom of the seventh. That was the only hit the Nationals' staff allowed in the game.

The Mets' bats stayed dormant, mustering just three hits in their 4-1 loss to the Marlins in Miami on Saturday afternoon.

Mark Vientos picked up a squib hit (64.2 mph off the bat) in the second inning, but wouldn't get another until the ninth. New York worked three walks as a team, and Vientos was hit by a pitch and was the only Mets batter to get on base twice. 

Even the red-hot Juan Soto (0-3, BB) was held hitless as the Mets (22-30) lost back-to-back games and are 2-4 on the current seven-game road trip.

Here are the takeaways...

- Unlike in the series opener, the Marlins would get on the board first against Freddy Peralta. Back-to-back one-out singles in the second inning put runners on second and third -- thanks to an ill-advised throw bySoto -- before Owen Cassie lined a double past a diving Vientos to drive in the first two runs of the game. 

Liam Hicks launched a 389-foot blast, just past the outstretched glove of Carson Benge, to give Miami a 3-0 lead. It wouldn't get much better for Peralta in the fourth as the Marlins got two men on base with two outs. Xavier Edwards hit a slow grounder to Vientos at first, but the young infielder couldn't make the shovel pass to Peralta covering, allowing Edwards to reach, but fortunately for the Mets, Vientos threw out Graham Pauley at the plate trying to score from second. 

In the fifth, Hicks would get to Peralta again, leading off with his 11th homer of the season to put Miami up 4-0. It's Hicks' first career multi-homer game.

- To Peralta's credit, he grinded into the seventh inning. After allowing a leadoff single, he struck out Edwards, got Hicks to fly out and Otto Lopez to strike out to get through seven innings for the first time as a Met. 

The veteran right-hander gave the Mets what he had on extra rest, throwing a season-high 108 pitches (67 strikes). He finished allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out a season-high nine batters. 

- Max Meyer, on the other hand, had no issue with the Mets, who are in the midst of a major offensive slump. After scoring just one run on three hits in Friday's loss, Meyer pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. 

- Even with Meyer out, the Mets bats stayed dormant. Anthony Bender struck out three batters in his 1.1 innings of work. Tyrone Taylor hit a two-out, pinch-hit double in the ninth against Andrew Nardi to give the Mets their second hit of the game. Vientos followed with a hit to drive home Taylor and break up the shutout, but then A.J. Ewing grounded out to end the game.

- Jonathan Pintaro, called up on Saturday, pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning on just 12 pitches. 

Game MVP: Max Meyer

Meyer matched his longest outing of the season and kept the Mets off balance with his vast arsenal of pitches.

Highlights

Mark Vientos can't make the play at first but recovers to throw out Graham Pauley trying to score pic.twitter.com/YUAbGgcQ4m

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 23, 2026

Mark Vientos gets the Mets on the board pic.twitter.com/iCL7Y18aKw

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 23, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Marlins complete their three-game series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:40 p.m.

Christian Scott (0-0, 4.12 ERA) will take the mound for New York. Miami has yet to announce its starter.

The Mariners did not score, and they did not win.

The Mariners dropped game two of their series in Kansas City on Saturday by a score of 4-0. They collected just four hits — three from Luke Raley — and drew one walk, allowing Stephen Kolek to work through all nine innings with ease. The few chances they had ended with bad base running. George Kirby was fine but had a bit of a paper cut problem, with the Royals finding every nook and cranny on the infield grass to score. The Mariners fell to 25-28.

Kirby’s had a bit of a weird season to do date, striking out batters at a career low while walking batters at a career high. He’s gotten by with tons of grounders, which is why his xERA entering the day was an impressive 3.21. Still, the result of that approach has been a mix.

We saw the downside of balls in play — even grounders — right from the jump. Maikel Garcia led off the game with a low sinking liner that snaked its way into the outfield gap for a double. Then began a sequence of five weak grounders, none of which left the infield and all of which helped the Royals. The speedy Bobby Witt Jr. hit a weak chopper to no man’s land at third, and beat the throw to first, moving Garcia up. Vinnie Pasquantino hit a weak chopper to second that took Cole Young to his right, but his flip to second was awkward and not in time, scoring a run. Witt and Pasquantino stole second and third. Salvador Perez then hit a weak chopper back at Kirby, who reached for the ball over his head, deflecting it to J.P. Crawford, who got the first out of the inning. Carter Jensen then hit a hard grounder to Josh Naylor at first, who had to range his right and then race back to first, getting the second out and allowing a run to score. Jac Caglianone singled in a third run on a grounder into the outfield. A strikeout would end the inning at 3-0.

That’s a mouthful. Basically, the Royals hit 5 1/2 grounders, four of which never left the infield, and it resulted in three runs. That inning is case in point for why strikeouts are so coveted: Even great contact suppression can result in minor meltdowns. And while it wasn’t bad defense so much as just perfectly placed BABIP, a grounder-first approach isn’t ideal in front of the Mariners’ bottom ranked infield defense.

Things got more normal from there for Kirby, but not quite better. The Royals got a couple legit singles in the second and a sac fly to make the game 4-0. They got a couple legit singles in the sixth to make it 5-0. He finished the day after six with three strikeouts, no walks, nine hits (including eight singles), and a 50% groundball rate. That’s pretty much in line with his season to this point.

The Mariners were bad on offense. Again, they managed just four hits and couldn’t score. They sent the minimum to the plate in all but one inning, allowing Kolek to cruise through nine innings unbothered. They did have a couple opportunities to score, but base running mistakes cut those threats short.

With one out in the second, Luke Raley beat out an infield single (he was initially called out but was clearly safe after review). Cole Young singled him to third. Dominic Canzone then hit a sharp grounder right to Pasquantino, who was literally standing on the bag while holding the runner at first. Pasquantino stepped on the base and threw home in one motion, getting Raley in a pickle, eventually ending in a 3-2-5 double play.

Raley led off the fifth with a single. Young traded places with him on a fielder’s choice. After a Canzone fly out, Young tried to make it all the way to third on a passed ball. He was thrown out to end the inning.

That was it. They’ll go for a series win Sunday.

Royals 5, Mariners 0

Good: Luke Raley, +.07 WPA

Bad: George Kirby, -.22 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

The Yankees saw another lead vanish in Friday’s loss to Tampa Bay, highlighting perhaps the team’s biggest need as trade season approaches.

Their three main acquisitions to the bullpen from last year have been part of the problem this season.

Camilo Doval has already given up as many homers — four — in 20 innings as he did all of last season in 65 ¹/₃.

Jake Bird has battled inconsistency but has been better recently, pitching effectively in his last 10 appearances, covering 7 ¹/₃ innings.  

And then there’s David Bednar, who has struggled keeping runners off the bases — and from scoring.

Of 200 qualified relievers, only 19 have a higher WHIP than Bednar, who’s pitched into some bad luck, but has also seen his strikeout rate dip from his career-best a year ago.

Last week, pitching coach Matt Blake said Bednar’s fastball command had been off, but he’d been impressed with the right-hander’s splitter and he’d look to use it more.

In Friday’s loss, marred by Tim Hill’s worst outing of the season out of the pen, Bednar did go to his split-fingered fastball with greater frequency and it helped him allow just one baserunner in a scoreless ninth.

They’ll target more prominent names as they get closer to the deadline — and also have some internal candidates.

In addition to Carlos Lagrange — still in the rotation at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre — and perhaps lefty Ryan Weathers if the rotation is healthy when Max Fried returns from a left elbow bone bruise, the Yankees could look at right-hander Eric Reyzelman, who tossed two scoreless innings in his first outing for SWB on Friday.

The 24-year-old was just promoted from Double-A Somerset.

And they signed right-hander Peter Strzelecki to a minor league contract Saturday, as first reported by The Post’s Jon Heyman.

Strzelecki, 31, last pitched in the majors with Cleveland in 2024, but was selected to Milwaukee’s active roster last week and designated for assignment without getting into a game.

He struck out 20 in 19 ¹/₃ innings over 16 appearances with Triple-A Nashville this season and will head to SWB.