Author: MLB Baseball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

As Giants look ahead, evaluate for 2026 MLB season, who will hit atop lineup? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN DIEGO — Clarence Francis “Heinie” Mueller made his big league debut nine days after his 21st birthday and went on to play 11 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Boston Braves and St. Louis Browns. 

Mueller hit just seven homers in two seasons with the Giants, the final one coming while leading off the first game of a doubleheader in Philadelphia on Sept. 3, 1927. A game earlier, against the Chicago Cubs, Les Mann had gone deep while leading off the bottom of the first. 

Until this week, that was the last time the franchise had different players hit a leadoff homer in back-to-back games. Heliot Ramos did it Monday at Petco Park and Jung Hoo Lee followed with a blast Tuesday night. 

Lee’s was the sixth leadoff homer of the year for the Giants, and the list shows how difficult it has been for Bob Melvin to lock down that spot. Mike Yastrzemski, now a Kansas City Royal, leads the way with three leadoff homers, but he was only hitting first because LaMonte Wade Jr. got off to such a poor start that the Giants had to demote and then release him. 

Yastrzemski led off 45 times, which is second on the team to Ramos’ 54. Lee, who led off in 31 of 36 starts as a rookie, has done it 14 times. Wade got nine leadoff starts and Melvin has mixed in Daniel Johnson, Christian Koss and Luis Matos.

As the Giants try to find a way to be more dynamic down the line, they could use more consistency — and production — from the leadoff spot. Lee is the most traditional fit, but Melvin isn’t opposed to keeping Ramos there. He originally was supposed to lead off against only lefties, but for a chunk of the season, he did it every day. That only changed recently when Lee worked his way out of a lengthy summer slump. 

“Heliot coming into this season was an obvious choice, especially against left-handed pitching,” Melvin said this week. “We’ll see on the righties. Jung Hoo can certainly do it, but going into this year, we were talking more about him being a swinger and not a walker. I really don’t know what it’s going to look like next year and we’ve got to see what the personnel looks like.”

It seems unlikely that the Giants will be able to add another option in the offseason. They are pretty locked in at catcher (Patrick Bailey), first base/DH (Rafael Devers/Bryce Eldridge), second base (Casey Schmitt), shortstop (Willy Adames) and third base (Matt Chapman). Most of those players profile as middle-of-the-order bats or guys who probably would be best served hitting fifth or sixth.

The Giants could add another outfielder with leadoff skills, but at the moment, it seems likely that they’re again choosing between Ramos and Lee. 

Ramos has a .325 on-base percentage as a leadoff hitter and Lee is at .328. For the season, the two are just about even in pitches per plate appearance and runs scored.   

Melvin alternated in the Padres series, using Ramos against lefties Nestor Cortes and JP Sears and Lee against righties Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease. It was a good series from the leadoff spot, but overall, the Giants are getting a .232/.303/.372 slash line from their leadoff hitters. They rank 28th in on-base percentage from guys batting at the top of the lineup.

Melvin said the focus right now is on finding the best possible mix to simply get some runs across. The future plans can be revisited in the offseason, and part of that may come down to how Lee finishes his second year. 

After a lengthy slump where he looked fatigued at times, the center fielder is batting .307 with a .816 OPS since the start of July. Melvin dropped Lee down to seventh at one point, but lately, he’s looking more like the table setter the Giants thought they were signing two years ago. 

“It could be leadoff again (next year). It could be moving him around in different spots in the lineup,” Melvin said. “I don’t think he was ever going to be a guy that’s going to go up there and take a ton of pitches and walk a lot, but there might be a time where he’s hitting .300 and hitting his way on.”

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Here are five things to watch and predictions as the Mets and Braves play a three-game series in Atlanta starting on Friday night.

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5 things to watch

What can Nolan McLean do for an encore?

McLean had an eye-opening debut against the Mariners this past Saturday at Citi Field, firing 5.1 innings of scoreless ball while allowing just two hits, walking four, and striking out eight.

The 24-year-old relied heavily on his elite sweeper (throwing it 33 times), and judiciously mixed in his two-seam fastball and curve. He also sprinkled in some four-seamers, cutters, and changeups.

Along the way, McLean -- whose fastball topped out at 97 mph -- induced 11 swinging strikes and allowed just four pitches to be hit hard into fair territory.

It was a needed jolt for a Mets rotation that had been leaking oil, and the expectation is that McLean will get a long look to see what he can do.

McLean has thrown 119.0 combined innings this season between Double-A, Triple-A, and the majors after tossing 109.2 innings last year. So he should have plenty left in the tank down the stretch.

Brett Baty's success at the plate

Since the Mets returned from the All-Star break, Baty is hitting .282/.352/.526 with six homers in 88 plate appearances -- easily the most impressive stretch of his young career.

It has always felt like if Baty could find his confidence at the plate that his talent would shine through. Perhaps that's where we're at.

With his month-plus hot streak, Baty's OPS for the season is up to .736.

As is partly evident with the homers Baty has smashed this season (six during this stretch, 14 overall in just 99 games), he has been much better when it comes to elevating the ball.

How is Brandon Nimmo doing?

Nimmo left Wednesday's game before the bottom of the second inning due to neck stiffness and was not in the lineup for New York's series finale against the Nationals on Thursday.

This is the same issue that has popped up every once in a while for Nimmo during his career and quickly resolved, including earlier this season. So it is not especially alarming.

But it is certainly something to keep a close eye on with the team already without Francisco Alvarez.

Nimmo had been heating up, slashing .333/.382/.500 in 34 plate appearances over his last eight games.

The Braves' lineup is more potent this time around

The Mets lost two of three games to the Braves at Citi Field the last time the teams played. And they did so in incredibly disappointing fashion -- blowing a 6-0 lead in the second game of the series and squandering an eighth-inning lead in the third game.

And while the Braves' pitching is decimated and their lineup remains undermanned, they recently got Ronald Acuña Jr. back.

Since returning, Acuña has struggled power-wise.

In 27 plate appearances over six games, he's slashing .261/.370/.304.

Braves shifted rotation to avoid starting Spence Strider

Strider has had a down year in what is his first season back from Tommy John surgery.

After being battered by the Mets on Aug. 12 to the tune of eight runs on eight hits (including three home runs) in 4.0 innings, Strider was smacked around by the lowly White Sox on Aug. 18 -- allowing seven runs on 10 hits in just 3.0 innings.

He had been scheduled to pitch on Sunday, but the Braves made a change.

Instead of Strider, it will be Bryce Elder pitching on Sunday. Joey Wentz (Friday) and Cal Quantrill (Saturday) start the other two games.

Overall this season, Strider has a 5.24 ERA and 1.43 WHIP with 102 strikeouts in 89.1 innings.

Predictions

Who will the MVP of the series be?

Brett Baty

As is noted above, Baty has been locked in at the plate for over a month.

Which Mets pitcher will have the best start?

David Peterson

Peterson shook off a clunker when he fired 8.0 innings of one-run ball against the Nats earlier this week.

Which Braves player will be a thorn in the Mets' side?

Ozzie Albies

Even in the midst of a down year, Albies tormented the Mets earlier this month at Citi Field.

The Dodgers aren’t putting Mookie Betts back in right field.

Or, at least, they aren’t actively considering it yet.

Manager Dave Roberts made that much clear this week, saying the club has had no such discussions with the Gold Glove right fielder-turned-success story at shortstop.

To this point, not even Teoscar Hernández’s defensive limitations or Michael Conforto’s offensive disappearing act have yet pushed the team to that theoretical extreme.

“We have not talked about right field at all,” Roberts said this week, as the noise around Hernández’s shaky glove grew louder following a pair of misplays in a Monday loss at Colorado.

“The way Mookie is playing at short,” Roberts added, “not bouncing him around, I think we feel very good about.”

Read more:'He looks much more confident.' Hard-throwing Edgardo Henriquez settling in with Dodgers

Still, as the Dodgers enter the final 34 games of their schedule, starting with a crucial series in San Diego against the second-place Padres this weekend, the club’s outfield issues remain a problem.

And while Betts might not be the obvious solution this time — like he was last year when he made a late-season switch to right — the Dodgers will nonetheless have to find some answers.

Entering play Thursday, their two corner outfield positions combined ranked just 19th among MLB clubs in total wins above replacement, and 22nd in defensive rating, according to Fangraphs.

“Defense is a big part of postseason baseball and winning baseball,” Roberts said.

Here are the options the Dodgers will have to consider over the coming month and a half:

The current cast

For now, the Dodgers don’t have much other choice but to roll out the same couple lineup variations they have been sporting since the trade deadline.

Most nights, that means having Hernández in right field, where, despite a recent uptick from his once slumping bat, the 32-year-old ranks in the bottom half of MLB right fielders in defensive runs saved (-1) and outs above average (-9); and Conforto in left, where the only thing worse than his lowly rated defense (-2 DRS, -5 OAA) has been a .186 batting average that is a distant last among MLB hitters with 350 plate appearances (next closest: Oneil Cruz’s .207 mark).

Ideally, the Dodgers would benefit from shifting Hernández to left field (where he also struggled while playing primarily last season, but made fewer of the glaring mistakes that have marred his last couple weeks) and relegating Conforto largely to the bench.

But, that requires another option they trust to take on more playing time somewhere else in the outfield.

And if it’s not Betts, then Alex Call represents the current roster’s only potential fit.

Call arrived last month as something of an underwhelming deadline acquisition. Sure, he was having a nice season with the Washington Nationals, and burnished his reputation as a tough at-bat on opposing pitchers. But he wasn’t Steven Kwan, or Ramón Laureano, or Harrison Bader, or any of the more established big-league outfielders that were trade targets at the deadline.

Read more:Clayton Kershaw and rebounding offense help Dodgers salvage split against Rockies

So far, that’s been reflected in the Dodgers’ usage of the 30-year-old hitter, starting him just eight times in three weeks.

Call did have a strong showing in the Rockies series, reaching base eight times in 13 plate appearances, including a double and home run in a four-hit game Tuesday. He is batting .281 since joining the Dodgers, and has flashed (mostly) solid play in either corner outfield spot.

In time, perhaps he could step into more of a primary role. His versatile glove (he has also played center in the big leagues) and contact ability make him a potential floor-raiser for the lineup.

For now, however, given the team’s short-handed, injury-plagued bench, Roberts has committed to effectively platooning Call in left field alongside Conforto — the $17-million offseason signing whom the Dodgers seem to be giving one last chance to stage some sort of late-season turnaround.

The IL reinforcements

Eventually, if Conforto continues to slump and Call can’t command more playing time, the Dodgers will have to find a better option.

On Thursday, two potential alternatives suited up during rehab assignments with triple-A Oklahoma City.

In center field was veteran October hero Kiké Hernández, who has been sidelined for months (and limited physically before that) with an elbow injury he first sustained in May.

In left field, surprisingly, was South Korean offseason signing Hyeseong Kim, a second base specialist who dabbled in center field at the start of the season, before eventually settling in the infield prior to a shoulder injury.

Both players could represent defensive outfield upgrades once they return. Kim’s experimentation in left field is particularly intriguing, even though he suffered defensive lapses during his brief stint in center.

Read more:'Different ballclub tonight.' Alex Call has best game as a Dodger in rout of Rockies

The real wild card in this equation, however, could be another name currently stuck on the injured list.

An ideal version of the Dodgers lineup figures to include utility man Tommy Edman in center, Teoscar Hernández in left and Andy Pages in right — allowing Betts to stick at shortstop; a combination of Kim, Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas (and maybe even Alex Freeland) to fill out second base; and Pages to move to right field, where his cannon of an arm is most valuable.

Edman, though, has been dogged by an ankle injury for much of the summer and still appears several weeks from returning. Questions remain as to whether he can get to a place physically where he could play outfield again this season.

“His versatility is a superpower,” Roberts said, in explaining why the team is trying to give Edman as much time to return as possible. “So the ability to play the infield, kick out to the outfield, and not be compromised by the ankle and not regress, that’s something we need.”

The Mookie scenario

Though Roberts shut down talk of moving Betts back to the outfield, he was careful not to slam the door shut entirely when looking over the rest of the season.

“I think that’s a fair question,” Roberts said. “But I don’t think that we’re there quite yet.”

It was around this time last year, of course, that the Dodgers announced Betts would shift from shortstop back to right field; returning him to a position where he has six career Gold Gloves.

And for much of this season, large factions of the fan base have been waiting for history to repeat itself, especially amid speculation about how much Betts’ shortstop play has contributed to a career-worst season at the plate.

However...

This year’s Dodgers team is not last year’s Dodgers team. And this year’s version of Betts' shortstop play has added a new factor into a delicate equation.

While Betts would almost certainly remain a trustworthy option in right field, his defensive metrics at that position the last couple of years have grown pedestrian compared to his once-generational standards.

In his prime, Betts was usually somewhere between 15-30 in DRS and upward of 10-15 in OAA playing right field. But in more than 1,000 right field innings the last three years, he has only posted a plus-3 DRS and a net-zero OAA. His range is not what it used to be (Betts ranks in just the 35th percentile among major-leaguers in sprint speed, per Baseball Savant). And he has remade his throwing motion to better suit the demands of shortstop.

Read more:Dodgers Dugout: The 10 best center fielders in Dodger history

As Betts showed while playing right field last postseason, he can still make an impact there.

But as he has shown this year, he can be valuable at other spots on the diamond, too.

After struggling at shortstop last season, Betts now ranks third in the majors at the position in DRS (plus-11) and ninth in OAA (plus-3). Sure, Rojas or Edman could probably provide comparable (and in Rojas’ case, maybe improved) shortstop defense. But Rojas, 36, has struggled to hold up physically amid regular playing time the last couple years. And if Edman’s ankle isn’t good enough to handle center, it’s fair to wonder how limited he would be at a key position like shortstop.

It’s why, for now, the Dodgers are trying to simply tread water with their current outfield group, while waiting for a better fix (either in Call or Edman or Kiké or Kim or, if they must, maybe even Betts) to become clear.

What they do know: They need to be better in the corners, on both sides of the ball.

That was obvious before the trade deadline. It remains a problem now. And until they find a solution, it will loom as one potential stumbling block to their pursuit of a second straight World Series.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Dalton Rushing keeps a few baseball gloves on the top shelf of his corner locker in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse. None of them is a catcher’s mitt.

Which seems significant since Rushing is a catcher.

But in college at Louisville and in the Cape Cod Summer League, he played more games at first base and in the outfield than behind the plate. So he still runs out with a fielder’s glove during batting practice, just in case.

“I'll shag during BP, just kind of to take the shakiness, just to be as comfortable as possible if I have to go out there,” he said.

Read more:Clayton Kershaw and rebounding offense help Dodgers salvage split against Rockies

“It’s good to have that skill, to bounce over there and play. But the biggest thing moving forward is catching.”

Using Rushing as anything other than Will Smith's backup behind the plate would qualify as a “break glass in case of emergency move” for manager Dave Roberts, although he has played Rushing for 13 innings at first base and tabbed him as the next man up when he feared Freddie Freeman would miss time after being hit on the left wrist last month.

“He can handle first base,” Roberts said. “I don't feel good with him in left field, but he's done it.

“Right now the main thing is to spell Will; continue to be good behind the plate.”

Few teams cherish utility more than the Dodgers, who have used five players in at least three different positions this season. However, catchers — even backup catchers — are typically valued more for their unique skills at calling games, blocking 100-mph pitches in the dirt and throwing out would-be base stealers than for their versatility.

That’s why Smith, the Dodgers’ starting catcher and a three-time National League All-Star, has played just 3 2/3 innings anywhere else in the field in seven major league seasons. Rushing expects the same.

“The main focus is catching. It's been catching since I showed up,” he said. “When they made the decision to bring me up in May, it was kind of: ‘Hey, we want this guy to catch. Learn the position. Learn these guys as much as possible.’

“I like to keep it in my back pocket that I can play other positions. But I would say the main reason is still to catch.”

And hit, since the Dodgers also see value in Rushing’s bat. A left-handed hitter with pop, Rushing was slashing .308/.424/.514 when he was called up from triple-A Oklahoma City in May.

“The bat got him here,” Roberts said. “The performance got him here.”

How long it keeps him here is uncertain. Rushing, who has always been a starter, is having trouble adjusting to limited at-bats, hitting .186 with more than twice as many strikeouts as hits in 37 games.

But then this isn’t the first time he’s followed Smith since both catchers played college baseball at Louisville and in Cape Cod League. Smith, 30, who was born in Louisville, was undrafted out of high school but became a first-round pick of the Dodgers three years later, signing for a $1.775-million bonus. He made his big league debut in 2019, the same year Rushing graduated high school.

Read more:Rocky, and painful, outing for Shohei Ohtani as Dodgers lose to Colorado

Rushing, 24, from Tennessee, was a second-round pick in 2022, getting just under $2 million to sign with the Dodgers.

“He’s older than me by a few years, but we crossed paths a good bit,” said Rushing, who shares an agent with Smith. “It's similar paths. That's kind of what just allows the Dodgers to know what they're getting.

“He helps out a lot, and it makes my job a lot easier. Seeing him do what he does every day and kind of just running things off of each other and just trying to learn as much as possible.”

It some ways, then, Rushing finds himself in the perfect position. No matter which glove he uses.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Nothing can kill a winning streak like sloppy play, and that's exactly what happened to the Yankees on Thursday in their 6-3 loss to the Red Sox.

Not only did the Yankees pitching walk nine batters, they left 10 runners on base and made four errors -- yes, four -- that resulted in three runs and ultimately were the difference in this game.

"Not a real clean game for us. A lot of free bases there," manager Aaron Boone said of his team's performance after the loss. "For the most part in the first half, we were able to overcome them…they made us pay on the last error on the homer. Not a great night for us."

That homer Boone alluded to was the exclamation point on the tough night for the Yankees. First, Luis Gil had trouble with his command, walking five batters and making the first error of the game when he booted a chopper to him to lead the second inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed up with a throwing error on a potential double play ball that allowed the runner to advance to second with one out. After a stolen base and a walk, Ben Rice made a throwing error trying to catch a runner stealing that gave the Red Sox an extra base and allowed the runner at third to score. 

Three errors in one inning, but Gil and the Yankees kept it at just one run allowed.

Gil would allow Boston runners to clog the bases through his five innings of work, but allowed just two runs and was the pitcher of record on the winning side when he was done. The Yankees bullpen would walk four more batters and allow the Red Sox to capture the lead, 4-3, which held until the ninth inning. 

It looked as if the Yankees were going to bat in the bottom of the ninth only down one, when the fourth and final error occurred. With one out, Yerry De Los Santos got a ground ball to first base, but Paul Goldschmidt could not get the ball out of his glove to make the flip to the pitcher covering. Two batters later, Roman Anthony blasted a towering two-run shot with two outs to give the Red Sox the insurance they needed, an at-bat that would have never occurred.

"Definitely gave them spots to win and I felt like tonight was one of those nights where we beat ourselves," Chisholm said after the game. "Just like [Cody Bellinger] said in the past, sometimes you just got to look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'Hey you beat yourself tonight. Tomorrow, come out better and focus more.'"

"You can’t fix every time you make errors, it’s going to be hard to overcome. It might have been the reason we lost tonight," Goldschmidt said. "There’s a lot of good teams in this league. Any time you give them an extra out, extra runs, they got two when I made my error in the ninth, it could have been a different game, I’m sure they probably scored another run off another error. You make it hard on yourself. We didn’t play good enough to win tonight."

Thursday was the third game in which the Yankees made four-plus errors in a single game this season. That's the most in MLB. Before Thursday's game, the last time the Yankees committed four-plus errors and walked nine-plus batters in a nine-inning game at home was May 1912 (h/t Katie Sharp). 

Both Chisholm and Goldschmidt said they are not overly concerned with their errors moving forward when they were asked. Chisholm specifically pointed to the Gold Glovers in the infield and chalked Thursday's performance to "just baseball," but what should be concerning is the team's performance against the teams they are likely to face in the postseason.

After Thursday's loss, the Yankees are 6-17 against the Tigers, Blue Jays, Astros and Red Sox (5-1 against the Mariners) this season. Boston pulled within 0.5 games of the Yankees for the first wild card spot and improved their record against the Yankees to 6-1 this year. 

Goldschmidt was asked about why Boston has had the Yankees' number this season and the former MVP could not think of a reason.

"I don’t have an answer. We played a lot of close games with them," he said. "They’ve been able to make one more play, one more hit than us. Hopefully, we can change that tomorrow."

The Yankees and Red Sox meet three more times this weekend before they meet in a three-game set in Boston in mid-September. There is still time to turn the narrative that Boston owns them this season, but it's getting late early. 

The Yankees committed four errors and left 10 runners on base in their 6-3 loss to the Red Sox on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.

The loss cuts their lead for the first wild card spot to just 0.5 games in front of Boston. The loss snapped the Yankees' five-game winning streak and the Red Sox are now 6-1 this season against their rivals.

New York now has three games of four-plus errors this season, the most in MLB. But it wasn't just their defense; the offense, while resilient, just didn't do enough with their opportunities. The Yankees finished 2-for-7 with RISP and left 10 men on base. The Red Sox were much worse, going 3-for-19 with 14 left on base.

Here are the takeaways...

-Walks got Luis Gil in trouble on Thursday and it started early. He walked two batters to give the Red Sox a scoring opportunity with two outs for recently signed Nathanial Lowe. The left-handed slugger flew out to right to end the threat.

Errors were the story in the second inning. Gil booted a chopper back at him, allowing the leadoff hitter to reach and then Jazz Chisholm Jr. overthrew, by a lot, Paul Goldschmidt on a potential double play ball that went into the dugout, allowing Cedanne Rafaela to reach second on the second error of the inning. Ryan McMahon prevented a throwing error from Ben Rice, starting at catcher, on Rafaela's steal of third. After a walk, Rice would overthrow Anthony Volpe on a steal of second to allow the first run of the game to score.

Gil worked out of the inning by picking David Hamilton off of third base and getting Roman Anthony to ground out, but Boston had been held hitless after two innings and still led thanks to the three errors and four walks from Gil.

-Giancarlo Stanton started in right field and his deficiency out there showed in the third inning when Alex Bregman hit a ground-rule double that the slugger could not get to. But Gil stranded the runner as he got the next three batters out without allowing a run. Runners on base was a common theme for Gil as he struggled to pitch clean innings, but, to his credit, he squirmed his way through five innings. His biggest Houdini act came in the fifth when a walk and two singles loaded the bases with no outs. After striking out Trevor Story, Gil got Lowe to fly out, which drove in a run, and Masataka Yoshida to fly out to end the inning, allowing just one run.

Gil was not sharp, but gave the Yankees a chance by pitching five innings of two-run ball. He tossed 93 pitches (52 strikes), allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and five walks while striking out just three batters.

-The Yankees hit 14 homers in their two-game series sweep of the Rays and they continued the power surge in the second inning when Rice made up for his error by launching a solo shot to tie the game.

It's the 20th consecutive run the Yankees have scored that's come via the home run. They tied the 2020 Yankees for most consecutive runs scored via the home run by any team in at least the expansion era (since 1961) (via Sarah Langs). 

That streak would end in the fourth when Chisholm led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on the throwing error from catcher Carlos Narvaez.Goldschmidt poked a single through the drawn-in infield to put the Yankees on top 2-1. 

In the fifth, Red Sox manager Alex Cora pulled starter Lucas Giolito with two outs and Aaron Judge on first base for lefty Justin Wilson to face Rice. The left-handed slugger walked and Chisholm blooped a single just beyond Story's glove to drive in Judge, who stole second earlier in the inning, and retake the lead. After a walk to Goldschmidt to load the bases, Wilson got McMahon swinging to end the threat.

-The Yankees had an opportunity to score in the seventh after LHP Steven Matz gave up a one-out triple to Rice. However, he struck out Chisholm swinging and got Goldschmidt to pop out to first to escape the jam.

-Camilo Doval was the first arm out of the pen, and his struggles continued. After a leadoff infield single by Hamilton, Doval made three disengagements to balk Hamilton over to second. He walked Narvaez on four pitches before facing the top of the Red Sox lineup. Anthony lined a single the other way to tie the game at 3-3, and that was it for Doval. Doval has allowed at least one run in five of his nine appearances since being traded to the Yankees.

Mark Leiter Jr. was next and got the next two batters out (Bregman pop-up, Jarren Duran groundout) to keep the score tied. Luke Weaver was on in the seventh and allowed a leadoff single and then a double in the gap to Lowe, allowing Story to score and take the lead 4-3. After a soft groundout, Weaver walked back-to-back batters to load the bases with one out. Weaver struck out Narvaez but was pulled for Tim Hill. The southpaw struck out Anthony to strand more runners.

The combination of Hill and Yerry De Los Santos got through the eighth inning, stranding two more runners. De Los Santos started the ninth and was on his way to getting the first two outs without issue, but Goldschmidt's error allowed Hamilton to reach safely. Two batters later, Anthony hit a two-out, two-run blast to give the Red Sox a 6-3 lead.

-In the bottom of the ninth, former Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman got Judge (pop out), Cody Bellinger (groundout) and Stanton (ground out) to end the game.

Game MVP: Roman Anthony

The slugging rookie drove in three runs but none bigger than that two-run blast to keep the Yankees at bay.

Highlights

Ben Rice ties it up with a solo shot!

(via @MLB) pic.twitter.com/LiLMsxvs2g

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 21, 2025

RBI single for Paul Goldschmidt gives the Yankees the lead!

(via @Yankees) pic.twitter.com/p7sY5BKTJ7

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 22, 2025

Jazz Chisholm gives the lead back to the Yanks!

(via @yankees) pic.twitter.com/LL1wqWa0ZU

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 22, 2025

What's next

The Yankees and Red Sox continue their four-game series on Friday evening. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

Max Fried (13-5, 3.26 ERA) will look to get back on track as he takes on Brayan Bello (9-6, 3.23).

It was another disappointing game for the Mets on Thursday afternoon, losing to the Washington Nationals, 9-3, and dropping the series in the process.

After winning the final two games against the Seattle Mariners over the weekend to win their first series since late July, things were looking up for New York following a series-opening win against the Nationals on Tuesday that made it three in a row. 

Perhaps the tide was finally turning for a team that had been saying for the last two months it needed to play better. What followed, however, didn't inspire much confidence as the Mets let the final two games in Washington slip away and were left in the same exact spot they've been in for the last two months.

"We just got to be better, bottom line," said manager Carlos Mendoza after the game.

Thursday's culprit was Sean Manaea, who began the game by dominating the Nationals lineup, striking out seven in the first three innings as his offense gave him a quick lead. But after such a strong start, Manaea unraveled in the fourth before completely falling apart in the fifth.

The left-hander lasted 4.2 innings and allowed four earned runs -- the fourth straight outing that he's given up four or more as part of a terrible month of August in which he has a 7.91 ERA in 19.2 innings.

"I just lost feel for my sweeper right there and then just lost control of my fastball at the end there, too," Manaea said.

It's becoming a trend lately for the 33-year-old to pitch well in the first few innings before hitting a wall during the second time through the lineup. In fact, as a staff, the Mets entered Thursday with a 7.14 ERA in the fourth inning over their last 61 games -- second-highest behind the Miami Marlins (7.65 ERA).

Citing that he feels good physically after his late start to the season with a right oblique strain and a left elbow setback, Manaea had a hard time explaining why that's been the case for him.

"I wouldn’t say fatigue. I feel good," he said. "I really have no explanation for why I’m hitting that wall."

When asked what he could do to counter it, Manaea's answer was equally concerning.

"I don’t know. I think that’s key. I think I’m doing everything in between starts, so I just gotta execute," the lefty said.

As for his skipper, Mendoza was clear in his message to Manaea, and the rest of his starters for that matter, who have not gotten the job done as one of New York's front-line starters.

After all, the Mets' streak of starters not named David Peterson unable to pitch six innings is still active.

"It starts with our starters. They set the tone," Mendoza said. "When they go, the whole team pretty much goes. And it’s been hard for these guys the past two months basically, dealing with injuries, getting guys back. 

"But at this point, with everybody pretty much healthy, we need to be better. We need to be better. And they know that -- talking about [Kodai] Senga, Manaea tonight. We need those guys. And they know they’re capable of giving us a chance to win baseball games and right now we’re not doing that. It’s frustrating, they are frustrated."

With the calendar getting ready to flip to September, time is running out for New York to figure things out, which is why the message continues to be the same as it has been for the last two months: Just play better.

At some point, though, words aren't enough.

"We gotta get going. We gotta see results," Mendoza said. "We’ve seen it from this group, especially from the guys that I mentioned. It starts right there. We don’t have much time left, so we gotta play better."

"It ain’t late, but it ain’t early either," said Juan Soto about having enough time to turn it around. "We have to win today. We don’t have to be focused on what is gonna happen in the future or what has happened in the past, we gotta focus on what we can do today."

The Mets dropped the rubber game against the last-place Washington Nationals on Thursday afternoon, losing 9-3.

Here are the takeaways...

-For the first time since late July, it looked like Sean Manaea was poised to have a good day on the mound. The left-hander began his outing by retiring nine of the first 10 batters he faced, including seven via strikeout. The only hit Manaea allowed over the first three innings was a ground-rule double by Brady House that got stuck in the left-field wall padding and barely missed being a home run. 

Still, after the first hard-hit ball against him and the first Nationals chance to score, Manaea came back to strike out two to end the inning and leave the runner stranded at second.

-From then on, though, things got tricky for the lefty. The fourth inning began with another strikeout, Manaea's eighth of the game, but catcher Hayden Senger couldn't stop the sweeper and CJ Abrams reached safely on the wild pitch charged to Manaea. After a lineout, a single and a hit by pitch loaded the bases, Abrams came around to score on Dylan Crews' groundout to second base. Brett Baty made the play going to his right, cutting off Francisco Lindor who might have had a chance to step on second and double up Crews even with his speed.

-After surrendering just the one run in the fourth, Manaea was back out for the fifth and paid for another defensive misstep. Following a single to start the inning, Jacob Young laid down a sacrifice bunt which was handled by Pete Alonso. Instead of getting the sure out at first base, Alonso threw to second to try and get the lead runner out, but his throw was too late. Alonso's aggressiveness put runners on first and second with nobody out and had Manaea in some more hot water.

The left-hander got one out before hitting his second batter of the game to load the bases once again. Met killer Paul DeJong hit a sacrifice fly to get Washington closer, but Manaea was one out away from escaping further damage. However, he was unable to close the door and walked Andrés Chaparro to end his outing and left with the bases loaded.

-Up by one, manager Carlos Mendoza turned to Tyler Rogers to get the final out of the inning and hold onto the lead, but the submariner came in and immediately gave up the lead on a two-run single by Riley Adams. Both runs were charged to Manaea, who went 4.2 innings and gave up four earned runs on three hits, a walk, two HBPs and a wild pitch. 

It's the fourth consecutive outing that Manaea has allowed four earned runs or more after coming off the IL and pitching to a 2.08 ERA in July in four games (three starts). Manaea has an ugly 7.98 ERA in four August starts. His season ERA now sits at 5.15 in 36.2 innings.

-On the other side, pitching for the Nationals, MacKenzie Gore lasted just 4.1 innings and was touched up for three runs, including Lindor's leadoff home run to start the game -- the shortstop's eighth time leading off a game with a homer, a new franchise single-season record. Starling Marte also tagged Gore for a solo shot in the third to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

-But against Washington's bullpen, which has struggled all season, New York couldn't get anything going. Five pitchers held the Mets scoreless for 4.2 innings and before Lindor's two-out single in the ninth, their last hit was a single in the fourth inning by Cedric Mullins. 

Instead, it was New York's bullpen that let the game get away. 

-After Rogers failed to bail out Manaea in the fifth, the roof caved in on Ryne Stanek in the eighth. The right-hander allowed four runs on three hits and two walks. The big blow came off the bat of the struggling James Wood, who unloaded on a three-run bomb to break the game open and give the Nationals a 9-3 lead. Stanek now has a 5.65 ERA this season and an 18.56 ERA over his last seven appearances (5.1 innings).

-Senger notched his first career RBI with a sacrifice fly in the fourth that put New York ahead 3-0 at the time.

Game MVP: Riley Adams

He finished 2-for-3 and his two RBI in the fifth gave his team the lead that it would not relinquish.

Highlights

Leadoff homer for Francisco Lindor!

His eighth leadoff home run of the season is a franchise record! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/GCYbdeigmb

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 21, 2025

Sean Manaea is up to 5 strikeouts through two innings 💪 pic.twitter.com/2GyEbkNmsZ

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 21, 2025

Starling Marte solo homer! 💣 pic.twitter.com/z2jXtI0ob5

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 21, 2025

Hayden Senger's first MLB RBI! pic.twitter.com/nqjzREWtF5

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 21, 2025

What's next

The Mets continue their road trip with a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves starting on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

RHP Nolan McLean (1-0, 0.00) will make his second career start after a superb outing in his MLB debut and will face off against LHP Joey Wentz (4-3, 4.72 ERA).