Category: Baseball

Here are five things to watch and predictions as the Mets and Yankees play a three-game Subway Series starting on Friday at 7:05 p.m. on PIX11.

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5 things to watch

Juan Soto

The Subway Series might as well be renamed the Soto Series for this weekend only, given the amount of attention that will be coming the right fielder's way in his first trip back to the Bronx after signing with the Mets this offseason.

Soto will almost certainly be the recipient of vitriol from the Yankees fans in the building every time he steps to the plate (and probably every time he's manning his position in right field). And that is something the normally-unflappable Soto is ready and excited for.

Following his first off day of the season on Wednesday and the Mets' day off on Thursday, Soto should be fresh and ready to go for this clash.

And while Soto's overall numbers are still a bit behind his career norms, he has been performing exceptionally well in May.

In 56 plate appearances over 12 games this month, Soto is slashing .289/.411/.667 with five home runs and two doubles.

Meanwhile, Soto's BABIP of .264 is well below his career BABIP of .303. Pair that with his elite advanced stats, and it's fair to expect Soto to be back around his career OPS of .948 sooner rather than later.

Has Brett Baty found his confidence?

When Baty was struggling earlier this season, he talked about how part of it had to do with his confidence.

Given how good Baty has been in Triple-A and how off he had looked at the plate in the majors (until recently), the above isn't a surprise.

But a different Baty appeared when he was called back up following Jesse Winker's injury.

Baty is attacking more, looks a lot more comfortable, and is getting results.

In 19 plate appearances over five games since returning, Baty has a 1.263 OPS and four home runs. And he's smacked a few of those home runs the other way with authority -- a great sign for Baty in what could be his last, best chance to stick with the Mets.

Can the Mets get to Max Fried?

The pitchers with the two best earned run averages in baseball are both in New York: Fried and his 1.11 ERA, and Kodai Sengaand his 1.22 ERA.

Senga isn't lined up to pitch in this series, but Fried will get the ball on Sunday night.

The Mets are quite familiar with Fried from his time with the Braves, so they've seen what he can do.

This season, Fried has taken it to another level.

Along with his sparkling ERA, the left-hander has a career-best 0.93 WHIP, is allowing a career-low 6.4 hits per nine, is leading the American League with 56.2 innings pitched, and is leading the majors with an outrageous 359 ERA+.

Edwin Diaz has been lockdown for a month

After Diaz's rough appearance on April 11 ballooned his ERA to 7.94, some started to call for the Mets to make a change at closer.

That was, of course, overly reactionary since Diaz had started the season with five dominant outings and ordinarily has a rough patch or two each season -- that he bounces back from with aplomb.

Here's how Diaz has bounced back this time...

Over his last 11 outings spanning 11.1 innings, Diaz has allowed one earned run. He has held opposing batters to a .132/.214/.237 triple slash, given up just five hits, walked four, and struck out 17. His ERA for the season is down to 3.18, while his WHIP is 1.118.

Along the way, Diaz has started to again flash upper 90s velocity with more regularity.

Aaron Judge is on an all-time heater

The Bombers are getting strong offensive seasons from a handful of players, including Paul Goldschmidt and Trent Grisham, but they're again being led by Judge.

A perennial MVP candidate, Judge has transformed this season into a hitter who is on pace to have one of the best offensive seasons in the history of baseball.

Through 43 games, Judge is hitting .412/.498/.782 -- leading the league in all three categories.

Judge also leads the league in home runs (15), RBI (41), runs (40), hits (68), total bases (129), and OPS+ (257).

The Mets' best strategy might just be to give Judge the Barry Bonds treatment.

Predictions

Who will the MVP of the series be?

Pete Alonso

It's been a relatively quiet week or so for Alonso, who seems primed to do some damage within the small confines of Yankee Stadium.

Which Mets pitcher will have the best start?

David Peterson

Peterson struck out seven over 6.0 innings against the Pirates during his last start, limiting Pittsburgh to two runs.

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

Aaron Judge

Damage is going to be done by Judge. It's just a matter of how much.

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

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• The Mets' bats went silent in a 4-0 loss to the Pirates at Citi Field
• Two missed strike three calls and a downpour Clay Holmes was forced to pitch through cost the Mets early
• David Stearnsdiscussed the fast-rising Nolan McLean
• Stearns also weighed in on the plan for Ronny Mauricio and more
• Juan Soto is ready to get pelted with boos at Yankee Stadium
• The Mets' surprisingly dominant starting rotation made history earlier this week
• Here's how New York has improved controlling the running game this season
• WATCH: Holmes and Carlos Mendoza discuss Wednesday's loss
• WATCH: Stearns gives injury updates and talks season storylines

How Giants' stable of young pitchers fit in during remainder of 2025 MLB season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — After about three weeks back in Triple-A, Giants left-hander Kyle Harrison felt he was back to feeling like himself. His shoulder was bouncing back well after every start and his velocity was ticking up. When it started to get back into the 96-98 mph range that Harrison showed as a rookie in 2023, he got the sneaking suspicion that he might soon be back in the big leagues — except as a reliever this time.

A few days later, Harrison found himself pitching out of the Giants’ bullpen for the first time as a professional. He has joined Hayden Birdsong in what is a bit of a unique alignment in today’s game. 

This spring, as the Giants tried to sort through the Birdsong-Landen Roupp fifth-starter competition, Bob Melvin noted that Jesus Luzardo had been eased in as a reliever when he came up with Melvin’s A’s in 2019. It’s not unusual to have one top prospect get his feet wet in the bullpen, but the Giants have had two for the last couple of weeks, and others are trying to enter the mix as well.

Even with Birdsong, Harrison and Roupp in San Francisco, the Triple-A rotation is loaded with young talent. Right-handers Carson Seymour, Trevor McDonald and Mason Black have all gotten off to solid starts in Sacramento, but the standout has been Carson Whisenhunt, the organization’s No. 2 prospect. 

Whisenhunt struck out nine over seven innings on Tuesday to lower his ERA to 3.48. The league is full of ballparks that rival Coors Field, but at home, in a more neutral environment, Whisenhunt has a 1.46 ERA. He’s the first River Cat in eight years to throw at least seven innings in three consecutive starts, and he has allowed just four runs and walked one in 21 innings in May.

Carson Whisenhunt (@SFGiants No. 2 prospect) spun a 💎 for the @RiverCats:

7 IP
3 H
0 R
0 BB
9 K pic.twitter.com/5SpZY4J091

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 13, 2025

Melvin watched part of Tuesday’s Triple-A game to see the at-bats of rehabbing infielders Tyler Fitzgerald and Casey Schmitt. He couldn’t help but notice what Whisenhunt was doing. 

“He’s been great. With the guys that we have here pitching out of the bullpen, we also need guys starting down there, too,” Melvin said. “I think he’s really emerged this year. Last year, I thought potentially there would be a time we might see him, but I think coming in this year, it’s a different look, it’s a different intensity to it. I think his focus is on trying to get here to the big leagues this year.”

Like all of the young pitchers in Triple-A, Whisenhunt is finding that there’s only so much he can control. The Giants have used the same five starters all season, although it’s possible that changes before the end of May. 

Jordan Hicks was roughed up Wednesday and Melvin was noncommittal afterward about the upcoming plans for the starter with a 6.55 ERA. It’s possible that Birdsong or Harrison slides into that spot soon, although if that doesn’t happen, the Giants might run into a slight complication with their two young options.

The staff believes that either Birdsong or Harrison could be stretched out to about four innings right now, but the longer they serve as relievers, the longer it will take for them to get their pitch counts back up. Given that there are two of them, that ultimately might not be a problem if a rotation change is made. They could piggyback initially to make sure there’s no extra stress on the bullpen. 

No matter what the Giants decide to do with the back end of their rotation, they know they’ll need their prospects at some point this season. They’ve been remarkably healthy, but teams generally plan to use double-digit starters over 162 games. 

There should, at some point, be a real opportunity for Birdsong, Harrison, Whisenhunt and others on the waiting list, although Harrison said nobody is viewing it that way in Triple-A or the big league bullpen.

“Control what you can, be where your feet are and just get outs,” Harrison said. “That’s still the name of the game, no matter where I’m at — I’m going to try and get outs and if the team has different plans for us, so be it, but for now this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to get outs wherever they need me.”

Harrison has allowed just one hit — a solo homer — in three relief appearances since returning, and in Triple-A, he had a 3.46 ERA. He said the young starters in Sacramento were competing with each other on a nightly basis, something that started on opening night, when Seymour struck out eight in four scoreless innings. Harrison followed with four strong innings the next day, and a day later, Whisenhunt struck out nine. 

The prospects will at some point make an impact at the big league level, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the Giants’ rotation or bullpen. There are few things more valuable than controllable young starters, and the Giants should have an arm or two to trade as they search for upgrades to the lineup at the trade deadline. 

There are flaws on the big league roster, as the Giants have shown in recent days, and they’re not exactly overflowing with position players who are ready to take the leap from Triple-A. But in Sacramento and the big league bullpen, the young pitchers have at least lived up to the hype thus far.

“That’s the sweet spot of the organization right now, is the young pitching we have,” Melvin said. “Coming out of spring we were talking about all the starting pitching we had and now we’re using a couple of guys out of the bullpen and they’ve been effective, too.”

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The not-so-bombshell decision on Tuesday by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to reinstate Pete Rose, ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson and others to eligibility for the Hall of Fame, was actually months in the making. In January, representatives for Rose filed a petition in support of the former Reds star, who died last September, with MLB. Then in an April White House meeting, Manfred met with Donald Trump and discussed the Rose affair. Trump has made his opinions known about Rose for years. Though the wheels were already in motion, the meeting made Rose’s reinstatement feel inevitable.

Manfred was – and is – in a difficult position. Across American institutions – from law firms to media outlets to universities – the intense pressure from the White House to conform to Trump has been hard to ignore. And with immigration from countries that produce many of MLB’s players a major source of contention, it’s entirely understandable that Manfred would want to protect the interests of his sport.

Related: Major League Baseball ends lifetime bans for Pete Rose, ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson

On talent alone, Rose and Jackson would already be in Cooperstown. Rose is MLB’s all-time hits leader; Jackson’s career batting average ranks fourth in history. Both were banned for gambling and thus barred from Hall of Fame consideration. In his letter to Rose’s attorney, Manfred explained his decision. He effectively argued that because Jackson and Rose are now dead, they cannot threaten the game’s reputation. “Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” Manfred wrote.

While Manfred was likely trying to traverse an exceedingly delicate middle ground with his decision, there is a faulty reasoning with the Commissioner’s stance when he states that once a player dies he is no longer a current threat to the integrity of the sport, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t damage it because of his deeds when he was alive.

To be clear, this isn’t the fault solely of MLB. The Hall of Fame and MLB were and are two separate entities. Then commissioner Bart Giamatti handed down Rose’s ban in 1989, but the Hall of Fame waited until 1991 to create a new rule stating that anyone on the MLB ineligible list cannot be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Manfred made a point in his letter that Giamatti didn’t make any making public judgements about Rose’s Hall of Fame candidacy, with the then commissioner writing in 1989 that: “I need not point out to the Baseball Writers of America that it is their responsibility who decides who goes into the Hall of Fame. It is not mine. You have the authority, and you have the responsibility. And you will make your own individual judgments.”The Hall of Fame could have allowed Rose to be considered before their new rule and if so, Rose wouldn’t have likely gotten the votes. Perhaps this would have been a better and clearer way to adjudicate this matter in public.

It’s worth remembering that commissioners were once outsiders. Giamatti, a former Yale president, brought a degree of remove from the game. But after his sudden death and Fay Vincent’s tenure, MLB turned inward, appointing former Brewers owner Bud Selig. Since then, the commissioner’s office has functioned less as an independent arbiter and more as an extension of ownership.

Like the US and its former national pastime (for better or worse, football now holds that title), Rose was a highly complicated figure, full of contradictions – and that’s aside from his gambling on the sport while he was a manager. A player who gave 110% effort at all times, but sometimes bordered on dirty, Charlie Hustle was also a shameless self-promoter, a man of questionable attitudes and actions around women, a tax cheat and convict and also a defender and supporter of Black players.

And this is what his defenders have always argued, that Rose was just like the rest of us: capable of the divine and the diabolical. He never took PEDs. He never threw a game. He loved baseball. But he broke its most sacred rule: he bet on his own team while managing. Worse, he lied about it for 15 years. Americans can forgive almost anything – but not when remorse is absent.

Related: One woman’s fight against VIP schemes fueling the US sports betting boom: ‘You’re the biggest loser’

All that’s true. But he committed the ultimate cardinal sin of betting on baseball … on his own team … while he was the manager. And, worse, he never apologized when he should have. Then he continued lying about it for 15 years (he finally owned up to it in his 2004 book, My Prison Without Bars). Americans, both individuals and institutions, are generally forgiving. But forgiveness without accountability is a pointless gesture.

And it is this moral component to the story, the fact that Rose refused to display any remorse is what doomed him. One wonders whether, if Rose had immediately admitted his guilt and framed his gambling in the context of his addiction (which it was) and sought out treatment and advocated for those with the same disease and stayed away from those associated with gambling … whether there was a chance of reinstatement while he was alive. Perhaps an agreement would have been reached with the Hall of Fame that a full accounting of his career – including his banishment – would be on full display. But that never happened because Rose proved himself to be a pathological liar who didn’t show any concern for the integrity of the one thing he said he loved above all else – baseball.

And, finally, there is the “irony is dead” or shall we call it the “beyond parody” component to this whole sordid and sad affair. Rose committed the ultimate betrayal and was justifiably punished for it. But somehow, in this alternative universe we are currently inhabiting, legalized gambling has itself become inseparable from baseball. DraftKings is a major sponsor of MLB and gambling references are ever-present in media coverage of the sport. It’s widely documented that this sort of partnership is already causing serious concerns about a rise in gambling addiction. Even ignoring those effects gambling has compounded the data-centric focus on sports, robbing fans of greater and more enjoyable narratives in the games. This is by no means a baseball-only issue. The sport I cover most frequently, tennis, is awash in gambling, and viewers are bombarded during Tennis Channel broadcasts with in-match odds.

In MLB’s defense, the league has continued with its no-exceptions crackdown on gambling from those it employs. In February, umpire Pat Hoberg was fired for sharing legal sports betting accounts with a professional poker player, prompting a sharp and pointed statement from Manfred. It will undoubtedly continue to be a tricky practice, to both accept the fact that legalized gambling is a citizen’s right and a passion (unfortunately) for so many sports fans, while continuing to be utterly vigilant when it comes to policing betting whenever within baseball.

It’s possible that in July of 2028 (the first year in which Rose will be eligible to be accepted into the Hall) a member of his family will speak from the stage at the Hall of Fame ceremony celebrating the career of the most prolific hitter in the history of baseball. While it would give Rose’s family justifiable solace, it will only further remind us of how poorly this mess was handled and fill us with that cliched but apt notion: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’”

Mookie Betts flexed his arms and began to shout. Max Muncy simply looked to the sky and strolled slowly out of the batter’s box.

In the eighth inning Wednesday night, both hitters erased some recent frustrations in the Dodgers’ 9-3 win over the Athletics, delivering the key hits in a five-run rally that turned a close game into a laugher.

With one out, and Kiké Hernández standing at second base after being bunted over by Miguel Rojas following his leadoff single, the Athletics decided to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani. They wanted right-handed Tyler Ferguson to face Betts instead.

After showing some improvements with his slumping swing on last week’s road trip, Betts entered the at-bat back in another cold spell, stuck in a 0-for-7 rut to start this homestand that included a fly out that left two runners stranded in his previous at-bat in the sixth.

Read more:Dodgers call up catcher Dalton Rushing, designate Austin Barnes for assignment

This time, however, Betts crushed a double in the right-center gap. A 4-3 lead suddenly blossomed to a 6-3 cushion. And as Betts pulled into second, he turned toward the first-base stands (the same direction as the A’s dugout) and screamed with an animated celebration.

Three batters later, Muncy put the game away, clobbering a three-run homer that was a no-doubter off the bat. It was just Muncy’s second home run of the season, and snapped his own 0-for-8 skid to begin this homestand. As the ball sailed around the right-field foul pole, Muncy gave it a long look, admiring the kind of swing that has eluded him for much of the opening two months of the season.

In the bullpen, closer Tanner Scott took a seat. In a game that had been close for eight innings, his services wouldn’t be needed.

The Dodgers had broken a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning, when Miguel Rojas drove Michael Conforto home from first with a pinch-hit double.

Moments before that, Andy Pages had run into an out on the bases, getting overaggressive on a Conforto single by trying to go first-to-third. Thus, when Rojas hit his line drive the other way, it briefly seemed like the blunder would come back to cost the Dodgers a chance to go in front.

Instead, A’s center fielder JJ Bleday had trouble getting a grasp.

As Bleday booted his cut-off attempt, the ball bouncing off his glove as he slid along the outfield grass, Dino Ebel immediately put his arm in helicopter mode, the third base coach giving Conforto — chugging hard all the way from first — a green light to race to the plate.

Conforto beat the delayed relay. The Dodgers had their first lead since the third inning. And with their full stable of high-leverage relievers available (the ones currently not on the injured list, anyway), they never looked back again.

The Dodgers (28-15) did all of their early scoring the same way Wednesday, hitting three leadoff home runs in three innings against Athletics rookie starter Gunnar Hoglund.

Ohtani got things started in the first, belting his 13th homer of the season (and third to lead off a game) on a scorching line drive that carried over the right field wall.

The next inning, Pages walloped one the other direction, lifting his seventh blast of the season to the left-field bullpen.

In the fifth, Hyeseong Kim got his first MLB big fly, lofting a wallscraper to right for career home run No. 1.

The Athletics (22-21) got to Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto with their own long ball, Tyler Soderstrom hammering a two-run blast with two outs in the third when Yamamoto tried to steal a first-pitch strike with a curveball over the plate.

Outside that, however, Yamamoto was effective in a six-inning, three-run outing that left his ERA at 2.12 on the season. The only other score he allowed came in the fourth, when a leadoff walk to Shea Langeliers set up Miguel Andujar for an RBI double.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

For the first time since Game 5 of the World Series last fall, Juan Soto will play a game at Yankee Stadium.

During the weekend’s Subway Series, the ex-Yank will run out to right field in front of The Bronx’s Bleacher Creatures for the bottom of the first with the Mets. And he’s excited about making his return.

What excites him most? “The crowd,” he said after Wednesday’s game at Citi Field, via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.

Even if the Yankees fans boo? “I don’t mind,” Soto answered.

Manager Carlos Mendoza anticipates the slugger, who was given the finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates off ahead of Thursday’s off day, will experience “a lot of emotions.”

"He’s going back, he’s gonna go in there and [remember] good memories,” Mendoza said. “He had a really good year with them, went to the World Series with them, it'll be exciting."

As a team, Mendoza said they are “ready to go.”

“It will be an exciting series, two teams playing well, two really good teams, pretty sure it will be fun,” he said.

After a Yanks-Mets matchup during spring training, Soto let slip what he anticipates happening. “You know, Yankees fans, they can surprise you with anything, so I'm expecting the worst," he said with a laugh.

After signing with the Mets in December, Soto thanked Yankees fans for showing him “all the love” in his lone season in The Bronx during his introductory news conference at Citi Field.

“They were there day in, day out. They really have a spot in my heart at the end of the day,” he said. “Tough we couldn’t get it together and try to be back, and stuff like that, but always going to appreciate what they did for me in 2024.”

Blame it on the rain?

The rain was always going to play a factor on a wet Wednesday at Citi Field. Unfortunately for Clay Holmes, the biggest cloudburst of the game came at a critical moment.

After a nine-pitch first frame, Holmes got two quick outs to start the inning before Isiah Kiner-Falefa yanked a sweeper on the outside corner to left for a single. And that is when the rain went from falling lightly to a bit steadier. Back-to-back sweepers landed in the zone to get ahead of Matt Gorski, before the intensity of the rain increased again.

On the next two pitches, the rain was not the issue, but home plate umpire Carlos Torres called a slider that appeared to be entirely in the zone a ball, and a 1-2 sweeper that was a bit higher was called out of the zone, as well.

“Two calls that we didn’t get there,” Mendoza said. “A full ball in the strike zone and we didn’t get that one, and then another one that clipped the strike zone and we didn’t get that one.”

“Some tough hops here,” Holmes said. “Losing grip on the ball there, trying to make pitches.”

The heavens opened up before Holmes could throw his next pitch. And when he did, the righty uncorked a fastball that went over the batter’s head and hit the backstop on the fly, bouncing all the way back to him. 

“At that point, it’s in the umpire’s hands, it's nothing we could do there,” Mendoza said about getting the game stopped. “Other than create the awareness and get it to their attention, but… it's their call.”

And after fouling off a sweeper toward the corner, Holmes hung his second 3-2 slider and it was clocked for a 407-foot home run to left through the driving rain.

“I think I went to the slider too many times there, but I thought it was probably the best thing I could control. I ended up getting beat with it,” Holmes said.

“He lost the feel for the ball there,” the manager said. “I’m not trying to make excuses here for him.”

To add insult to injury, after Holmes got the final out, the field was in such a state that the grounds crew needed 10 minutes of work to fix the infield and mound before the home half of the second could begin. 

“It was one of those things where you gotta compete through and try to make pitches,” Holmes said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t make one there.”

Clay Holmes surrendered a pair of two-run home runs, and the Mets' bats got blanked by the Pirates in a 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

On a dreary, rainy spring night, Holmes never really looked comfortable on the hill, and his teammates couldn’t pick him up in the batter’s box as New York went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base.

The Mets (28-16) took two of three from the Pirates (15-29) and had chances to make the visitors sweat, but managed just six singles in their fifth home loss out of 22 games. This was the second time they had been shut out this year.

Here are the takeaways...

-Holmes, making his first start on four days' rest of the year, retired the first five he faced before allowing a bloop single to left in the second. And after getting ahead 0-2 to Matt Gorski, the rain went from falling lightly to a downpour. Holmes, who was leaving some offspeed pitches up in the inning, had a 3-2 sweeper hang right over the plate and Gorski cranked it 407 feet to left for a two-run homer.

In addition to the rough luck on pitching through a tremendous cloudburst of rain, Holmes may have gotten squeezed by home plate umpire Carlos Torres on two off-speed pitches at the top of the zone to Gorski. 

Holmes rebounded for a streak of six-straight retired before a pair of two-out singles in the fourth brought Gorski to the plate. But Luisangel Acuña was able to make a fine play at second on a slow roller up the middle to end the threat.

Pittsburgh doubled the lead in the fifth on Ji Hwan Bae's beautifully executed drag bunt (38.9 mph off the bat) and Jared Triolo smacking a sinker that was up in the zone to left for a two-run shot (104.7 mph). A bloop single and walk gave them two on with one away, but Holmes got Joey Bart to bounce into a 5-4-3 twin-killing to avoid further damage.  

Holmes saved his best inning for last, getting a pair of strikeouts in a perfect sixth. His final line: 6.0 innings, four runs, seven hits, one walk, four strikeouts on 90 pitches (60 strikes). His average velocity was down on his sinker by nearly a mph, and his spin rate was down on his slider and sweeper.

- The Mets had chances to get the starter a cushion early off Pirates starter Bailey Falter as Mark Vientos singled and Pete Alonso worked a 10-pitch walk with one out. Starling Marte worked an eight-pitch walk with two outs to load the bases, but on the left-hander’s 32nd pitch of the inning, Luis Torrens went down swinging on a high slider.

New York, down pair, had the chance to get back into it with singles by Brandon Nimmo and Torrens in the fourth. And after Acuña worked a two-out walk, the bases were loaded again. New Pirates skipper Don Kelly summoned right-hander Chase Shugart from the bullpen and Carlos Mendoza decided to stick with José Azócar rather than an early pinch-hitter. Azócar hit a first-pitch lazy fly to center to leave ‘em loaded again.

- Alonso yanked a ball to left with two down in the fifth and was smelling a double, but while he beat the throw, he slid off the bag and Adam Frazier maintained the tag to end the inning. He finished the day 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

- Génesis Cabrera notched two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 seventh, getting five whiffs on eight swings. The eighth inning was less easy as a leadoff walk and back-to-back one-out singles loaded the bases. But he blew a fastball past Isiah Kiner-Falefa and got Gorski to pop out to second. 

Dedniel Núñez needed 13 pitches (seven strikes) for a clean ninth with a strikeout.

- Brett Baty entered as a pinch-hitter for Tyrone Taylor, who is in a 0-for-9 funk, to start the seventh and lined a ball 106.1 mph directly into the glove of Pittsburgh reliever Tanner Rainey. It was that kinda night.

Jeff McNeil, pinch-hitting for Azócar with two down in the inning, rocketed the Mets’ fifth hit (all singles) through the right side of the infield, but moved no further. 

As a result of those moves, Acuña moved out to center for his first taste there in the majors after playing there 35 times in the minors. Of course, he did not get tested by anything hit his way. (Baty went to second, and McNeil to right.) 

- In the last of the ninth, Marte pulled a leadoff single to left, but after Torrens popped out in foul territory to first, Baty clobbed a ball two steps in front of the wall in center and Acuña hit one to the warning track to end the game with a pair of loud outs. 

Baty’s drive (401 feet, 105.9 mph) would have left seven ballparks. Acuña’s (391 feet, 104.8 mph) would have left just one.

- Vientos, the night after an adventure at third, was back on the horse and made a good play cutting across Lindor and making a running throw in the first, and dealt with the wet conditions very well, handling several balls hit to the hot corner.

He finished 1-for-4 with a strikeout at the plate.

- Juan Soto was given the day off to give him an added day of rest ahead of the Weekend’s Subway Series game in The Bronx. Azócar got the start for him in right, worked a walk his first time up, but got picked off by the lefty. He finished the day 0-for-1

- The start of the game was delayed 15 minutes by rain, and rain fell throughout the game. The bottom of the second was delayed by nearly 10 minutes as the grounds crew tried to remove numerous wet spots on the infield from a deluge during the top half of the inning.  

What's next

The Mets have Thursday off before they open up the first Subway Series of the season on Friday night in The Bronx.

Right-hander Tylor Megill (3.10 ERA, 1.254 WHIP in 40.2 innings) gets the ball for the visitors and left-hander Carlos Rodon (3.29 ERA, 0.970 WHIP in 54.2 innings) will start for the Yankees.