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The Mets pounded out 20 his on Sunday, tallying 10 in each game of Sunday’s doubleheader in St. Louis. But while the hits were numerous (as were the walks, 13 in total), the big, timely knock never came as they left 22 men on base and went 6-for-26 with runners in scoring position in a pair of one-run defeats.

“We hit a lot of balls hard,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the Game 2 defeat. “Yeah, it’s frustrating, but it’s baseball, I guess. Didn’t go our way.”

The Cardinals, of course, also had 20 hits across the twin bill, and left 20 on base while going 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position. But the sweep eases any postgame agita.

To add to the Mets' frustration was the number of balls hit on the button that didn't result in hits, as they had just five hits (all singles) on 12 balls with exit velocities over 100 mph in Game 2. The other seven went for eight outs. 

“We had chances and hit balls hard, they just didn’t go our way,” Mendoza said. 

The notable hard-luck moments: Brandon Nimmo’s 107 mph lineout to right left the bases loaded in the fourth (.630 expected batting average). And Juan Soto getting a three-run home run pulled back by Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott earlier that same inning.

“I thought it was out,” Soto said of the 408-foot flyout. “Definitely hit it hard enough to go out.”

Before Scott's intervention, the ball would have been a homer in 13 of 30 big league parks, but not Citi Field. Soto just missed leaving the yard in the sixth when he took one the other way, but it was caught in the middle of the track for a 349-foot out. A dinger in seven parks, but not St. Louis.

“I think we did a really good job of getting guys on,” Soto said, “unfortunately, we couldn’t come through with the big base hit.”

“That’s how baseball goes sometimes,” Mendoza said. “It could be a little frustrating, but there’s nothing you could do about it. You gotta keep doing what we’re supposed to be doing, which is control the strike zone [and] hitting balls hard.

“Yes, we want to win series, we want to win games. WE gotta turn the page and be ready for a series in Arizona.” 

Starling Marte's (brief) right field debut

The only ball hit in Marte's direction during his four innings in right field landed well over his head in the Cardinals' bullpen for a two-run home run. So when he was removed from the second game of Sunday's doubleheader for the bottom of the fifth inning, there was concern.

But Mendoza said this was "part of the plan."

“He was only gonna go no more than five innings on defense after not playing since spring training,” he said. “We knew we wanted to get Soto off his feet and it was a good opportunity for Marte today, but he’s fine.”

While Marte in his first innings of the year in right field (with Soto serving as DH for the first time of the year) was a mere spectator, at the plate, he had two singles in his first two times up to bat, the second scoring a pair of runs in the Mets' four-run third. Marte also stole second base for his 357th career steal in the second inning.

He grounded out in his final at-bat to start the fifth to finish the day 2-for-3 with two RBI.

The club had been taking it slow with Marte throughout the year in an attempt to keep him fresh and healthy after he dealt with numerous injuries in his last three seasons.

The Mets lost Jesse Winker in Game 1 of the twin bill with a possible oblique injury. Winker, making his first start in left field of the year, apparently suffered the injury when he made a throw home in the bottom of the third.

Mendoza said after the Game 2 loss that Winker was returning to New York for additional testing and would likely land on the IL.

Edwin Diaz ends long layoff

The Mets didn’t have a chance for the closer to earn a save Sunday, but Mendoza still got Diaz into action in Game 2 to end a run of eight days of inaction for the right-hander.

Diaz surrendered a single on the first pitch he threw and a two-out double down the right field line, but kept the deficit at one run.

He threw 14 pitches to the five batters he faced, with a strikeout. He threw nine fastballs with an average velocity of 97.7 mph, which was 1.4 mph faster than his yearly average. His slider average velocity was also up 0.6 mph to 88.8. He had two whiffs and three called strikes.

Brett Baty toe update

Baty missed the last four games for Triple-A Syracuse as he’s dealing with a sore right big toe, Mendoza said.

“I was told he was going through his workouts [Saturday and Sunday],” Mendoza added. “We’ll see.”

Baty had two doubles and three RBI in his first game with Syracuse and has three hits in 10 at-bats with three strikeouts and a walk.

Dustin May knew how key his sweeper would be this season.

“It’s going to be huge,” the Dodgers right-hander said earlier this spring. “Being able to land that is probably going to be my biggest thing for the whole year.”

Lately, however, he’s learning there’s a flip side to that coin, as well.

For as good as May’s Frisbee-esque breaking ball looked, when he returned from a nearly two-year absence by giving up just two earned runs in his first three starts, the pitch has been more inconsistent in the three outings since, dragging May’s overall performance down with it.

In a 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday at Truist Park, it was two bad sweepers — both to Braves slugger Austin Riley — that sank May on a night the Dodgers saw their seven-game winning streak stopped.

Read more:'Big brother, little brother.' How Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages bond is helping Dodgers

In the first inning, May had two strikes against Riley before throwing a sweeper up and over the plate. Riley launched it to left for a two-run homer.

In the third, May tried his sweeper again against Riley, throwing it over the outer edge of the plate in a 1-and-1 count. But Riley was on it once more, belting another two-run blast that gave the Braves an early 4-0 lead.

“It's pretty frustrating,” May said. “Giving up two homers to him on kind of the same pitch, not really how I drew it up.”

Outside of those pitches, May was largely effective. He got through 5 ⅔ innings. He struck out six batters. He didn’t give up any other runs.

“I thought the execution was a little better tonight,” May said. “Being able to put the ball on the inner-half and outer-half of the plate.”

But for this new version of May — who, in search of better health after two major elbow surgeries, has dialed back on his fastball velocity and drastically dropped the arm angle of his already somewhat side-arm delivery — even a couple of misplaced mistakes can spell trouble.

“I mean, ideally, the first one [should have been] more off the plate, definitely not up,” May said. “The second one was OK, just too much plate.”

The Dodgers (23-11) still made it interesting at the end.

Max Muncy trimmed the deficit in half on a fourth-inning RBI double and a sixth-inning run-scoring groundout.

Miguel Rojas came off the bench in the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter for ice-cold outfielder Michael Conforto — who struck out twice and is six for 73 going back to early April — and hit a home run off left-handed reliever Dylan Lee to cut the score to 4-3. 

But in the ninth, the Dodgers couldn’t complete the comeback, stranding pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim at third base after he stole second off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias and boldly dashed to third when a dropped third strike was thrown to first base.

"That was great. That was exciting,” Roberts said of Kim’s aggressive baserunning, one of the tools that attracted the club to the South Korean utilityman in free agency. “Those are things that, as he plays more and we start to learn more [about him],  just shows that he's got really good instincts."

Still, for a banged-up Dodgers rotation looking for someone else to step up alongside staff ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, May’s recent regression has been the bigger disappointment.

In his last three outings, the 27-year-old has yielded 14 runs in 16 innings.

And each time, an inability to consistently land his sweeper has served as a source of frustration.

Two weeks ago, when an overall lack of command led to May getting knocked around at Wrigley Field by the Chicago Cubs, he was asked how difficult it is to be successful when that pitch isn’t working.

“I think you can see how important it is,” he said that night.

May remained dissatisfied after giving up three runs to the Miami Marlins last Monday.

“I still wasn’t executing very well at all,” he said then. “I just got away with some stuff.”

On Sunday against the Braves, it was a similar story — May looking frustrated with himself after two poorly executed sweepers, both of which were followed by Riley trotting around the bases.

“Ups and downs,” May said of his opening month, in which he has a 4.36 earned-run average in six outings. “Couple good moments. Couple really bad ones. Definitely need to be more consistent.”

Especially when it comes to executing his sweeper, and using it as a weapon to put hitters away.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Mets had chances early, but couldn’t find the big hit and let an early two-run lead slip away for a 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader.

Tylor Megill labored through five innings of work in his worst outing of the young season, as the Mets dropped two one-run games to close out the series in St. Louis. 

Missed opportunities early proved harmful: New York was 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position, left nine on base, and hit into two double plays in the first five innings. The Mets, after scoring all their runs in the third, had just one base runner in the final four frames.

Here are the key takeaways...

- The second game of the twin bill started with a pair of twin killings as Pete Alonso smashed a ball (112.7 mph) for a tough-luck 5-4-3 in the first and Brandon Nimmo bounced into an easy 4-6-3 in the second.

Alonso made up for it with a run-scoring single to left (his 31st RBI of the year) with one out in the third. The first baseman’s single was the Mets’ seventh ball hit harder than 97 mph of the game and their sixth hit off St. Louis starter Andre Pallante.

Nimmo, with the bases loaded, got beat by a Pallante up and in fastball for the second out. Starling Marte, on a 3-2 count, took a lazy breaking pitch the other way for a two-run single to put the Mets ahead. Francisco Alvarez tacked on another run by shooting the ball the other way for his seventh RBI of the season.

- Nimmo got another chance with the bases loaded in the fourth, and lined a shot to right, but Jordan Walker made a stumbling catch on the run to end the inning without a run. The 107 mph shot had an expected batting average of .630, per Statcast. Nimmo finished the day 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

- After a five-pitch first, Megill got beat with an infield single by Nolan Arenado on a slow roller to third before Alec Burleson took a fastball up and over the plate deep to right for a 402-foot two-run shot.

The right-hander bounced back, getting the next three batters with two strikeouts. But he walked Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn with one out in the third, and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner was out for a visit. Megill got a pair of grounders, but on the second one, Vientos’ throw was in the dirt and Alonso couldn’t scoop it. The play was ruled a second Arenado infield hit, but just as easily could have been ruled an error. Willson Contreras smashed a single up the middle on a 3-2 pitch to tie the game. On the 38th pitch of the frame, Megill got a grounder to second to end the jam.

His best inning of the night was his final one, working around a one-out hit-by-pitch to strike out the side in the fifth. Megill’s final line: 5 innings, four hits, four runs, three walks, and six strikeouts on 90 pitches (53 strikes).

- Max Kranick surrendered a run when Victor Scott hit a two-out gapper to right center, scoring Yohel Pozo from first. Luisangel Acuña and Francisco Lindor didn’t cut off Tyrone Taylor’s throw well, which denied them a shot at getting the slow-footed catcher at the plate.

Ryne Stanek allowed a one-out bloop single and another batter to reach on a strikeout-wild pitch in a scoreless seventh. Edwin Diaz, pitching in his first game in eight days, allowed a leadoff single and a two-out double, but kept St. Louis off the board.

- Juan Soto, serving as the DH for the first time on the season, smashed a single up the middle in the first. With runners on first and second and nobody out against a struggling Pallente in the fourth, Soto drove a deep fly to center, but Scott had time to get back to the wall and rob the slugger of a homer with a leaping catch. At 408 feet, it would have been a homer in 13 of 30 parks, but not Citi Field. 

Soto drove a ball to the warning track in left to start the sixth, but the 349-foot ball was only a fly out. It would have been a homer in seven parks, but not in Queens. He finished the game 1-for-5. 

- Lindor singled in the third and walked in the fourth before stealing second to put two in scoring position. He got an RBI chance with two out in the fifth, but went down swinging at a fastball above the zone to strand two. He finished the day 1-for-4.

- Vientos lined a first-pitch slider the opposite way to start the second with a single and walked his first two chances. He went down looking with the bases loaded in the fourth on a sweeper at the bottom of the zone on the inside corner. Vientos added a single to finish 2-for-4 with a walk and strikeout.

- Alonso finished 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.

- Alvarez had just two walks in 28 times up entering the game and walked twice in his first three times up. He finished the day 1-for-2.

- Acuña bounced out to end the second and third innings, stranding two runners on both occasions. He finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

- Taylor singled to start the third and fourth innings. He went 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch. 

- Marte got the start in right field, making his first appearance in the field of the season. He took a hanging slider to left for a single and stole second for his 357th steal of his career in the second. After grounding out to start the top of the fifth, Marte was not in right for the bottom of the inning with José Azócar replacing him. He finished the day 2-for-3. Manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game that it was "part of the plan" to limit Marte to just five innings.

Who was the game MVP?

Cardinals reliever Michael McGreevy entered with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning and put a halt to the Mets' offense. The right-hander surrendered one hit, one walk, and a hit by pitch but closed the game with 5.2 scoreless innings. He retired the final 10 batters he faced.

Highlights

Pete Alonso gets the Mets on the board with an RBI single!

It's his 31st RBI in the Mets' 35th game of the year pic.twitter.com/fgMPPm1rCL

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 4, 2025

FROM SANTOOOOOO DOMINGOOOOOOOOOOOO

Starling Marte puts the Mets in front! pic.twitter.com/ScrgNnCr8C

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 4, 2025

HIT AND RUN EXECUTED TO PERFECTION!

Francisco Alvarez brings home Mark Vientos with the fourth run of the inning 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8VvyhR9jRl

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 4, 2025

Three strikeouts in the fifth inning for Tylor Megill ♨️ pic.twitter.com/jyd4LTZxwT

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 5, 2025

Upcoming schedule

New York heads to Arizona for a three-game series against the Diamondbacks.

Right-hander Griffin Canning (2.61 ERA, 1.387 WHIP in 31.0 innings) gets the start for the visitors. Righty Ryne Nelson (5.82 ERA, 1.176 WHIP in 17 innings) climbs the hill for the home side.

While the Yankees served as host to an annual Star Wars Day celebration, the on-field product that they doled out in the Bronx resembled anything but a fully operational Death Star.

Fans who sat through a 30-minute rain delay before first pitch on Sunday might've felt some spring training vibes, as a compromised lineup missing a handful of regulars couldn't muster enough offense in a 7-5 rubber-game loss to the division-rival Rays at Yankee Stadium.

The top-heavy lineup did include the punch of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt, who drove in three runs on as many hits. But notably absent were Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm Jr. due to injury, and Ben Rice and Austin Wells due to rest. It wasn't a split-squad camp game, but the energy undoubtedly existed.

There were late signs of life

With the Yankees trailing by five entering the eighth inning, Judge extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff double that sparked a rally. Following a walk to Bellinger, Judge scored on an RBI single from Goldschmidt, and just a few pitches later, Jasson Dominguez loaded the bases with a sharp liner that bounced off the right-field wall.

The stage was then set for backup catcher J.C. Escarra -- making his eighth major league start -- as the tying run with nobody out. But the momentum built up was quickly cut down when his soft comebacker to Rays reliever Edwin Uceta helped manufacture a 1-2-3 double play. New York's rally ultimately produced three runs, as Jorbit Vivas delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single for his first MLB knock.

After the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked why he didn't use Wells or Rice as a pinch hitter for Escarra, and explained that he didn't want the move with no outs and a thinner bench. Boone also wanted to avoid Volpe as an option, as the Yankees' shortstop suffered a scary "day-to-day" injury to his left shoulder on a diving attempt in the field during Saturday's loss. Rice wound up walking as a pinch-hitter for Oswaldo Cabrera with two outs in the eighth.

"I'm choosing between Escarra and Vivas there, and just going to take the guy who's been here and more experienced," Boone said. "I knew I had one shot with Rice there. And then once the double play happened, I kind of shut that down a little bit. But then he was the tying run again with [Cabrera]... I can't shoot for both of them, because all I'd have is Escarra left. I've got to keep Escarra in the game, or then I can't shoot for Vivas either."

Warren struggles with command again

There's no doubt that the half-hour rain delay disrupted Will Warren's pregame routine, but the rookie right-hander didn't encounter new problems against the Rays. He once again grappled with command, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks across 4.2 innings.

Warren wasn't supported enough by his defenders, as a fielding error from Oswald Peraza and a catcher's interference call on Escarra extended jams. By the time he was pulled with two outs in the fifth, Warren had thrown a career-high 102 pitches with the Yankees trailing 5-0.

The silver lining is that he registered a career-best eight strikeouts, but the output could've been greater if he hadn't lost some hitters while ahead in the count. Of the seven hits he allowed, three of them came with two strikes. It was the second-shortest outing thus far for Warren, whose ERA now sits at 5.65 through eight starts (32.1 innings).

"I felt like the whole day was a little up and down," Warren said. "They kind of hit the ball where we weren't and then I had three free passes. They were taking advantage of every little thing we gave them. I don't know if I thought it was a grind, I was just trying to attack and execute pitches as much as possible... I wish I could've put the team in a better chance to win."

No. 200 for No. 35

There haven't been many highlights from Bellinger with one-fifth of the season now complete, but the veteran slugger delivered a milestone hit on Sunday. With one on and one out in the sixth, he crushed a fastball from Rays starter Taj Bradley that landed in the right-center field seats for his 200th career home run.

"It's definitely pretty cool [to hit 200]. You never knew as a kid what you'd do," said Bellinger, who managed to make a deal with a fan for the ball. "So I've just got to keep going and hopefully a lot more to come. I signed some balls and I'm grateful they were able to hand me the baseball. Got a little collection going on, so I'll just put it with the rest."

The Yankees are still waiting for Bellinger to bust out at the plate. While he provided a pair of homers this week, his season total sits at only four, and he's slashing an inadequate .200/.276/.364 through 31 games (110 at-bats).

While Blade Tidwell may have had an uneven major league debut in Sunday's 6-5 loss in the St. Louis Cardinals -- the first game of a split doubleheader -- the highly touted prospect was still able to take in the moment that he's been thinking about for most of his life.

"It was awesome, indescribable, really. It was everything I hoped for and more," said Tidwell, who made his debut with the Mets in need of a sixth starter this time through the rotation.

A second-round pick of the Mets in 2022, Tidwell lasted 3.2 innings in his first game in the bigs, allowing six earned runs on nine hits, striking out two and walking three to go along with a hit-by-pitch.

Tidwell's potential is evident every time he takes the mound. His fastball touched 98 mph, and at times, he was able to spot it on the corners. And while the 23-year-old still has plenty of room to grow, that potential to be a true power arm is impossible to miss for Joe DeMayo's No. 12 overall prospect in the Mets' system.

"I think we saw flashes of his potential, especially the life on the fastball, but we also saw that there’s room for development, especially with the secondary pitches," Carlos Mendoza said after the game. "At this level, you’re going to need pitches to put hitters away, but also you’re going to need secondary pitches to get back in counts. I thought the changeup wasn’t there today with that many lefties [in the lineup]. He flashed a few sliders, a few sweepers, but then he left a couple on the middle of the plate.

"Again, those are some of the things that he’ll continue to work on, but again, we saw flashes of it."

Tidwell said he did briefly take a moment to soak things in during the game, though he got most of that out of the way during warmups.

"It was awesome. I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid," Tidwell said. "Just to be able to come up here and try to help the team win means everything."

As expected, Tidwell was optioned back to Triple-A Syracuse prior to the second game on Sunday, making room on the active roster for reliever Dedniel Núñez.

When fans can expected to see Tidwell back in the majors is yet to be determined, but the right-hander will always have the memory of making his debut in St. Louis, with members of his family watching in the stands.

"They were all proud of me and gave me a hug," Tidwell said. "Told me to keep going."

The Yankees lost their second straight series to a division rival on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-5, at Yankee Stadium.

Here are the takeaways...

-- A pregame rain shower in the Bronx delayed first pitch by 30 minutes, and it's safe to assume that the wait time was a detriment to Yankees starter Will Warren. The rookie right-hander immediately struggled with command, working in and out of a first-inning jam that included a single and walk allowed. Warren's pitch count then climbed in the second, due to a fielding error from shortstop Oswald Peraza with two runners on and one out that loaded the bases. Tampa wound up drawing first blood on a fielder's choice groundout two pitches later.

-- Warren showed susceptibility to the homer during spring training, and he gave up his fourth long ball of the season in the third when Jonathan Aranda crushed a middle-zone fastball that landed in the Yankees' bullpen for a solo shot. His fourth inning was far more frustrating, however, as he yielded three singles and a walk for three more runs, pushing the Rays' lead to 5-0. A catcher's interference call on J.C. Escarra also contributed to Tampa's small-ball rally.

-- The good news for Warren was that he struck out a career-high eight while working through command issues. The bad news was, well, those command issues. Of the seven hits he allowed, three of them came ahead in the count with two strikes. The Yankees made Warren endure the growing pains, and ultimately took him out with two outs in the fifth and his pitch count up to a season-high 102. It was the second-shortest outing thus far for Warren, whose ERA now sits at 5.65 through eight starts (32.1 innings).

-- Rays starter Taj Bradley kept the Yankees at bay through the first five innings. He ran into trouble in the third, allowing a pair of singles that brought Aaron Judge to the plate as the go-ahead run with no outs, but managed to neutralize the threat by forcing the superstar slugger into a 6-4-3 double play. Bradley looked poised to complete six shutout innings on cruise control, but the Yankees finally inflicted damage with a leadoff single from Trent Grisham and a two-run homer from Cody Bellinger, cutting the deficit to 5-2. It was career homer No. 200 for Bellinger.

-- In relief of Warren, veteran lefty Tyler Matzek made his third appearance of the season, allowing four hits and recording four outs across nine batters faced. To start the seventh, the Yankees turned to veteran Carlos Carrasco, who was slated to start on Tuesday before the team pushed Clarke Schmidt into thespot. The veteran right-hander wasn't too effective as a bulk reliever -- he surrendered two runs on five hits with three strikeouts across three frames.

-- Judge entered the eighth inning 0-for-3, but a stand-up, leadoff double to right-center in his fourth at-bat extended his hit streak to 14 games and on-base streak to 30 games. The captain's knock sparked a rally, as Bellinger proceeded to walk and Paul Goldschmidt drove in Judge with a single to left. Jasson Dominguez then ripped a liner to right, loading the bases, but a double-play grounder off Escarra's bat cut down momentum. The Yankees managed to score two more before the inning ended, as Jorbit Vivas produced a two-run single for his first MLB hit.

-- The Rays tasked Pete Faibanks with facing the top of the Yankees' order in the ninth, and he wasn't the least bit fazed by the assignment. He recorded the save by striking out Grisham, Judge, and Bellinger on 15 pitches. Tampa's margin of victory should've been far greater -- they logged twice as many hits as New York (16 to 8) and left a whopping 16 runners on base.

Game MVP: Jonathan Aranda

While the Yankees allowed four Rays to collect three-plus hits -- Taylor Walls actually led the team with four in the No. 9 hole -- it was Aranda who drove in the most runs. His strong afternoon at the plate began with a solo homer off of Warren in the third, and his two-run single off of Carrasco in the seventh bumped Tampa's lead to 7-2. The five-run cushion was just enough.

Highlights

Cody Bellinger's 200th home run gets the Yankees on the board! pic.twitter.com/qA8fiB3T8W

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 4, 2025

Paul Goldschmidt cuts the deficit to 4 with an RBI single! pic.twitter.com/8rYj4xdqh3

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 4, 2025

JORBIT VIVAS' FIRST BIG LEAGUE HIT BRINGS HOME TWO!

(via @Yankees) pic.twitter.com/cmMonUjmD4

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 4, 2025

What's next

The Yankees (19-15) will begin the second half of their six-game homestand on Monday night, with the first of three against the San Diego Padres. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

A pitchers' duel could unfold -- Carlos Rodón (4-3, 3.43 ERA) is slated to take the mound, opposite veteran righty Nick Pivetta (5-1, 1.78 ERA).

Jesse Winkerwas removed from the first game of Sunday's split doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Mets later announced that Winker was forced to exit due to right side discomfort.

Winker started in left field for the first time this season and was replaced defensively by Jeff McNeil, who moved from second base to the outfield.

In the bottom of the third inning, Winker caught a fly ball and made a throw home. The runner was safe at the plate, but Nolan Arenado ended up getting caught in a rundown to end the inning.

Carlos Mendoza confirmed after the game that Winker hurt himself on that throw home, feeling something in "the oblique area."

"We’ll see what we’re dealing with here. He’s getting an MRI right now," Mendoza said.

"When you hear that area, those are tricky. I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, but he’s getting an MRI.

Winker, who drove in a sac fly with an RBI in his only plate appearance before exiting the game, is hitting .239 with a .739 OPS this season, driving in nine runs to go along with one home run.

The Cardinals score a run but run theselves out of the third inning as Nolan Arenado is tagged out in a rundown between third and home pic.twitter.com/zw1icumW1B

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 4, 2025

The Mets fell to the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 6-5 in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday.

Here are the key takeaways...

-Blade Tidwell’s major league debut didn’t exactly go to plan. While the right-hander showed off a 98 mph fastball and a nasty breaking ball, his command was a bit all over the place. Tidwell allowed a solo home run to Willson Contreras in the second inning, but things really didn’t start to spiral until the fourth. Tidwell allowed three hits, walked two, and hit another batter in the fourth, and a four-spot on the board ended his day.

Overall, Tidwell went 3.2 innings, allowing six earned runs on nine hits, striking out two, walking three, and hitting a batter.

-The Mets also dealt with an injury in this game, as Jesse Winker was forced to exit in the fourth inning due to right side discomfort. Making his first start in the outfield this season, Winker made a throw to the plate in the third, but it’s currently unclear as to whether or not that caused the discomfort.

With Winker forced out, Carlos Mendoza had to play some musical chairs, moving Jeff McNeil from second base to left, Luisangel Acuña from third to second, and bringing in Mark Vientos to play third.

-Pete Alonso remains completely locked in at the plate. He doubled in each of his first two at-bats, coming around to score in the first inning on a Brandon Nimmo RBI double. Alonso now has a 1.130 OPS on the season.

-Lefty Genesis Cabrera did a nice job of registering six outs for the Mets, getting out a of a first-and-third situation in the fourth after Tidwell was pulled. With another game coming up this evening, the Mets needed some length out of their pitchers, and Cabrera tossed two scoreless innings, allowing two hits.

-Trailing by three runs in the top of the eighth, the Mets built a rally against former Met reliever Phil Maton. Starting with a Luis Torrens walk, the Mets started passing the baton, and Francisco Lindor came through with the bases loaded, hitting a single up the middle to score a pair of runs and keep the chain moving.

With the bases loaded and JoJo Romero now on to pitch, Alonso was called out on strikes on a more than questionable 3-2 call from home plate umpire Jim Wolf, and Nimmo flew out harmlessly to center to keep the Cardinals up by a run.

In the ninth, the Mets moved the potential tying run to third base with two outs, but Acuña, who had three hits on the day, popped out on the infield to end the game.

Who was the game MVP?

Contreras, who homered and drove in three with three hits in the game.

Highlights

First big league strikeout for @bladetid 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Ab77rSHZTY

— New York Mets (@Mets) May 4, 2025

Brandon Nimmo gives the Mets an early lead with an RBI double! 💪 pic.twitter.com/vaXHOYyB0W

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 4, 2025

Pete Alonso and Austin Warren combine for an incredible play! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/d1qCk6jGN0

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 4, 2025

FRANCISCO LINDOR WITH A TWO-RUN SINGLE TO MAKE IT 6-5! pic.twitter.com/dyvqtWFcOO

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 4, 2025

Upcoming schedule

Game two of the split doubleheader is set for 6:15 p.m.

Tylor Megill will take the mound, opposite fellow righty Andre Pallante.

Giants recall Kyle Harrison from Triple-A, designate Lou Trivino for assignment originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison is back in the big leagues.

The Giants recalled the 23-year-old a few hours after their 9-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.

To clear a spot for Harrison on the 26-man roster, the Giants designated veteran reliever Lou Trivino for assignment.

Kyle Harrison is back. Lou Trivino was DFA’d to clear a roster spot. Harrison was 97-98 mph in his last Triple-A start.

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) May 5, 2025

Harrison was a key member of the Giants’ 2024 starting rotation but didn’t earn a roster spot this spring, losing the fifth starter competition to Landen Roupp.

The Giants had Harrison begin the 2025 season with Triple-A Sacramento, where he posted a 3.46 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 26 innings over six starts.

San Francisco currently doesn’t have an open rotation spot, so Harrison could provide bullpen depth as the team heads on the road for three games against the Chicago Cubs and three more against the Minnesota Twins this week.

A day after Harrison started for the River Cats last week, Giants manager Bob Melvin was asked about the possibility of the Bay Area native joining San Francisco soon.

“I think he could be an option at any point in time, but what we have here is what we have,” Melvin told reporters last Thursday. “We’ve played pretty well, we’re trying to create an environment of some stability. Now obviously you’re going to want to get the best possible complement that you can here. But it’s good to see that the velocity is picking up, because for a guy like him, that’s important. More swings and misses. So it’s probably his best performance and we’ll see where we go from here.”

Trivino didn’t pitch poorly during his brief Giants tenure, but he gave up five earned runs in the Giants’ 11-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on April 22 and had pitched just twice since — April 29 and Sunday.

The Giants always have had high hopes for Harrison, and the dynamic lefty gets his first chance to help the big-league club this week.

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Phillies make spirited late comeback but can't overcome untimely mistakes originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies’ offense mounted a late comeback with seven runs in the sixth inning or later Sunday afternoon but a series of small moments prevented them from pulling out a sweep over the Diamondbacks.

There was Ranger Suarez’ inability to stop the bleeding in the third and fourth innings of his season debut. His start began as smooth as possible with a pair of 1-2-3 frames but he allowed three runs in the third and four in the fourth, both rallies beginning with a walk of eight-hole hitter Garrett Hampson, not much of an offensive threat.

There was Alec Bohm bobbling a difficult grounder that cost Suarez and the Phils at least one run, maybe two.

There was J.T. Realmuto’s split-second decision to try to take third on a dropped third strike in the bottom of the seventh. He was nailed on a perfectly applied tag by Eugenio Suarez for the final out with the tying run on base.

“You never want to make the third out at third base and he knows that,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He came in and was mad at himself.”

And there was the slow exchange on a potential inning-ending double-play ball hit by Corbin Carroll in the top of the ninth. Carroll is one of the fastest players in the majors and it would have required a perfect flip from Bryson Stott to Trea Turner and an even better rocket to first base. Stott’s toss was high and Turner never got a grip on the ball, throwing it into the dirt. The next pitch was hit by Randal Grichuk for an RBI double. It would have been difficult either way, but if executed perfectly, the Phillies end the top of the ninth trailing by one rather than two.

“Stotty had a tough time getting it out of his glove and then Trea had a tough time getting it out of his glove too,” Thomson said. “Normally that’s a double-play ball.”

The lineup — Bohm, Realmuto, Stott and Turner included — put together plenty of good at-bats, particularly late. Bryce Harper snapped a home run drought of 62 plate appearances in the first inning and Weston Wilson hit a three-run shot in the sixth when the Phillies trailed by five, his first big knock since coming off the injured list on April 23.

Realmuto singled in Harper in the seventh to bring the Phillies within a run. Kyle Schwarber did the same with a two-out home run off Shelby Miller in the ninth. Nick Castellanos, Realmuto and Bohm followed with singles to tie the game.

The Phillies extended Jose Alvarado to a second inning and Arizona scored three times to win, 11-9. Schwarber grounded out hard with two aboard to end it.

Harper reached base three times but was annoyed with himself after striking out looking in the ninth and flying out to center as the winning run in the 10th.

“It got in on me a little bit. Just frustrated I couldn’t come through right there,” he said. “Obviously a big moment, big opportunity right there and couldn’t get it done.

“I’m just frustrated on a bigger level. Just want to come through for the team and play well. I’ve been through bigger ruts in my career, gone through ups and downs worse than what I’m on right now. Just frustrated for the fans, frustrated for the team. That last moment there against (Jalen) Beeks, not coming through right there, super frustrated for that. Just wanna play better, gotta play better. Just gotta be a better ballplayer.”

Harper did hit two balls hard and walk Sunday so he might be working his way out of the 6-for-42 slump he was in entering the afternoon.

It has come from necessity but Alvarado is probably being used too much. Sunday was his 16th appearance in 34 games, putting him on pace for 76. The Phillies don’t want any of their relievers reaching 70. He has also made three appearances already of more than one inning after not doing it once last season.

“It does (concern me) with all the guys, really,” Thomson said. “If we have to give him a couple of days after that, we will. That’s what we did the last time.”

The bullpen work before him was terrific. Orion Kerkering, Jordan Romano, Matt Strahm and Joe Ross combined for 4⅓ scoreless innings after Suarez allowed seven runs over 3⅔.

Making his first start in the Phillies’ 34th game after missing two months with a back injury, Suarez retired six in a row to begin the afternoon, striking out four. He was locating his sinker, fastball, changeup, curveball and cutter through two innings, missing bats with four of them and pitching almost artfully, the way things look for Suarez when he’s in sync.

It all fell apart once he had to pitch out of the stretch. Four consecutive Diamondbacks hitters reached base in a three-run third inning and five straight reached in a four-run fourth.

As rough as Suarez’ second half was last season, he didn’t have an outing quite this poor. The only time in his career he allowed more runs was his second start in the majors back in 2018.

His stuff looked fine, he just failed to command his pitches with men on base. Suarez averaged 92 mph with his sinker and four-seam fastball, his usual range. His slow hook was effective early, and he did a good job of pairing the mid-70s curveball with his low-90s fastball, at one point striking out Eugenio Suarez on a 93 mph heater after a 73 mph curve. The Phillies will hope this was just a matter of shaking off rust.

“It just looked like he lost his command getting out of the stretch, leaving his breaking ball up, changeup up,” Thomson said. “I don’t think he had many baserunners in his rehab starts. But he’s better than that and he will be.”

Suarez said it was less about rust and more about overthrowing out of the stretch, which he’ll work on in between starts. He will pitch next on Saturday in Cleveland.

The Phillies won the series and have gone 6-3 since being swept by the Mets last week but still haven’t gotten on an extended roll in any phase — offensively, defensively or with full-game pitching performances. The flipside is they’re on pace for 91 wins without having played close to their best baseball.

“I thought we fought,” Harper said. “It’s what you want. We could’ve just laid down and said we won the series already and we didn’t do that. Just really good, hard-fought. I know we lost but fought to the end.”

The Phils are off Monday before playing three games in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, the Rays’ home for 2025 because of the devastation to Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton. Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo will pitch in the series. From there, the Phils head to Cleveland, which like Tampa Bay has a bottom-third offense in runs scored and OPS.