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That was less than fun.

We’ve done well on bullpen days, but the problem with bullpen days is if it doesn’t go to plan, you can’t really change on the fly. If a pitcher is having a bad day, you really have to use him anyway. Especially if it is the ‘bulk guy’. You can’t have nine guys pitch an inning each, someone has to give you at least a couple of innings, but preferably more.

Today, Michael Lorenzen was to be the bulk guy but he was hit hard. But the team couldn’t take him out after just two outs. Lorenzen got two quick outs, getting a strikeout and a ground out. All looked good. Then he lost the zone. Two walks. And then a double. Then a home run. Four runs came up very quickly. He gave up one more run in the fifth.

Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how was the show?

Well, Braydon Fisher got the first four outs, Brendan Cellucci got the next five (he looked terrific). All the Braydons, Brendans, Brendons remind me of when my kids played hockey, I could swear there were 20 kids and four names total.

Spencer Arrighetti gave up 2 unearned runs helped along by catcher’s interference and a throwing error, both by Kirk in his two innings. Since Lorenzen couldn’t give us more than two innings, Arrighetti was needed to pitch too (and he is supposed to start or be bulk guy on Friday. Joe Mantiply gave up two more runs in the ninth.

I’d imagine there will be a pitcher move or two tomorrow.

Offensively, we didn’t do much, just 6 singles total. Amazingly we got a run out of that. As much as Lorenzen was terrible, we weren’t going to win with just one run scored.

An=bout the only good moment was an amazing play by Ernie Clement at second base, a diving stop, popup and throw.

Jay of the Day: Let’s give one to Cellucci (0.08 WPA) and Fisher (0.07).

Other Award: Lorenzen (-0.39) and Kirk (-0.10)

Tomorrow is a 3:00 Eastern start. Max Scherzer (2-8, 6.38) vs Keider Montero (9-8, 3.55). A win would be nice. Or at least a good effort.

Have you ever had to fire someone?

I haven’t. I’ve yet to climb the employment ladder high enough to where someone else’s paycheck is in my hands, which is bad news for my bank account and great news for my constitution. I’m not sure I have it in me.

Once, for about 45 seconds, I harbored dreams of working in a professional sports front office, as it seemed the closest I would ever get to seeing my childhood athletic dreams materialized. Then I watched Moneyball, and saw Brad Pitt’s character teach Jonah Hill how to cut players and that dream ended on the spot. I’m not made for that job.

Buster Posey, we can conclude, is comfortable firing people, trading people, and cutting people. It comes with the job, but we knew it before he was named president of baseball operations of the San Francisco Giants. I would shake plum out of my cleats if asked to stand in against the slowest changeup in the Majors, yet Posey repeatedly stared down the barrel of triple-digit fastballs; were I to play in the pros, I would have retired on the spot after getting hit by a pitch, but Posey took them — and much worse — in stride.

That Posey has a stronger constitution than I do is hardly news. We’ve known it for nearly two decades.

Which is good, because Posey — or the Jonah Hills that he delegates to — have a lot of difficult conversations to have in about two weeks. The Giants have an almost unfathomable 16 players on the 60-man roster, a number that is compounded by the fact that they have just one impending free agent (J.T. Brubaker).

Pull out your TI 84, beep and boop a few numbers in, and you’re left with this: the Giants need to clear 15 players when the season ends just to get back to 40. By the time you factor in opening space for Rule 5 protections, free agents, and hell, maybe even a waiver claim of their own, and that number will comfortably be in the 20s.

Those aren’t fun conversations to have, but they are ones that are, as regulated by the CBA, mandatory. And they’re conversations that will, at some level, be informed by what happens over the final two weeks of the season.

And really, that’s what’s left to watch. The Giants roster right now is teeming with people who will be waiting anxiously to be tapped on the shoulder when they arrive at the ballpark at the conclusion of the season to pack up their gear. Those players are auditioning for their futures, and while one shouldn’t exactly find glee in watching someone dance for their life, it does offer some interesting storylines to follow.

Many of those players shined on Tuesday, as the Giants broke a four-game losing streak with a lopsided 10-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

There was shortstop Christian Koss, for instance, desperate to stick around as the backup infielder. He had a three-hit night, which featured perhaps the defining moment of the game. With two on and two out in the third, Koss came to bat with the Giants leading 5-1. That four-run advantage so early hung right in the perilous sweet spot: small enough to seemingly guarantee a bullpen implosion, and large enough to ensure it would hurt.

Koss jumped on an Andre Pallante sinker and inside-outed it down the line, seemingly tucking it right inside the bag for a double. To the great horror of everyone wearing a Giants jersey, the first base umpire — who had to jump to avoid being castrated by the baseball and, as such, probably didn’t have the best view — called the ball foul, with no help from the home plate umpire to get the call correct.

And yet, two pitches later, again facing a Pallante single, Koss again inside-outed it down the line, scoring both runs and giving you the feeling that the Giants would, in fact, win the game.

And then there was second baseman and third baseman Osleivis Basabe, also hoping to avoid the chopping block and stay on as a backup infielder. He squandered a pair of runner-on-third, less-than-two-outs situations in the opening innings, only to make up for it in the fourth with a two-out RBI single.

Left fielder Turner Hill seems likely to have his spot secured through the winter, but difficult decisions will need to be made, good players will need to be cut, and Hill entered the game on quite a slump, as he seeks to seperate himself from the roughly three trillion other outfielders vying for spots on next year’s roster.

As if to stamp his case, Hill wasted no time impacting this game, and wasted no opportunity, either. In the first inning, after Basabe had failed in a situational at-bat, Hill picked up his teammate with a two-out RBI single.

In the third inning, again after Basabe had failed in a situational at-bat, Hill found the right part of the infield for a productive, run-scoring out.

And in the ninth inning? With the game already decided and the team already loose and happy, Turner realized it was the perfect time for his first career home run.

Along the way, he snuck in not one, not two, but three leaping catches in the outfield.

While those players are battling not just for spots on next year’s active roster, but for spots on the 40-man roster through the winter, some players have more secure spots.

Blade Tidwell is one such player, as his performance this year has certainly guaranteed that, barring a trade, he’ll be employed by the organization come March, be it as a Major League starter, a Major League reliever, or a Minor Leaguer.

He was sensational.

The third batter he faced, Alec Burleson, smoked a monstrous home run, but other than that, the Cardinals wanted no part of the Giants youngster. He pounded the strike zone, throwing 62 of 95 pitches for strikes. He challenged repeatedly, walking just one of the 25 batters he faced, while trusting his stuff in every count. He kept hitters off balance, changing velocities, bouncing between pitches and movements and locations, and allowing just three hits all game.

In all, Tidwell went 6.2 strong innings, struck out four batters, gave up just two runs, and earned his first win in a Giants jersey.

One other such player is Bryce Eldridge. He may be the youngest player on the roster, but with so many veterans injured, he somehow feels like the elder statesman of the lineup. And with Rafael Devers sidelined, there can be no denying Eldridge’s crown as the best hitter on the team, by a wide margin.

But, if you had any doubts about that, Eldridge immediately put them to rest. On just the eighth pitch of the game, Eldridge — with Drew Gilbert on first, no outs, and a 2-1 count — put the kind of charge into a baseball that very, very, very few humans can.

It was the 17th home run of his rookie season, and it traveled further than any other ball at Busch Stadium has this year: 461 feet.

Eldridge would add a fourth-inning walk to jumpstart a rally, and an eighth-inning double to score a run, and all the while he made one thing clear: he is now, as much as Logan Webb is, the face of the franchise. He is the player to build around.

And in a season where all else has gone to hell, he is the player worth being excited about.

The Mariners are officially losers in 2026.

Logan Gilbert was pretty good, but the offense was nonexistent, and the Mariners lost 2-1 in Anaheim on Tuesday. It was the 82nd loss of the season, meaning they will officially post a losing record for the first time since 2020.

Logan Gilbert got the ball. He embarrassed Zach Neto to begin the game, getting a nasty whiff on a splitter below the zone that dropped Neto to his knees for a K.

Gilbert had good velocity and sharp stuff in this one. He picked up seven strikeouts on 18 whiffs. He worked around a bit of traffic early but got through four innings scoreless. It didn’t quite unravel for Gilbert from there, but the Angels eventually figured him out on the third pass through the lineup. In the fifth inning, Wade Meckler roped a single up the middle and scored on a double from Vaughn Grissom. In the sixth, Josh Lowe turned on a two-strike splitter that caught too much of the zone and zipped it over the fence. Those were the only two runs Gilbert allowed. 

It just so happened they were the only two runs the Angels would need. The Mariners picked up just seven hits and no walks. Their only run came on a triple from Dom Canzone that Mike Trout misplayed in center, followed by a sharp double into the gap from Julio. It wasn’t the worst display at the plate this year, but only because of the competition.

I don’t know how much else there is to say. Seranthony Domínguez was fine in an inning of work, as was Gabe Speier. Taylor Saucedo pitched for the Angels, and that was fun to see him again. Cal Raleigh wore a chest protector with Roberto Clemente on it, and several players wore 21 in his honor. Honestly, as far as losses go, this one wasn’t so bad, and made me nostalgic for the losses in the early part of the season, when the misery was simple and brief.

The Mariners with the loss dropped the series to the Angels. There was a time this would have been an unthinkable result in the final stretch, much like dropping consecutive series to the A’s earlier in the month. But the Mariners entered the week as the very worst team in the majors by WAR since the All-Star break, nearly 4 WAR behind the Angels in 26th. It would have been something of an upset had they gone into The Big A and taken the series. One could even argue the Mariners are underdogs in the upcoming trip to Colorado, though I’ll be kind and call it a push.

Regardless, the Mariners easy September schedule looked like a gift in the preseason, something that could propel them to an impressive win total and a second consecutive division title. Instead, it’s served to underscore just how bad this team has been over the final few months. Tuesday’s loss was all but a formality, to stamp a losing record on the 2026 season. All that’s left is the end.

Is it really a series in Cleveland if at least one of the games does not give you a punch in the gut? Despite falling behind early in the game due to back-to-back jacks in the bottom of the first, the White Sox fought back until they were able to take the lead in the sixth and actually get in position to secure the series. Through two outs in the ninth, Grant Taylor had the Guardians down to their last strike, but Brayan Rocchio struck once again and mashed a walk-off, two-run double that won the game for Cleveland, 7-6.

There’s probably a lot of things you can blame this game on: Will Venable deciding to go with an opener for one of his most reliable starting pitchers this season, said opener giving up two straight homers, an unearned run caused by Davis Martin himself, Munetaka Murakami’s inability to make contact with the ball, or the inconsistencies that seem come with many recent Taylor outings. Whatever you choose, the Guardians wound up with the win, and the South Siders are right back where they were before the series started, still holding a half-game lead in the division race.

It feels easy to point at the choice Venable made to start Chris Murphy in tonight’s game ahead of Martin and call it the wrong choice. And that’s probably because it was. As much as I appreciate what the numbers say with regards to Cleveland’s splits against right-handed pitchers, Davis Martin has been fine all year without an opener. What is the saying again: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? On the broadcast, Connor McKnight and Steve Stone referenced the Guardians performance at the plate based on the handedness of the pitcher; .657 OPS vs LHP compared to .701 OPS vs RHP. While that’s nearly 50 points better, it’s still not compelling enough for me to tempt fate for an inning with Chris Murphy, a pitcher residing in the very back of our bullpen, especially when Martin has been excellent in his last two starts.

As I noted in the game thread, Murphy has played in the opener role before and it hasn’t particularly gone well. After tonight’s game, Murphy has relinquished six total runs in his three starts this season (2 2/3 IP), and his overall 2026 ERA has risen to 4.68. The southpaw walked Steven Kwan to lead off the bottom of the first, and despite retiring José Ramírez with a fly out, he surrendered back-to-back homers to Jo Adell (two runs) and Travis Bazzana (solo) to give the Guardians an immediate, 3-0 lead.

Murphy was able to get Nathaniel Lowe to pop out to Murakami at first, but (thankfully) that was the end of the road for the lefty. Venable was forced to go to the bullpen earlier than expected and brought Martin into the game in the unfamiliar circumstance of mid-inning. Thankfully, Martn quickly navigated the last out to get out of a first inning that was running on nightmare fuel.

Martin settled in fairly well, begging the question: “Why did Murphy start, again?” The righty tossed scoreless frames in the second, third and fourth, and ultimately only one of the two runs allowed in his 5 1/3 innings was earned. Martin entered the game in a three-run hole, but there wasn’t much offensive support coming from the bats, either. Similar to Monday night, it took a few innings for the White Sox to get going, but they ended up scoring in three straight innings: one each in the fourth and fifth, and a four-spot in the sixth.

While the top of the order for the South Siders has collectively been riding the struggle bus as of late, that was most certainly not the case tonight. Among Chase Meidroth, Randal Grichuk and Miguel Vargas, the top of the lineup combined to go 4-for-12 with a double, walk, and five of Chicago’s six runs driven in. The other RBI came from a Sam Antonacci single in the fourth that brought in the first run of the game for the Good Guys, scoring Brenton Doyle after his leadoff triple, 3-1.

In the top of the fifth, Miguel Vargas snagged the first of his three RBIs, driving Tristan Peters in on a sacrifice fly to center, which brought the White Sox within one, 3-2:

After two straight hits to start the fifth inning, Martin nearly forced Ramírez to ground into a double play but he was able to beat out the throw to first. That put runners on the corners with one out, and Martin decided to attempt a pickoff of Ramírez but ended up making a bad throwthat ultimately allowed Rocchio to score and extend the lead back to two; luckily, the ball stayed in play because it hit the umpire.

For a brief period of time, this game was actually fun to watch. The White Sox seem to love the sixth inning, and after a six-run sixth the night before, they were able to put together a four-run rally to take a 6-4 lead. Antonacci triggered the rally with his second hit of the night, and Kyle Teel was called upon to pinch-hit for Jake Rogers, and ended up drawing a walk to keep the inning rolling. Peters also finagled a free base on balls, and Chase Meidroth came through in the clutch yet again, ripping an RBI single out to left that scored Sam to bring the Good Guys within one, 4-3.

Grichuk came up next with the bases juiced, and even though he didn’t come up with a huge knock, he tied the game at four with a sacrifice fly deep to the left-field warning track. In back-to-back nights, Vargas has seemed to snap back into his old self, and he, too, mashed a hit out to left that scored the go-ahead runs to put the Sox up two, 6-4:

It’s unclear if Vargas is simply rising to the occasion when he’s most needed, or if he just loves beating up on the Guardians. In 11 games against them (39 at-bats) this season, Vargas owns a .317 average and a 1.054 OPS with three home runs, three two-baggers, 10 RBIs and 10 runs. Not too shabby at all. More of this, please, Miguel.

Now holding a two-run lead, Davis returned for the sixth, and unfortunately served up a 2-0 meatball to Bazzana that put Cleveland back within one with a solo shot. The Aussie had Chicago’s number today, with both of his hits being solo bombs, but it also does not help when you throw pitches down the middle to known lefty power bat that has already tanked one on the day:

Because this was the time of the game that we were having fun and briefly experiencing joy, the home run was worrisome, but everything seemed (sort of?) under control, and Martin even recovered to get three straight outs. Was it his best start? Not necessarily. The righty isn’t a known strikeout guy, sitting around 20% on the season, but he didn’t ring anyone up today and only struck one out in his previous start. I guess the good news here is that he’s able to get batters to chase at a solid 32.2% chase rate and can eat innings, which is what the White Sox have been struggling with for months now.

Lefthander Bryan Hudson was called on for the seventh, and he produced a clean inning to maintain the South Side lead. Unfortunately, Chicago’s bats quieted down again after the sixth. In fact, the White Sox didn’t get another hit after that, and there was only one more baserunner in the game for them, off a walk in the seventh. They just couldn’t get the bats to ignite again, and it doesn’t help when their cleanup hitter can’t do anything except walk or strike out at the moment.

In five plate appearances in Monday’s game, Murakami reached twice: once from being hit by a pitch, and another from a walk. The other three PAs were all strikeouts, and Tuesday’s match was no different: 0-for-4, with four strikeouts and a walk. That marks seven of his last 10 PAs as Ks. An automatic out in a lineup — especially batting fourth — can’t continue to take regular ABs in an extremely tight playoff race. A day off for Mune is long overdue.

With just a one-run lead, Venable really needed the bullpen to lock in for the final two frames, and Grant Taylor was called upon to take both and close out the game. The righty used just 11 pitches to get through the eighth, so it wasn’t odd to assume Taylor had more left in the tank, having not pitched the day before.

Dear reader, this was almost true.

Taylor essentially choked in the ninth. Nathaniel Lowe reached on a leadoff base hit to start the inning, and immediately things felt like they were headed in the wrong direction. The righty worked a strikeout for the first out of the inning, but he couldn’t rein it in on the next batter, walking the catcher, PATRICK BAILEY, of all hitters to put two runners on. A weak ground out from Petey Halpin on the next at-bat felt like things could be righted, until Brayan freaking Rocchio stepped up to the plate.

You can debate walking him all day, and I get it, the guy is a Sox killer and has been all season. He’s even walked them off before, earlier this season. But do you really risk flipping it to Steven Kwan at the top of the order when you just need an out?

Taylor had Rocchio down to his last strike, and he smacked a fly ball into the left-field corner, just slightly out of reach from of diving Antonacci. With the game-tying run on third and the winning run on second, Sam was aligned more shallow and closer to center in order to be able to make a play at the plate on a single. The most annoying part is that the ball had just a .060 expected batting average. It’s simply one of those unfortunate times where they just got beat, but wow, does it suck so much that it was Rocchio.

According to Venable postgame interview, lefthander Anthony Kay is set to make the start in the series finale. Make sure you get some coffee in tomorrow folks, because we have a 12:10 p.m. CT start and a lot of anxiety to work through. Time to flush this loss and come back strong tomorrow to leave Cleveland with the series win and heads held high.

MVP
Miguel Vargas: 1-for-3, 3 RBI, BB, SF

Runners-Up
Brenton Doyle: 2-for-3, R, K, 3B
Chase Meidroth: 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2B
Randal Grichuk: 1-for-4, RBI, K, SF
Bryan Hudson: 1 IP, 0 H, Hold

Cold Cat
Chris Murphy: 2/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, BB, 2 HR

Runners-Up
Munetaka Murakami: 0-for-4, 4 K, BB
Grant Taylor: 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, BB, 2 K, Blown Save (7), LOSS (7-3)
Jake Rogers: 0-for-2, K, GIDP
Will Venable, for starting Murphy

Mariners 1, Anaheim 2

A tisket, a tasket: The bullpen, +0.07

I lost my yellow basket: Cole Young, -0.23 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

Jeremy Peña homered twice, part of a three-hit night as the Royals fell to the Astros 4-2 in the series opener Tuesday night. Michael Wacha gave up four runs in six innings, ending a streak of four consecutive Quality Starts.

Peña got the Astros on the board quickly, leading off the bottom of the first with a homer. In the third, he went deep again, his 19th of the year to make it 2-0 Houston. The Royals squandered a scoring opportunity in the fourth with two runners on when Hunter Brown struck out Vinnie Pasquantino and Michael Massey to end the threat.

The Royals finally got on the board in the next inning, and it almost didn’t happen. With two outs, it appeared Isaac Collins was called out on strikes. But he challenged the call, and it turned out to be a ball, leading to a walk. He stole second, then scored on an RBI double by Carter Jensen. It was the 58th extra-base hit for Jensen this year, setting a Royals club record for rookies.

But the Astros pulled away in the bottom of the inning. Peña hit a one-out single, and likely AL MVP Yordan Alvarez put one in the seats for a two-run blast, his 39th of the year.

Vinnie Pasquantino homered in the sixth, a solo shot. It was his 12th of the year, but his sixth in his last 23 games. Salvador Perez pinch hit in the ninth and blooped a single to bring the tying run up against Astros closer Josh Hader, but the lefty shut the door, retiring Nick Loftin and Tyler Tolbert to end the game.

The Royals fall to 66-85. They’ll take on the Astros again tomorrow night with Daniel Lynch IV taking on Cristian Javier at 7:10.

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo watch the past and future visit Citi Field.

The guys cover Pete Alonso's return to Queens, plus positive signs from Jonah Tong, Christian Scott, and Zac Thornton. 

The Mets Pod Answering Machine kicks off a conversation about current Mets uniforms that ends in rankings, and Down on the Farm wraps up the seasons for top prospects Mitch Voit and Jonathan Santucci,who also appeared in Queens as they accepted minor league organizational awards. 

Finally, the show ends by opening the Mailbag for questions about the future of Dodgers free agency and the idea of targeting A's catcher Shea Langeliers in a trade.

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

After Pete Alonso hit his 300th home run, a game-tying solo home run in the top of the ninth inning on Tuesday night, the Citi Field crowd’s raucous reaction got the ex-Mets slugger out of the visitors’ dugout for a curtain call. 

“Everyone in the dugout was saying go out there,” Alonso said about the curtain call after the Orioles completed a 7-5 extra-inning win. “And they were right.”

Alonso has received an overwhelmingly warm reception in his first series back in Queens after signing a long-term deal with Baltimore this past offseason. And it has been a bit awkward for his former teammates as the home crowd continues to root for the visiting Alonso with every at-bat.

"I appreciate all the support,” Alonso said about Mets fans, “especially for all the years I'm here, all the life I've lived here. Obviously they’re recognizing that, and they’re appreciating that. It's a two-way street, I really appreciate it." 

Tuesday’s starter Sean Manaea said he had never experienced anything like that from a home crowd supporting a visiting player, and it was “crazy.”

“I played with Pete for a couple years, I know how much he means for this organization, how much he means for this city, he’s an exceptional player, and I love him as a player, as a teammate, he’s one of the greats,” Manaea said of Alonso. “And unfortunately, he is not on the Mets anymore.

“And congrats to him, 300 home runs, super happy for him, but it’s just crazy how things kinda unfolded. I’ve got nothing but respect for him and love him to death. But as a team, as the 2026 Mets, I know we have definitely underperformed, but we are, the guys in here, work their ass off every single day.

“And to have that kinda reaction to an opposing player, could be anybody, is crazy to me.”

Interim manager Andy Green, who said he didn't recall ever seeing a visiting player receive a curtain call from the home side's fans, said that while he understands how the fans feel about Alonso, his focus is "trying to win a baseball game."

"Don't spend much time thinking about how people react to things; spend time thinking about what we gotta do after that happened," Green said about the game-tying homer of Kodai Senga. "We had some opportunities to win that game. We didn't come through with those opportunities."

Pete Alonso takes a curtain call at Citi Field after his 300th career home run pic.twitter.com/FWhWhiA8En

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 16, 2026

Senga, speaking through an interpreter, said it was a strange experience, but that from the crowd reaction, "you could tell how loved he was by the fan base."

"I couldn't even hear the PitchCom right after," Senga said of the crowd noise following the home run. "He's just a great hitter. There's not much to say other than that."

Senga said "perhaps" he would have been bothered by the fans' reaction if it was another hitter. 

"If it wasn't Pete Alonso, there are other great hitters that are playing for the Mets and are playing elsewhere, but because it is him, it didn't bother me," Senga said. "It just shows how much he was loved... how much he meant to this organization." 

Manea, who pitched 5.1 innings of two-run ball, added that he has “nothing but respect” for Alonso, but he’s “never seen anything like that before.”

“I know the guys in here we are grinding our butts off and stuff like that happens,” he continued. “But I’ve never seen anything like that; it’s kinda crazy.”

The interim skipper said that while it is "tough in certain circumstances" and some players "might struggle" with these kinds of situations, their job is to "never let anything external impact the way we go about playing the game."

"Do we love our fans cheering for us? Heck yeah we do," he said. "We want our fans engaged with us, heck yeah we do. We absolutely want that. And those guys on the field are giving everything they got for the team, for the Mets across their jerseys. So those guys will continue to do that."

Senga called it "an odd situation." 

"On any other day... I hear all the cheering when I get out of a big inning, or I close the game with a save. I hear everybody cheering for me in the stands, and I love that," he said.

Asked whether the fans' reaction to Alonso had been discussed in the clubhouse, Green said he "hasn't had one conversation" about it. Manaea said he wasn’t going to speak for everyone, but reiterated his opinion that it was “crazy.”

“Pete’s not here. And the powers that be, whatever that may be. He’s just not here,” Manaea said. “I know everybody loves him, he’s the man, but, just, he’s not here.

“To see the reaction from the fans like that, I don’t know, it’s just different. Never seen anything like that.”

The starter added that he felt it was “very” surprising to him.

“Been doing this thing for 10, 11 years now, played against some legendary players, played with some legendary players, maybe it was the first time I’ve been in a situation like this,” he said. “Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

"I love him to death, but as the 2026 Mets - I know we've definitely underperformed - the guys in here work their ass off every single day. To have that reaction to an opposing player is crazy to me"

- Sean Manaea on the Citi Field reception for Pete Alonso's 300th home run pic.twitter.com/7itFYYpns7

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 16, 2026

The Colorado Rockies were desperate to break an eight-game losing streak as they faced the San Diego Padres in the second game of a four-game stand.

Cole Carrigg hit his first homer in the third, but the Rally Squirrel that appeared on the auxiliary scoreboard in the fifth inning turbocharged everything.

The Carrigg-Squirrel duo had help from a third partner: Ryan Feltner in a sparkling relief performance.

Turn the page on the losing streak: The Rockies won 9-3 to tie their series with a Padres team looking to clinch a postseason spot.

Cole Carrigg set the tone

The game did not get off to the start Kyle Freeland had hoped for.

When facing Fernando Tatís Jr., the leadoff batter, Freeland surrendered a home run on the second pitch he threw.

It was Tatís Jr’s 23rd homer of the year.

Before the Rockies had even managed an out, they were down, 1-0.

Things did not improve in the second inning when Luis Campusano stepped to the plate and led off the second with a homer, à la Tatís Jr.

After the Rockies entered their half of the second inning down, 2-0.

They threatened by loading the bases with one out as Walker Buehler’s pitch count climbed. (Yes, TJ Rumfield hit a single, so his on-base streak is up to 20 games.) However, a double play that involved a base-running mistake by Kyle Karros ended the threat.

By the end of the third inning, the Padres had already accumulated seven hits.

Carrigg, however, did some encores of his own. In Game 1, he hit his eighth home run; in Game 2, he hit another, his ninth, this time with Adael Amador on base, to tie the game.

Freeland had clean third and fourth innings, before history repeated itself in the fifth when Austin Hays led off with another single-shot home run.

With the score 3-2 Padres, Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer went to his bullpen.

Tonight, Ryan Feltner followed up Freeland by allowing one hit but no runs to retire the side.

Buehler started the fifth for the Padres and got two outs. However, after Carrigg hit a double (now just a triple shy of the cycle), that was it for Buehler. His final line: 4.2 IP with two runs (earned) on seven hits. He walked one and struck out one.

Wandy Peralta entered in relief and hit Rumfield with a pitch, leaving runners on first and second with two outs. However, Karros lined out to short to end the inning and the threat.

In the fifth inning, the Rockies offense got serious.

Mickey Moniak led off with a triple followed by a Troy Johnston RBI double, tying the score at three. After that came a Brett Sullivan single to score Johnston, and the Rockies had their first lead of the evening, 4-3.

Then Jake McCarthy hit a single (give him a 17-game on-base streak), and that was it for Peralta.

With two on and two out, Carrigg stepped to the plate, looking for a triple to complete the cycle is expand the Rockies lead. He battled through a 13-pitch at-bat.

Seriously, you’ve got to see it.

And then Carrigg got to work.

That’s right, Reader, it was a sweet, sweet three-run homer.

The Rockies finished the sixth inning with a 7-3 lead.

“I love this game. I love playing for my guys. Obviously a pretty long at-bat — got me fired up for sure,” Carrigg said after the game.

“That’s one of the coolest at-bats I’ve seen,” Schaeffer said of Carrigg’s extended at-bat. “He was locked in today. You see what kind of player Cole can be.”

In the seventh inning the Padres were unable to score. The Rockies, however, were not done.

Karros lead off the inning with a single, and a Johnston RBI double was enough to bring him home, and the score was 8-3.

Zac Veen was the last Rockie to get a hit, but he did in the seventh to score Ezequiel Tovar (pinch running for Johnston), and the Rockies took a 9-3 lead.

The Rockies final line was nine runs (all earned) on 16 hits. They walked once and struck out three times, going 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

“They’re all grinding ‘til the end,” Schaeffer said. “This is what they believe in. That’s why there’s so much hope for the future.”

Kyle Freeland made his return

In addition to a solid performance from Freeland, the Rockies needed length from him to spare an exhausted bullpen.

Despite giving up two home runs early, Freeland entered the fourth inning having thrown 38 pitches, which was just what the bullpen ordered.

He was done in the fifth (with no outs) after surrendering a third home run.

His final line was 4.0 IP with three runs (earned) on eight hits. He did not issue a walk and struck out one while throwing 50 pitches.

It was not the return Freeland wanted, but he helped save the bullpen.

“It was good to see him back,” Schaeffer said, noting that Freeland was efficient and on a 60-pitch limit. “I thought he got better as he went.”

“I felt good,” Freeland said. “I was able to eat some innings. Three solo-shots aren’t going to kill you.”

Stellar Feltner

If there was an unsung hero in this game, it was Ryan Feltner, who entered the game in the fifth inning.

After his outstanding showing against Atlanta, the Rockies were eager to see what he could do when following an (extended) opener.

The answer: He was good — really good.

In 5.0 IP, Feltner allowed just three hits while issuing one walk and five strike outs on 61 pitches.

“I saw attack-mode from the moment he stepped on the mound,” Schaeffer said, pointing out that it echoed the pitcher’s performance in Atlanta. He did not rule out using Feltner in a similar role going forward.

Feltner said he believed he benefits from the opposing team having less plan to prepare for him.

“Sully called a great game,” he added.

Feltner emphasized, “I’m a starter, and I like starting a game,” but he added he would do whatever the team asks of him.

Up next

Join us tomorrow night for Game 3 when Robbie Ray will face Mason Adams (and hopefully the Rally Squirrel).

First pitch is at 6:40 pm.

See you then.

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The Orioles may be playing out the string in a season that’s fallen far short of expectations. But darned if they aren’t still capable of playing some mighty entertaining baseball from time to time.

Tonight’s extra-inning affair against the Mets was one of those classic, bizarre, “how the heck did the Orioles win this?” kind of games. On an evening that was a pretty boring slog for the first eight innings, the excitement ramped up drastically in the ninth when Pete Alonso delivered his long-awaited 300th homer — a dramatic, game-tying shot — in front of the Mets faithful, and the weirdness reached new heights when Coby Mayo circled the bases on a go-ahead, three-run, inside-the-park home run in the top of the 11th.

What a memorable night of baseball. Exhausting, but memorable.

Let’s cut right to the chase. There’s one reason and one reason only that fans have flocked to CitiField this week, and it’s not because they’re riveted by Orioles/Mets mid-September baseball. Fan-favorite ex-Mets slugger Pete Alonso returned to his old stomping grounds just one shy of his 300th career homer, and the constant standing ovations and celebratory handmade signs among the crowd have made it clear: Mets fans want to witness the Polar Bear’s historic blast, even against their favorite team.

Tonight, they got their wish, despite it directly robbing the Mets of a victory. The dramatic moment came in the top of the ninth with the Orioles trailing, 3-2, and two outs away from defeat. Alonso, who at that point was 0-for-3 in the game and 0-for-6 in the series, stepped to the plate against Mets closer Kodai Senga. Senga, the forkball specialist, missed with his first two pitches. Then he hurled another forkball that hung right down the middle of the plate, and Pete didn’t miss.

SMASH. Alonso clobbered one to deep left and instantly knew he’d gotten it, flinging his bat toward the O’s dugout and raising his hands in triumph. A cool 414 feet later, the ball landed among the Mets fans, most of whom were in a full-throated cheer, not caring that they’d just blown a ninth-inning lead. Honestly, good for those fans. These games don’t matter to the already eliminated Mets, so why not celebrate the historic achievement of one your franchise’s all-time greats?

A pumped-up Alonso, after exchanging intense high-fives with his O’s teammates, came out of the visiting dugout for a curtain call, doffing his cap to the crowd. Alonso got to enjoy a milestone individual achievement that also rescued his team, and the fans got to share a special moment with their longtime hero. A good time was had by all. Well, maybe not Senga.

After all the festivities, though, there was still a baseball game to finish playing. And boy, did it get weird. Two other former Mets, Rico Garcia and Josh Walker, combined to escape the bottom of the ninth with the winning run in scoring position, and off to extras we went. That’s when both teams wasted opportunities to take control.

In the top of the 10th, a Gunnar Henderson single moved the free runner, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, to third base with nobody out. The next three Orioles then had three of the worst at-bats you’ll see: Jeremiah Jackson twice failed to bunt and struck out looking, wasting the Orioles’ ABS challenge in the process; Heston Kjerstad struck out looking on a fastball right down the middle; and Leody Taveras grounded out to the pitcher. Fortunately, a Daniel Duarte wild pitch during the Jackson at-bat allowed Encarnacion-Strand to score the go-ahead run.

The lead didn’t last long. In the bottom half, Marcus Semien’s one-out double off Alex Hoppe plated the Mets’ free runner, knotting the score at four. But with two aboard and Hoppe clearly struggling with command, Christopher Morel inexplicably swung at a 3-0 pitch and grounded out, short-circuiting the Mets’ rally.

On to the 11th, where the Orioles took the lead in a way that absolutely nobody could have expected. With two on and two out — after Alonso struck out, failing to hit his 301st homer — Coby Mayo pounced on an 0-2 cutter from righty Jonathan Pintaro and crunched it to deep center field. A.J. Ewing made a sprawling, Colton Cowser-esque leap at the wall, but the ball barely eluded his glove and deflected off the fence while Ewing crashed hard into it. By the time the other Mets outfielders could rush over to back up the dazed Ewing, a hustling Mayo had hurtled all around the bases for his first career inside-the-park home run. Wow!

Mayo’s chaotic sprint around the bases had given the Orioles a 7-4 lead, and this time the lead was bulletproof. Andrew Kittredge, who has badly struggled of late, was able to nail down the save in the bottom of the 11th despite a two-out RBI single by Bo Bichette. The Orioles, somehow, had escaped with their second straight win.

Long before the late-inning bedlam, Shane Baz’s extremely weird year came to what may be an extremely weird end. The first-year Oriole entered the game with a league-leading 15 losses due to his well-chronicled lack of run support, and he never got a chance to add a win to his ledger tonight after an abrupt fifth-inning exit. Bo Bichette led off the inning with a scalding 105-mph liner that deflected directly off Baz’s right elbow as he tried to turn away. The ball was hit so hard that it sailed all the way into left field after hitting Baz, who kneeled on the mound and clutched his arm.

Craig Albernaz and the training staff immediately came out to check on the injured hurler. Baz gamely attempted to throw a warm-up pitch, but he sailed it to the backstop and promptly walked off the mound without argument. After the game, X-rays came back negative, but when you’re dealing with an elbow, why risk trying to pitch again this year? It’s not like these games matter for the Orioles anymore. Shut down Baz and have him get an early rest before next season.

Before the injury, Baz was having one of his rockier outings. The Mets tagged him for seven hits (including the Bichette liner) and two walks in his four innings of work, which came on a first-inning sacrifice fly, a second-inning Juan Soto RBI single, and a Carson Benge solo homer in the third.

The Orioles’ bullpen, thrust into action earlier than expected, did a nice job to keep the Mets off the board. Grant Wolfram, Luis De León, and former Mets prospect Anthony Nunez combined for four scoreless innings of relief while the O’s trailed. De León was particularly impressive by throwing a pair of shutout frames, his best outing as a big leaguer.

For a while, it didn’t seem like it would matter, because the Orioles’ offense was nonexistent for most of the game. Their wacky lineup against southpaw Sean Manaea included Rece Hinds (a career 3-for-55 against lefties) in the leadoff spot and Leody Taveras (.502 OPS against lefties this year) also in the lineup, while homegrown left-handed hitters like Samuel Basallo, Dylan Beavers, and Heston Kjerstad were once again benched. What are we doing here, guys?

The threadbare O’s lineup had a grand total of two good swings against Manaea. Both came in the second inning, when Encarnacion-Strand launched a solo homer to left-center, and two batters later, Jeremiah Jackson followed suit with his first dinger since June 14. And…that was the end of the Orioles scoring runs for the next seven innings. Manaea, Austin Warren, and Nate Lavender held the Mets’ 3-2 lead until the ninth.

And we know what happened after that: a hefty dose of Alonso heroics, some good luck against a bad Mets team, and, of course, a sprinkling of Orioles Magic.

Camden Chatters, who’s your Most Birdland Player for tonight?

The Texas Rangers scored four runs while the Boston Red Sox scored two runs.

The Rangers, in need of as many wins as they can get from here on out, returned home to begin their final homestand of the season with the first leg of three against AL Wild Card-leading Boston.

Texas had the non-Cal Quantrill guy you’d want on the mound with Jacob deGrom starting the opener. It would seem that perhaps tonight was a poor groin night for the achy veteran, however, as he lasted only five innings and sometimes labored through his 92 pitches.

But deGrom also mostly kept Boston off the board aside from a two-run home run hiccup from No. 9 batter Nick Sogard after the Rangers had grabbed an early 4-0 lead.

How that lead came about is something of a lost media mystery if you’re an at-home Rangers Sports Network viewer. All of the Rangers four runs came in a window of time when the broadcast feed had gone down. I guess an opportunity to see Texas go up on Boston was a Shed exclusive tonight.

With the Rangers putting together a rally with two runners on base and Elias Diaz at the plate with two outs, the telecast suddenly cut to commercials before showing a segment of Elvis Andrus and Jared Sandler learning how to do the two-step. In The Shed, Diaz was doing a little two-step of his own as he doubled in the game’s first runs.

Right as the RSN switched gears to show Andrus and Sandler trying their hand at running the mascot Dot Race, Danny Jansen and Justin Foscue drew two-out walks and Corey Seager received a gift with a blooper to shallow center field that Boston shortstop Trevor Story seemed to have a play on before letting it drift beyond his reach as two more runs scampered in.

The game returned to our televisions in time for the Red Sox to bat in the top of the third, which is when Sogard took deGrom deep. For us TV baseball watchers, it could have been assumed that the Rangers were down a couple of runs but within the pocket dimension of The Shed, it was known that Texas was up 4-2.

And then the game just stayed at that score the rest of the way because baseball is weird like that. It turns out, if the Rangers cannot be observed, they’re pretty good!

The Rangers needed four innings from arms not named deGrom and that meant a heavy bullpen day. The Rangers were off on Monday so everyone was a little more rested and up to the task. Chase Silseth pitched a scoreless sixth inning, and Tyler Alexander did the same in the seventh. In the eighth, however, Robert Garcia was elevated to setup duty and ran into some trouble.

With one out, the Rangers brought in Jacob Latz for another of his patented extended outings. Called on to face Rangers killer and Shed lover Wilyer Abreu with two on, Latz got a ground out and then intentionally walked Story before striking out pinch hitter Andruw Monasterio to leave the bases loaded.

Latz had a more usual scoreless frame in the ninth to pick up his 30th save of the season and give the Rangers a big win in the opener.

Neither Houston nor Cleveland lost so the Rangers didn’t make up any ground on the leaders of their two avenues to the playoffs, but Toronto lost which allowed Texas to leapfrog the Blue Jays for the nearest contender behind the Guardians for the final Wild Card spot at a game and a half back.

Player of the Game: Latz once again went the extra mile with a five-out save as he continues to be an x-factor, multi-inning weapon at the end of games for the Rangers if they can get to him with a lead.

Up Next: The Rangers and Red Sox will play the second game of this series with LHP MacKenzie Gore next up to pitch for Texas opposite LHP Jake Bennett for Boston.

The Wednesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto continued his excellent season and beat the Cincinnati Reds for the second time in a week, this time with seven scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

Yamamoto was uncharacteristically wild to open the game, with eight of his first nine pitches outside the strike zone, but then completely settled down and didn’t walk another batter the rest of the way.

Elly De La Cruz doubled with two outs in the third, his fifth game with an extra-base hit in five tries against the Dodgers over the last nine days. But the first four of those games included home runs, so Yamamoto keeping him in the park was a win.

After the double, Yamamoto retired his next 13 straight batters. After the two walks, Yamamoto retired 21 of 22 batters to finish seven innings for the third straight start and 12th game this season, the latter second-most in the majors.

Yamamoto finished with seven strikeouts and has allowed zero or one run in 14 of his 27 starts. Since the All-Star break, Yamamoto has a 1.98 ERA in 68 1/3 innings in 10 starts, with 72 strikeouts and 16 walks.

Yamamoto’s outing immediately following Tarik Skubal’s gem in Monday’s series opener gives the Dodgers back-to-back starts of at least seven scoreless innings for the first time since September 12-23, 2022, when Tyler Anderson and Clayton Kershaw turned the trick in Arizona. In both cases, the first such win clinched a postseason spot for the Dodgers.

Teoscar Hernández was hitless in each of the first two games in Miami to snap his hit streak before sitting on Sunday, and has now homered in each of the first two games in Cincinnati. On Tuesday, it was another hard-hit ball for Hernández, a 109.3-mph screamer over the left field wall for a two-run shot in the third inning to pad the Dodgers’ advantage.

Over Hernández’s last 14 games, he’s hitting .417/.517/.771 with four home runs, eight extra-base hits, and 18 RBI.

Notes

• After a planned off day Monday — his third time sitting in the previous five games with a sore right knee —Freddie Freeman snapped 0-for-16 and 1-for-26 skids with three singles on Tuesday.
• Catcher Hunter Feduccia drove in the Dodgers’ first run with an RBI single, his second straight start with a run batted in. He also walked twice, reaching base three times on Tuesday.
• Alex Freeland homered into the left (opposite) field corner in the seventh inning for an insurance run, and doubled in the ninth. It’s Freeland’s fourth game this season with two extra-base hits, along with March 27 (homer, double), April 25 (two doubles), and May 31 (homer, double).
• Josue De Paula batted leadoff and went 0 for 5. After five walks in his first 17 major league plate appearances, De Paula finally struck out in the big leagues and did so in his final two PA on Tuesday.
• The win, coupled with the Padres loss to the Rockies in Colorado, reduced the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the National League West to one. The earliest the Dodgers could clinch the division is Wednesday.

Tuesday particulars

Home runs: Teoscar Hernández (15), Alex Freeland (4)

WP — Yoshinobu Yamamoto (14-8): 7 IP, 1 hit, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts

LP — Rhett Lowder (6-11): 5 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

Up next

Blake Snell is on the mound on Wednesday night (3:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA), pitching on four days rest for the first time this season. Left-hander Andrew Abbott starts for Cincinnati.