Category: Baseball

Here's what happened in Mets Land on Monday, in case you missed it...

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• Nolan McLeangave the Mets 5.1 innings of one-run ball despite ripping off a fingernail in the middle of his start, but New York's offense was non-existent in a 1-0 loss to the Phillies in Philadelphia
• With the loss, the Mets are now just 3.0 games up on the Giants for the third Wild Card spot in the NL. New York holds the tiebreaker over San Francisco 
• Carlos Mendozareacted to the Mets' inconsistent play
• Cedric Mullinsis struggling at the plate and trying to find answers
• Kodai Sengais likely to make his first Triple-A start in the coming days
• Tylor Megill's season is likely over with him being shut down due to tightness
• Luis Torrenswas placed on the IL due to a forearm contusion
• WATCH: McLean and Mullins reacted to Monday's loss

Athletics' Jacob Wilson has Tony Gwynn-like numbers through first 137 MLB games originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The start of Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson’s MLB career may be the best that baseball has seen in over 40 years. 

Through 137 career games played, the 23-year-old rookie has recorded similar numbers to Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who is considered one of the best hitters in baseball history. 

Through 137 career games played:#Athletics Jacob Wilson:
23 years and 162 days old – .304/.349/.423
562 plate appearances | 158 hits | 44 strikeouts#Padres Tony Gwynn:
23 years and 143 days old – .301/.348/.379
535 plate appearances | 147 hits | 37 strikeouts

— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) September 9, 2025

Wilson has posted a .304 batting average, .349 on-base percentage and a .423 slugging percentage in 562 plate appearances through his first 137 career games, all marks greater than the late San Diego Padres legend. 

The rookie shortstop’s low strikeout total is also comparable to the numbers Gwynn posted at the start of his career. Wilson has just 44 strikeouts compared to Gwynn’s 37 in the same number of games played to start their careers (7.8 percent and 6.9 percent of plate appearances, respectively).

This season, Wilson has posted a 7.4 percent strikeout rate, the third best in Major League Baseball among qualified batters behind Luis Arraez (2.8 percent) and Nico Hoerner (7.0 percent). 

Wilson is also in the hunt for the 2025 batting title. Entering Tuesday, he has the second-best batting average (.315) behind Aaron Judge (.321). 

He has led all rookies in batting average since April. The next-closest rookie is his teammate Nick Kurtz, who enters Tuesday with a .301 batting average. 

While Wilson battles for the batting title with Judge, he is also in a battle with Kurtz for the AL Rookie of the Year award, which Kurtz is heavily favored for after the first baseman’s emergence in the first half of the season. 

Only eight pairs of teammates have finished first and second in Rookie of the Year voting. In 2022, Michael Harris II and Spencer Strider of the Atlanta Braves finished first and second, respectively, for NL Rookie of the Year. The 1984 Seattle Mariners duo of Alvin Davis and Mark Langston was the last pair to achieve the feat in the American League. 

The A’s have not had a Rookie of the Year award winner since Andrew Bailey in 2009. The last position player to win it for the franchise was Bobby Crosby in 2004, who now serves as the team’s first base coach.

Logan Webb hits new MLB career milestone, shows how far he's come as Giants ace originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — As a graphic appeared on the scoreboard and the crowd started to rise and cheer, Logan Webb walked slowly back to the dugout at Oracle Park. He stayed focused, because the Giants still were in a close game at the time, but he did sneak one look back at the scoreboard. 

Webb didn’t need anyone to tell him that he had just reached 200 strikeouts, the reason for the celebration. It has been a goal all season long, and before the game, he joked about it with catcher Patrick Bailey. 

“I’m only six away,” he told Bailey. “But I’m not counting.”

The staff ace ended up getting seven of them, becoming the first Giant to reach 200 strikeouts since Carlos Rodón in 2022 and the first pitcher in the National League to do it this year. His previous career-high was 194, and he’ll end up demolishing that. 

On a night when the Giants did their best to calm the talk about a playoff push, Webb didn’t shy away from what 200 strikeouts meant to him. He credited Bailey and pitching coach JP Martinez, along with Justin Verlander and Robbie Ray, two veteran mentors who have done it a combined 14 times in the big leagues. 

“It’s really cool,” Webb said. 

It was also a long time coming for one of the game’s best. 

Webb broke through in 2021 and finished second in Cy Young Award voting two seasons later, but he has never rested on his success. He has worked hard over the years to become better at holding runners, and has made remarkable strides in that department this season. By one metric — Net Bases Prevented — he now ranks among the top 10 in baseball. 

Webb constantly is tinkering with his times and looks, and where he stands on the rubber. The biggest change, though, has been to his pitch mix. 

When he nearly won a Cy Young in 2023, Webb threw his changeup 41 percent of the time. By Run Value, it was the most effective pitch in the big leagues, but last season, Webb noticed that opposing hitters were a bit too comfortable leaning out over the plate to try and hit his changeup and sinker. He added a cutter, and this year he has thrown the pitch more than 200 times. 

His changeup usage is down to 23 percent and he mixes in a few more four-seamers, giving hitters another wrinkle to think about. 

Webb adores his four-seamer, although multiple pitching coaches have groaned about it sometimes, given how dominant his sinker is. He has ended 34 strikeouts with his four-seamer after totaling 36 the previous two seasons combined, which has helped this push for 200 strikeouts. 

“I think it’s just execution,” Bailey said. “I feel like this year he’s been really dialed in about locating pitches, and I feel like the four-seam has been really big this year. It takes some pressure off the changeup, the (slider) has been really good, too, to both sides. And one of the biggest things is just count leverage. You strike more guys out when you get to two strikes and he does a really good job of that.”

For years, Webb has been one of the game’s top groundball pitchers. He’s still tied for the league lead in double plays, but there are new tools to use this year, and that showed Monday. He dug deep with the potential go-ahead run on third, striking out Adrian Del Castillo with a changeup to reach 200. He would add one more in the sixth inning. 

“That really wasn’t him before. It was more (pitch to) contact and try to get deep into games that way,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Now he can get strikeouts when he needs to and groundballs when he needs to. He’s just a better pitcher now. He continues to get better. He reads swings well, he sees how guys are swinging, and also the teams that he has come up against a lot — the Padres and Dodgers, teams that have a lot of at-bats against him — he’s getting different swings out of them now.”

Melvin noted that Webb does plenty of homework between starts, always looking for a different way to approach his next game. Earlier this season, he built off that and threw 41 sliders in a game against the Padres. A few weeks later, he threw 29 cutters at the Dodgers. 

Webb’s next start will be against Los Angeles, and it will be a huge one for a team that all of a sudden is just three games out in the Wild Card race. It also will give Webb a chance to reach 200 in a different way. He should have at least three more starts this season, and he needs 15 1/3 innings to get to 200 for a third straight year. Regardless of where that number ends up, Webb should lead the NL for a third straight season. 

It’s a combination that is hard to beat. The Giants have the game’s most durable starter, and in his seventh big league season, he also has become one of the league’s best strikeout pitchers. 

“He’s a unicorn as far as that goes,” Melvin said. 

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Years ago, when Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax were at the top of the Dodgers' pitching rotation, Drysdale missed a game to attend to some personal business. Koufax pitched a no-hitter that day.

When told about the achievement, Drysdale had one question: “Did he win?”

That’s a fair question for the current Dodgers pitching staff as well. Because Monday, for the second time in three days, the Dodgers took a no-hitter into the ninth inning.

They lost the first one. And while they won the second, it wasn’t easy with the Colorado Rockies bringing the tying run to the plate three times before Tanner Scott got the last out to preserve a 3-1 win at Dodger Stadium.

The victory kept the Dodgers a game ahead of the San Diego Padres in the National League West with 18 games left in the regular season.

Read more:Max Muncy is back, and he hopes to help cure what ails the Dodgers

It was Tyler Glasnow who flirted with history Monday, pitching seven hitless innings before turning the game over to relievers Blake Treinen and Scott. On Saturday, a similar scenario unfolded when Yoshinobu Yamamoto came within an out of a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles before giving up a home run to Jackson Holliday.

He left at that point, only to see Treinen and Scott give up three more runs in a 4-3 Dodger loss.

So when Scott gave up a double to Ryan Ritter to start the ninth — ending the no-hitter and drawing boos from those who remained from the crowd of 48,433 — manager Dave Roberts said he hoped he wasn’t witnessing déjà vu all over again.

“I try to not think like that,” he said.

Given how the Dodgers bullpen has struggled recently, it was hard not to.

Scott, however, quickly settled down, retiring the next two batters on soft grounders before Hunter Goodman lined out to Max Muncy at third to end the game and give Glasnow (2-3) his first win since March.

It was a victory that was long overdue.

Glasnow pitched six no-hit innings his last time out only to wind up with the loss when the Dodgers (80-64) failed to score behind him. That’s become an all-too-common problem for Glasnow, who has the second-lowest ERA in the Dodgers rotation but has received the weakest support with an average of 3½ runs per start.

The Dodgers' hitters didn’t even match that modest number Monday. But when Mookie Betts delivered a two-run single in the seventh, breaking a 1-1 tie, it left Glasnow in position for the win.

“It's always good to score runs,” he said with a smile.

Smiles have been hard to come by for Glasnow. In his 15 starts, he left the game with the Dodgers trailing by multiple runs in just three of them. The Dodgers didn't even score behind him in five of those starts, which explains why he went more than 160 days between wins.

“It is what it is,” he shrugged. “But yeah, they put some at bats together, and we ended up winning.”

Glasnow, who was held out of his last scheduled start with a sore back, was pitching for the first time in 10 days and was strong from the start, striking out the side in the first — although he needed 18 pitches to do it. He fanned the side again in the sixth, but in between he gave up a second-inning run on Jordan Beck’s leadoff walk, a stolen base and two long outs, the second Kyle Farmer’s sacrifice fly to the left-field wall.

Read more:Why the Dodgers aren’t changing their slumping bullpen hierarchy yet

What he didn’t give up was a hit. Glasnow said he was aware he had a no-hitter as the game progressed, but he also knew he probably wouldn’t be allowed to finish it.

“My pitch count was pretty high,” said the right-hander, who finished with a season-high 105, striking out 11 and walking two. “I don't know how many pitches I was going to be allowed to throw.”

Also working against him were his two stints on the injured list this season and his recent back issues.

“Obviously I want to stay in, no matter what my pitch count is,” he said. “[But] given my, like, track record, I kind of understand why. I respect the decision.”

For five innings, Colorado starter Chase Dollander, who came in 2-12 with a 6.77 ERA, nearly matched Glasnow. The Dodgers didn’t get their first baserunner until the third inning and didn’t have a hit until the fifth, when Michael Conforto led off with a single to left.

Dollander faced just three batters over the minimum before leaving with an apparent injury after walking Ben Rortvedt to start the sixth. Reliever Juan Mejia walked the first batter he faced and an out later Freddie Freeman bounced a high-hopper over Farmer and down the right-field line for a tying double.

An inning later the Dodgers scored two more off Angel Chivilli (1-5) to go in front. With two out and a runner on first, Shohei Ohtani doubled to right to bring Betts to the plate. After falling behind 0-2, he picked out a belt-high slider and drove it into the center to break the tie.

With the Dodgers safely in front and Glasnow out of the game, the drama turned to the no-hitter. There have been 22 combined no-hitters in major league history, with the last one by the Dodgers coming against the Padres in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2018.

That appeared in reach when Treinen breezed through the eighth. But Ritter, the Rockies' No. 9 hitter, one-hopped the wall in left on Scott’s second pitch of the ninth. The ball appeared catchable off the bat, but Alex Call, inserted for defensive purposes, turned the wrong way, costing him any chance to make a play.

Scott retired the side on two ground outs and a liner to Muncy before celebrating with Rortvedt, who was called up from the minors Thursday and has come within four outs of catching two no-hitters in his first three starts.

“It's not me, it's these guys,” he said. “I'm doing my homework as much as I can, trying to be prepared. The pitchers are prepared. It’s just the fruit of that labor at that point.

“It's not easy. They're making it look easy.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Issues accessing tickets from the MLB app caused problems at the entry gates for some fans trying to enter Dodger Stadium before Monday's game between the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies.

It's unclear how many fans were affected, but the problem wasn't confined to Dodger Stadium — the issue has been ongoing since at least last weekend at MLB ballparks across the country.

"MLB’s ticketing system TDC is experiencing difficulties across multiple venues for retrieving tickets and fan entry," the Dodgers said in a statement. "The league is working with the Dodgers and other franchises to address the issues."

The Dodgers notified season ticket holders Monday about the situation, urging them to reset their passwords on the MLB website. They instructed them to contact the team's member services department if they were unable to access their tickets or couldn't reset their passwords.

An MLB representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.

Read more:Why the Dodgers aren’t changing their slumping bullpen hierarchy yet

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

When the Mets traded for Cedric Mullins at this year's trade deadline, he was supposed to serve as an upgrade offensively compared to the options they had on the roster. However, the outfielder has been stuck in a slump since joining New York and has shown little signs of busting out anytime soon.

Now hitless in his last 25 at-bats after his 0-for-2 night on Monday, Mullins is doing everything he can to get back on track and help the Mets but nothing seems to be working.

"Rough start," he said after the team's 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. "Trying to find that adjustment that kinda gets me going. Felt like I had it at one point, just lost (it) somewhere along the way, but gonna keep working."

In 30 games as a Met, Mullins is slashing .174/.284/.272 with one home run and a .556 OPS. And while he's not necessarily known as the biggest threat at the plate, the 30-year-old did have 15 home runs and a .738 OPS with the Baltimore Orioles before getting traded and has held his own offensively during his career.

Still, all New York was hoping for out of Mullins following the trade was for him to be a step up from what Tyrone Taylor was contributing offensively. Instead, Mullins has struggled just as badly as Taylor has this season.

"I think I’m just trying to focus on contributing to a win," Mullins said. "I think that could be adding a little pressure, but it comes with the territory so (I'm) working diligently each day to get better."

But with time running out and the Mets, losers of three straight and four out of their last five, scuffling to the finish line, they need Mullins to pick it up sooner rather than later, especially with Taylor, the better defender, currently on the IL.

If not, it could potentially force New York to play Jeff McNeil in center field with another option at second base, moving Mullins to the bench.

"We haven’t seen the results," said manager Carlos Mendoza. "He’s a really good player and I know he wants to contribute, but we got to help him because I feel like he’s missing good pitches to hit."

For what it's worth, Mullins believes he can turn things around.

"Eighteen games left, that can be shifted in a positive direction between now and then," he said.

Monday's 1-0 loss at the Phillies brings the Mets' NL East deficit to eight games as three more chances remain in New York's final regular-season series with Philadelphia.

"Look, we've been pretty inconsistent," said manager Carlos Mendoza, whose team has lost four of its past five games as it clings to the third wild card. "We put ourselves in this position, which we're still right there.

"Obviously, the goal is to win the division... But we've got to keep going. We've got to turn the page here. We've got to be ready for another game tomorrow and continue to get the job done. But overall, the inconsistency and here we are in this position."

New York (76-68) totaled five hits against the Phillies (84-60), who scored one run -- Nick Castellanos' second-inning RBI single -- in a tough-luck loss for rookie RHP Nolan McLean.

"I think it's just having a hard time putting everything together for quite a bit," Mendoza said of the Mets' inconsistent 2025 season. "We got out of the gate and everything was working. And then, at times -- whether it was the starting pitching or runners in scoring position offensively, we haven't been able to play good defense at times.

"So, I feel like we haven't done that consistently and here we are. But continue to trust the guys, I know we have a lot of talent and we're going to turn the page."

18 games remain for New York, continuing with Tuesday's 6:45 p.m. start on SNY, and Mendoza maintains his confidence in the Mets' ability to make a turnaround.

"Very confident," he said. "This is a team that's been through a lot, and we'll find a way -- we'll find a way to get the job done.

"We've got to keep fighting. We've got to continue to work. But I trust those guys. There's a lot of experience there, there's a lot of talent and I'm pretty confident that we'll get to where we want to get."

The Mets were shut out on Monday night against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 1-0 loss. New York has now lost 11 of its past 13 one-run games and has fallen to 8.0 GB of the first-place Phillies for the NL East title.

Here are the takeaways...

-After more than a month of red-hot offense, New York has been stymied as of late and that continued on Monday against a struggling Aaron Nola. The right-hander limited the Mets to just three hits and two walks over six scoreless innings while striking out seven.

The scoring drought went into the ninth inning where Phillies closer Jhoan Duran entered the game to try and save a 1-0 score. New York's offense finally perked up with Pete Alonso leading off the inning with a single up the middle. With one out, Mark Vientos hit an opposite-field double to put the Mets in business with the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third.

With a golden opportunity to tie or even take the lead, Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez struck out swinging to end the game in disappointment for New York. Alvarez's strikeout was even more disappointing as he looked like the Alvarez of old, swinging at three pitches way outside and looking way too overzealous.

-The Mets didn't do Nolan McLean any favors as the rookie pitched well for a fifth straight start to begin his career and managed to keep the Phillies off the board for most of the night. The only run given up by the right-hander came in the second inning after he allowed three straight hits to start the inning.

Aside from that, McLean looked good once again and although he wasn't as sharp as he has been in other outings, he was able to maneuver out of trouble. The 24-year-old surrendered seven hits and walked three but allowed just the one run over 5.1 innings. He struck out five and threw 91 pitches (56 strikes), but recorded his first loss of his career to go to 4-1. His ERA remains a superb 1.42.

-On the bright side for New York, its bullpen pitched well with Gregory Soto, Brooks Raley and Ryan Helsley combining for 2.2 scoreless innings. Helsley's outing was the most encouraging as the struggling reliever struck out two in the bottom of the eighth inning to keep the Mets within a run.

-Brett Baty had a good day at the plate and went 1-for-1 with a walk, but he was picked off first base with two outs in the fifth inning and Juan Soto at the plate. Baty was replaced for a pinch-hitter in the eighth.

-Of New York's five hits, two came off the bat of Alonso who went 2-for-4, including a double. The rest of the Mets' fab four went 0-for-10 with two walks.

-In the ninth, pinch-runner Ronny Mauricio perhaps could've scored on Vientos' double, but he held up between first and second base on a ball that was clearly going over right fielder Nick Castellanos' head. It's not certain that Mauricio would've scored, or even been sent home with New York having two chances to drive him in, but it was a baserunning mistake nonetheless.

Game MVP: Aaron Nola

Despite his season-long struggles this year, Nola shut out the Mets over six innings and outdueled McLean to get the 1-0 victory.

Highlights

Diving stop by Brett Baty! pic.twitter.com/HY5Fj5nGbm

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 8, 2025

Francisco Alvarez exchanged words with Edmundo Sosa after tagging him out on a dropped third strike pic.twitter.com/aCqPPsYheH

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 9, 2025

Nolan McLean gets Max Kepler looking to get out of trouble in the 5th pic.twitter.com/bhnAR77gew

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 9, 2025

What's next

The Mets and Phillies continue their four-game set with a Tuesday night battle starting at 6:45 p.m. on SNY.

LHP Sean Manaea (1-2, 5.60 ERA) hopes to get his season back in the right direction and will face LHP Ranger Suarez (11-6, 2.89 ERA).

Max Muncy was activated Monday following his second stint on the injured list, and the struggling Dodgers wasted no time getting him back in the lineup against the Colorado Rockies, with Muncy starting at third base and batting cleanup.

“I wanted to be back sooner, but obviously that's just not a realistic option sometimes,” said Muncy, who was hitting .258 with an .880 OPS, 17 homers and 64 RBIs before he sustained an oblique injury that caused him to miss 23 games.

“It's a big boost. We've been waiting for this one for a long time,” said manager Dave Roberts, whose team had a losing record in Muncy’s absence. “Just kind of having his presence in the lineup, that obviously adds length to our lineup.”

Read more:Why the Dodgers aren’t changing their slumping bullpen hierarchy yet

Muncy missed 25 games with a bone bruise in his left knee earlier in the summer and returns with the Dodgers stumbling through an offensive slump that saw them lose five of six games to the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles.

Muncy said he’ll need to fight the urge to do too much too soon.

“What they need is for me to be myself and not try to do anything outside of what I usually do in a baseball game. And so it's trying to understand that and just letting everyone else get back to being themselves,” said Muncy, who went two for seven with two walks in three games with triple-A Oklahoma City.

“Obviously, it was a rough road trip for the guys," Muncy said. "We have to keep our focus just one day at a time. Prepare for today. How are we going to beat the pitcher today? And you know, if we get an entire group of guys buying into that, then I'm going to feel pretty good about.”

Read more:Shohei Ohtani homers twice as Dodgers defeat Orioles to end five-game losing streak

Muncy is just the first member of a big cavalry riding to the Dodgers’ rescue in time for their playoff stretch drive. Left-hander Alex Vesia could return from an oblique strain on Tuesday, Roberts said, while utility player Tommy Edman, out since Aug. 4 with a sprained ankle, is expected to be activated for the final game of the brief three-game homestand Wednesday.

Right-hander Brock Stewart, who has missed 25 games with shoulder inflammation, threw a bullpen session last Saturday in Arizona and is expected to throw another Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. If that goes well, Stewart said, he's expected to throw to live hitters Friday before making a brief rehab assignment with Oklahoma City.

“I’m just trying to take it one day at a time. The odds are good,” he said. “I want to help the team, but I have to focus on myself because I’m not out of the woods yet.”

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Giants' energy-filled dugout enjoys latest blowout win at home amid playoff push originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — The out-of-town scoreboard at Oracle Park is directly in front of the home dugout. If you’re leaning on the rail, as just about all of the Giants do at some point during a game, you literally cannot miss it. When they looked out at Logan Webb on Monday night, the New York Mets-Philadelphia Phillies score was directly behind him. 

The Giants are well aware of what’s going on around the rest of Major League Baseball every night, but if they have started to think big, they’re doing a pretty good job of hiding it. 

On the first night back home, they hit a season-high five homers and beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-5. Across the country, the Mets got shut out in Philadelphia. With 18 to go, the Giants are just three games back, although the deficit in the wild-card race essentially is four since the Mets hold the tiebreaker. 

But they’re not talking about any of that. 

“I think you guys talk about it more than we do,” catcher Patrick Bailey said, smiling.

Webb gave a version of the same answer. Like Matt Chapman on the last homestand, he insisted that the focus is on winning every day and not thinking about anything other than that. And that actually is pretty believable. 

You don’t go on a run like this without having the proper mindset, and right now, there isn’t a group that is having more fun or playing more relaxed than the Giants. It was a party in the dugout for most of Monday’s game, particularly in the sixth, when a five-run rally gave Webb his 14th win and pushed the Giants back to two games above .500. In the middle of it all, rookie outfielder Drew Gilbert started biting left-hander Robbie Ray.

HIS ENERGY IS INFECTIOUS ⚡ pic.twitter.com/NodbaBhHot

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 9, 2025

“We’re just enjoying it,” Webb said. “That’s obviously easy to say when we’re scoring a lot of runs, but the whole energy — every game is a blast. We’ve got to keep positive energy.”

That’s easy to do when you’re hitting multiple homers, and the Giants right now are taking advantage of the warmest stretch at Oracle Park this season. Balls are flying, and for the second time in the last two weeks, they hit at least four homers at home. For the fourth time in the last six home games, they scored double-digit runs. What exactly is going on here?

“If we knew,” Bailey said, “we’d do it all year.”

Sometimes it’s better not to ask questions and simply enjoy the ride, and the Giants are playing like a group that might be pushing longer than anyone expected. They didn’t just pick up a game on the Mets on Monday, they also did the same with the Diamondbacks, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. 

The decks are clearing for them to spend the final two-plus weeks trying to chase down the Mets and guarantee a first-round MLB playoff series either in Los Angeles or San Diego, although that’s not what they’re thinking about right now. 

“The main goal every single day is to win the day,” Webb said. “I think that’s the way to do it. I wish we did that two months ago but that’s what we’re doing right now, and it’s fun to be a part of. We’ve got 18 games left, so we’ll just finish out strong. It’s going to be fun.”

Webb reached 200 strikeouts in the middle of the latest win, becoming the first NL pitcher to get there this season. Early on, he received supportive blasts from Jung Hoo Lee and Dominic Smith. Heliot Ramos went deep during the five-run sixth. Matt Chapman and Bailey tacked on solo shots as the Giants hit five homers at Oracle Park for the first time since 2021. 

That was a magical season that was filled with winning from start to finish. This year’s group won early, and then had a historic collapse in July and early August. They’re trying to counteract it with this late-season push, and their momentum continues to build. 

The Giants were disappointed to drop the final two in St. Louis, and they fell behind early Monday. But it ended up being another blowout win. 

As Webb thought about all that has happened lately, he admitted that there wouldn’t have been as much energy in the dugout if he gave up four early runs a month ago. But the vibes have changed, so much so that a rookie can bite a veteran to celebrate a rally and nobody blinks. Webb laughed and said he figures he’ll probably be on the receiving end from Gilbert on Tuesday since it’ll be Ray on the mound. 

“I think energy is a huge thing. That goes with just trying to win each day,” he said. “I think Gilbert brings 99 percent of that energy, but it’s great to have.”

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Mets RHP Kodai Senga's first start in the minors will be Friday or Saturday, New York manager Carlos Mendoza said before Monday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies on SNY.

"We're talking about either Friday, Saturday this weekend," Mendoza said of Senga, whom the Mets optioned to Triple-A Syracuse this past Friday. "We're going to give him time to throw a couple of bullpens before we put him in the game."

Senga, 32, is 7-6 with a 3.02 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 22 starts over 113.1 IP this season for the Mets.

He has struggled since July, going 0-3 with a 5.90 ERA and 5.76 FIP in nine starts over 39.2 IP.

"This is a guy that part of the reason we sent him down was to work on his mechanics," Mendoza said. "And in order for him to work on the mechanics, we've got to give him a chance to get on the mound without facing competition.

"So, that's what he's going through right now -- he throws a bullpen, then a couple days down, throws another one, watch film and getting the feedback from him and then, hopefully, he gets in a game here towards the end of this week."

After Tylor Megillstruggled Sunday in his latest rehab appearance, he has been shut down from throwing after he felt tightness on his secondary pitches, manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters before the Mets and Phillies opened pivotal four-game series in Philadelphia.

The right-hander is now back in New York to get imaging done, and the Mets are awaiting the results.

Regardless of what the MRI shows, a return to the Mets is getting more and more unlikely with time running out, Mendoza said Monday.

"We’re running out of time, especially now with him complaining about the same thing that he went down with earlier in the year," Mendoza said. "So, again, I don’t want to speculate here, but the fact that he’s getting another MRI and where we’re at, like I said, it feels like we’re running out of time."

Megill has been on the shelf since June 15 with a right elbow sprain and had been rehabbing between Double-A and Triple-A for the last month or so. New York was hoping the 30-year-old could make a late-season return either as a starter or an option in the bullpen.

Entering Monday, the Mets have 19 games remaining in the regular season. Still with no answers surrounding Megill on a recurring injury complaint, things don't look promising for them.

In better news, Mendoza did add that Jose Siri is getting close to a return from his fractured tibia.

"We’re having a conversation here (to) see what’s next for him," the skipper said.

What we learned as Logan Webb hits new milestone, Giants homer five times in win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — With the exception of three games in Phoenix next week, the Giants will spend the rest of the regular season in California. That means that before most games, they’ll have a pretty good idea of whether or not they can make up ground in the wild-card race. 

Minutes before Monday’s game, they watched as the New York Mets fell short in Philadelphia, losing for a third straight game. After a couple of missed opportunities Saturday and Sunday, the Giants took advantage. 

Christian Koss and Heliot Ramos sparked a five-run outburst in the sixth and the Giants cruised from there, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-5 on the first night of a huge seven-game homestand. They’re now just three games behind the Mets with 18 to go, although New York holds the tiebreaker, so the Giants essentially are four back. They also picked up a game on the Diamondbacks, who are hoping to make a run of their own.

The offensive explosion came after Logan Webb departed, but it was still a big night for the staff ace. He reached 200 strikeouts for the first time and allowed just one earned run (along with three unearned) in six innings.

Logan Webb records his first career 200-strikeout season 👏 pic.twitter.com/s9po4vM1xc

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 9, 2025

The Giants’ five-homer game behind Webb was their first at home since 2021, and their third with at least four this season. All have come since Aug. 27.

Make that FIVE homers for the G Men tonight ✋ pic.twitter.com/wynHQ4wnr6

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 9, 2025

Join The Club

The changeup that Webb threw past Adrian Del Castillo in the fifth was huge for a couple of reasons. It stranded Corbin Carroll at third after the Diamondbacks star had stolen second and advanced on an error, and it also got Webb to 200 strikeouts for the season. 

Webb said this spring that reaching 200 was one of his goals, in part because it was the standard for the pitchers at the top of the rotation — Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija — when he was working his way through the minors. His previous career-high was 194, and that’s where he entered Monday’s game. The strikeout of Del Castillo was his sixth of seven.

Webb became the first pitcher in the NL to reach 200 strikeouts and joined Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet as the only ones in the big leagues. With six innings, he got to 184 2/3, which leads the majors. Unless Paul Skenes falls apart down the stretch, Webb won’t win the Cy Young, but he is putting together a very compelling case to finish second for the second time in three years. 

Five In The Sixth

The Giants have a bullpen that has been patched together in recent weeks, but the Diamondbacks have been dealing with that all season. That bit them in the bottom of the sixth. 

An error, walk and infield single loaded the bases for Koss, who went the other way with a two-run double that made up for his early error. Patrick Bailey immediately followed with a sacrifice fly, and before the Giants were done celebrating their three-run lead, Ramos blasted a two-run shot. 

CHRISTIAN KOSS REDEMPTION ARC 😤 pic.twitter.com/QllhuNYrOr

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 9, 2025

Heliot Ramos sent this ball to the moon 🌚 pic.twitter.com/tU7okje3lS

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 9, 2025

The ballpark was rocking, but nobody was more excited than this guy:

Drew Gilbert … pic.twitter.com/SzgqGLMXJm

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 9, 2025

Big Dom Moment

Dominic Smith started his season in Triple-A with the New York Yankees. He might finish it by giving a speech on the pitcher’s mound at Oracle Park. 

Smith is a compelling Willie Mac Award candidate, and also one of the main reasons the Giants are still alive. After the Diamondbacks took a 4-2 lead in the top of the third, he smoked a homer into the arcade section, tying the game.

BUILD THE DOM SMITH STATUE 😤 pic.twitter.com/IiXZeg3cxW

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 9, 2025

The homer was Smith’s fifth in orange and black, and he finished the night with a .291 average and .768 OPS. Jung Hoo Lee homered early in the game, and after Lee, the Giants got dingers from Ramos, Matt Chapman and Bailey.

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Nola silences Mets as Phillies squeak out 1-0 nail biter originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Mets have had the Phillies’ number for nearly a year.

Since last October’s NLDS, Philadelphia had beaten New York just three times heading into Monday’s series opener at Citizens Bank Park.

With Trea Turner and Alec Bohm sidelined and the lineup in flux, the Phils leaned on their veterans in a pitchers’ duel to notch a 1-0 victory over the Metropolitans.

Aaron Nola delivered his biggest start of 2025 — in what has otherwise been a disappointing season for the longest-tenured Phillie.

Nola’s gutsy outing featured six scoreless innings, seven strikeouts and a roaring ovation from over 40,000. It was his first scoreless start since May 3, before an ankle sprain sent him to the IL until mid-August.

“He just threw so well tonight,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He kept the ball down. He was attacking the zone a lot more. A lot of changeups, a lot more changeups than he’s been throwing … the curveball was sharp, I thought he was really good.”

Nola credited his ability to command the fastball and changeup as key. “I just needed to win the count, stay ahead, attack the zone,” he said. “I kind of controlled the zone a lot better than that last one.”

He mixed all four of his primary pitches — four-seamer, sinker, curveball and changeup — each at least 20% of the time across his 94 pitches. Notably, he scrapped the cutter — except for once, when he fanned Juan Soto for a strikeout in the sixth.

“Sometimes you’ve got to think out of the box a little bit,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “I knew [Soto] hadn’t seen one yet, so he wasn’t going to be looking for it. I just trusted Aaron to execute it and he did.”

That pitch turned out to be the first out of Nola’s final inning. “It was good to get those hitters out, especially two really good ones,” Nola said of Soto and Pete Alonso. “Those guys are tough.”

Opposing him was rookie phenom Nolan McLean, who has stormed onto the scene with historic numbers.

The right-hander entered 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA and joined Fernando Valenzuela (1981) as the only pitchers since ERA became official in 1913 to win their first four starts with a sub-1.50 ERA and 25-plus strikeouts.

One of those outings came Aug. 27, when McLean blanked the Phillies across eight innings.

This time, the Phils finally cracked him in the second. Max Kepler started with an opposite-field single. Harrison Bader lined a ball into left-center — his first of three hits tonight — and though he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, Kepler advanced to third.

Nick Castellanos then wasted no time, slapping an RBI single past Pete Alonso on the first pitch for a 1-0 lead.

Castellanos has thrived in ambush mode — entering the night hitting .424 (39-for-92) when putting the first pitch in play.

The 33-year-old has been forced to embrace a rotational role in Rob Thomson’s outfield but continues to produce whenever called upon.

From there, both offenses fell silent. McLean yielded just the one run over 5 1/3 innings with five strikeouts, while Nola matched him zero for zero.

Realmuto said the approach against McLean was simple: “He’s a good pitcher, so you really just try to get something in the heart of the plate, and he doesn’t throw it there too often. That’s why he’s a good pitcher. I did feel like we had good at-bats off of him.”

The Phillies’ bullpen held the line. David Robertson struck out two in a clean seventh, his 11th scoreless outing in 13 appearances since re-joining the club.

In the eighth, Matt Strahm issued a two-out walk to Francisco Lindor, bringing up Soto. The slugger entered with 38 homers, 93 RBIs and a .924 OPS in his first Mets season.

Soto worked a 2-0 count, then cracked a grounder to the right side. Bryson Stott made a diving stop and fired to first to get Soto, preserving the lead.

With the score still 1-0, the lights dimmed for the ninth, the bell rang, and Jhoan Duran came on to shut the door.

The flame thrower got into a second-and-third, nobody-out jam, but struck out Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez to end it.

“The plan was to just try to get him [the Mets] to be a little more aggressive early in the count and not just throw the ball down the middle,” Realmuto said. “Obviously it’s not an ideal situation to be in there [with second and third] … but if anybody can do it, it’d be him.”

A much different ending than the last time he faced New York, but a much needed win against their division rival.

The Phillies move to 84-60 and extend their league in the NL East to eight games over the Mets. For anyone who’s counting, the magic number to clinch a playoff berth is seven games and the division is 11.

Lots can change with three more games ahead with the Mets this series. Buckle up.