The Cincinnati Reds look to level the series in Great American Ball Park against the visiting Atlanta Braves, a veritable juggernaut who claimed the opening game of the series 8-3 last night.

Brady Singer starts, and hopefully will not give up 3 homers for the third consecutive start.

Lineups for both clubs listed below. Go Reds!

Jared Young and Hayden Senger homered for the Mets on Saturday and Christian Scott threw five solid innings in a 6-1 victory over the Marlins in front of 38,552 at Citi Field. 

The Mets have won three straight games and can complete a sweep of the Marlins Sunday afternoon. The victory upped the Mets record to 25-33, including a 15-12 mark in May.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- Scott matched his season-high with eight strikeouts and walked two, throwing 96 pitches (60 for strikes). Scott got 11 swings-and-misses, according to Statcast. Scott paid for one of the walks – he started the Marlins fifth by walking No. 8 hitter Christopher Morel, who entered the game with a .169 average. Morel later scored on a two-out RBI single by Liam Hicks. Over his last two starts, both against Miami, Scott has given up one run in 10.2 innings, a 0.87 ERA.

-- The fifth inning could’ve gone worse for the Mets, but A.J. Ewing came to the rescue. After Hicks’ run-scoring single, Otto Lopez followed with a deep drive to center that looked like potential damage. But Ewing sprinted back and toward right-center to snare the ball, a fine running catch for the final out of the inning. It was the second nice grab in the outfield by a Met – in the fourth inning, Carson Benge took away a potential extra-base hit from Kyle Stowers with a snare on the warning track. 

-- The Mets, who had run into two outs on the bases in the second inning, scored three times in the fourth to take an early lead. Mark Vientos doubled in two runs after Juan Soto walked andYoungsingled with one out. One out later, Marcus Semien hit an RBI single and the Mets were ahead, 3-0. Soto’s walk extended his streak of reaching base to 14 games, dating back to May 14. Vientos has 19 RBI over his last 27 games.

-- Young, batting cleanup for the second time this season, smashed his first homer leading off the sixth inning against Miami reliever Lake Bachar. It was a long drive to right field. 

-- Senger smacked his first career big-league homer with one out in the seventh inning, a shot to left field off Bachar. It was the 39th game of Senger’s MLB career and the homer came in his 93rd career plate appearance.

-- After allowing three runs across 5.1 innings on Friday night, the Met bullpen rebounded Saturday. Cionel Perez threw a scoreless sixth, Huascar Brazoban struck out the side in the seventh inning and Austin Warren threw a scoreless eighth to set the stage for closer Devin Williams in the ninth. Williams threw a 1-2-3 frame for his second consecutive scoreless outing.

Game MVP: Christian Scott

Scott delivered his second consecutive strong start against the Marlins, allowing one run and five hits across five innings and earned his first major league win after 16 starts.

Highlights

A pair of strikeouts in the opening inning for Christian Scott 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ruAafxvR9l

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

"He's out!" - Bobby Valentine pic.twitter.com/pBRp8oTttf

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Another pulchritudinous catch by Carson Benge!

Lee Mazzilli: "I love Ewing, I love Benge" pic.twitter.com/zhbRyTIvqb

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Christian Scott has eight strikeouts in the first four innings, tying a career-high 💪 pic.twitter.com/9HzsEzFStU

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Mark Vientos brings home two with a double! pic.twitter.com/sHhgOs5ocG

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Marcus Semien drives in Mark Vientos for the third Mets run of the inning! pic.twitter.com/yf4GOpHdg6

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

A.J. Ewing makes the running catch in the gap to get Christian Scott through the 5th! pic.twitter.com/bKi3sQA0IG

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

A 1-2-3 inning for Cionel Pérez in his Mets debut 💪 pic.twitter.com/JPND0Q1k01

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Jared Young's first home run of the year! pic.twitter.com/VexkYji4GT

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

Huascar Brazobán strikes out the side in the 7th 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RmzU39jeok

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

HAYDEN SENGER'S FIRST BIG LEAGUE HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/X1PJwasTDN

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 30, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Marlins close out their series with a Sunday matinee starting at 1:40 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Nolan McLean (2-4, 4.40 ERA) looks to rebound from two consecutive bad outings while Miami will counter with RHP Janson Junk (3-5, 4.80 ERA).

After a thrilling Friday night victory full of St. Louis Cardinals home runs, game 2 of the rivalry will happen Saturday night at Busch Stadium as Kyle Leahy will make the start for the St. Louis Cardinals while the Chicago Cubs will ask Ben Brown to take one for the team. Saturday night’s game will be a national broadcast on Fox with first pitch scheduled for 6:15pm.

Tony Vitello wants Giants to have more ‘pride' as team drops fifth straight originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants came into Saturday’s game against the Colorado Rockies licking their wounds from a gut-wrenching series-opening loss the night before.

San Francisco went into Friday’s ninth inning with a 6-3 lead, but ultimately lost 8-6 thanks to a couple of massive home runs by Colorado. It didn’t take long for the Rockies’ bats to get hot on Saturday, as they went up 2-0 in the first before tacking on a couple more in the fourth.

The Giants lost 8-3, extending their losing streak to five games and leaving first-year manager Tony Vitello wanting to see more pride in the team’s response to adversity.

“We need to take a little more pride, I think, in how we…It’s ideal to not have last night occur, but bounce back,” Vitello told the media. “I got the vibe like we were in a position to do that. The first six outs we had at the plate would say that, but getting in a hole makes it a little tougher after that.”

The Giants did get some late-game offense from Drew Gilbert, who cranked a two-run shot in the eighth, but it simply wasn’t enough.

The Rockies were peppering whoever was on the mound for the Giants in this one, as they racked up 14 hits as a team, with both Jake McCarthy and Kyle Karros going deep.

The Giants got just 3 2/3 innings out of starter Adrian Houser, as Vitello ended up using three bullpen arms to get through the night.

With yet another series loss taking place for San Francisco, they will have a chance to really show their “pride” on Sunday in the series finale. Veteran Robbie Ray will take the bump, looking to end his own two-game losing streak. As for the Rockies, they are expected to be handing the ball to Tanner Gordon.

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Will Brennan’s most recent stint with AAA Sacramento didn’t last long. A day after the San Francisco Giants optioned the veteran outfielder to make space for the returning Jung Hoo Lee, they called him back up to replace Harrison Bader, who returns to the 10-Day Injured List for a second stint this year. The Giants announced the news on Saturday, stating that Bader’s injury is left plantar fasciitis.

The news isn’t particularly surprising, as Bader exited in the ninth inning of Friday’s walk-off loss against the Colorado Rockies. He appeared to be walking gingerly, and was replaced in center field by Drew Gilbert, who is starting there for tonight’s game. Bader has struggled in his debut season with the Giants, as he’s hit .170/.198/.358 for a 52 wRC+ and -0.3 fWAR. His defense has been decent though, and he’s provided a few highlights, including a pair of grand slams last week. He’s also been hitting a bit better since returning from his first stint on the IL: in 15 games, he hit .222/.250/.519.

As for the left-handed hitting Brennan, this is his third time being called up this year. He’s played sporadically and not well, hitting 2-23 while seeing actions in 11 games, and amassing -0.5 fWAR. With Lee having returned, Casey Schmitt playing almost every day in left field, and Gilbert manning center — and with Victor Bericoto and Jesús Rodríguez on the bench — it seems unlikely that Brennan will see much playing time.

One was the first manager to guide the Mets to consecutive playoff berths and a heartfelt leader of the club’s efforts to help New York heal in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The other was a 1970s heartthrob, the burgeoning star who was the best thing – the only thing, maybe – about a Mets club that endured the self-inflicted “Midnight Massacre,” the painful nickname for the short-sighted 1977 day that saw the incomparable Tom Seaver, as well as slugger Dave Kingman, traded. 

Bobby Valentine and Lee Mazzilli, who roomed together early in their Mets’ tenures, were inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame together in ceremonies Saturday afternoon that neatly covered separate eras in club history, a nifty day. 

It also served as a reminder of how fascinating Met history is, even if it only dates back to 1962. It’s vital that the club continues its recent efforts to recognize it. Stories like Valentine’s and Mazzilli’s are franchise fabric and they’re worth celebrating like this. 

It was fun to relive both of their careers on Saturday, whether it was Valentine’s fake-mustache-and-sunglasses disguise or Mazzilli’s “audacity to do basket catches four years after Willie Mays” had been a Met, as Valentine recalled. It’s OK – Mays was Maz’s hero. 

There were, of course, moments that were poignant. Or hilarious. Mazzilli doted over his granddaughter, Sophia, nearly two years old, who walked onto the infield grass as he delivered his speech. He said he can’t wait to show her his plaque in the rotunda at Citi Field and hear her say, “That’s you, Grandpa.”

“Me, a grandpa,” Mazzilli said in a pre-ceremony press conference. 

“Greatest gift in the world.” 

Both men chuckled over an ad they once did, in full uniform, with Ed Kranepool and Joe Torre for Gillette Foamy. It greeted fans in the subway. “It was really cool,” Valentine said. 

Both also were happy to go in together. It’s clear they share a deep bond and get a kick out of each other. When Mets manager Carlos Mendoza began his press conference – Valentine and Mazzilli were both in the room – by extolling the virtues of both, Valentine marched up to the table where Mendoza sat. 

Once Mendoza was finished, Valentine said to the assembled crowd, “Wow, huh? No teleprompter.” 

Then Valentine seemed to realize he probably shouldn’t be where he was. He asked aloud, “Am I supposed to be here?”

“No, you’re not,” Mazzilli hollered from the back, to laughs. “He did this when we roomed together,” Mazzilli added.

They have been friends since their roomie days in the 1970s when they “never sat in the room at nighttime,” Valentine revealed.

It would be hard to imagine Mazzilli, now 71, as a homebody, considering his outsize impact on the Mets of the late 70s and early 80s. He was a handsome first-round pick from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, who had played in the Gil Hodges Little League and chose baseball over speed skating, another sport in which he was a world-class talent.

Mazzilli was offered $30,000 to sign and ultimately got $50,000 after two months of haggling and began working his way through the Mets system. He debuted at 21 in September of 1976.

After Seaver and Kingman were dealt, “he was going to be the only thing people would come to the stadium for,” Valentine said. “The majority of fans were female, who just came to watch him run around the bases. The fans weren’t receptive to anyone but Lee because the others were replacements for Seaver and Kingman.”

For his part, Mazzilli noted that he learned some secrets of hitting by listening to Seaver and Jerry Koosman detail how they’d set up hitters. Mazzilli went on to become an All-Star in 1979, the year he batted .303 with 15 homers, 79 RBI and 34 steals.

In the MLB All-Star Game at the Kingdome in Seattle, Mazzilli became the first Mets player to hit a home run in the Midsummer Classic. His pinch-hit shot off Jim Kern in the eighth inning tied the score. In the ninth, Mazzilli drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk against Ron Guidry to force in the eventual winning run in the National League’s 7-6 victory.

Did he have a claim on the MVP Award? Perhaps. But it went to Dave Parker, who threw out two runners from right field.

Those weren’t Mazzilli’s only highlights, either. During his second tenure with the Mets, starting in the magical season of 1986, he had several memorable hits. After a pinch-hit, he scored the tying run in the famous comeback in Game 6 of the World Series. In Game 7, he delivered a pinch-hit single that started the winning rally.

Mazzilli even helped that ‘86 team when he was traded away before the 1982 season. The Mets sent him to the Texas Rangers for two pitchers. Ron Darling was one of them and the other, Walt Terrell, was later traded for Howard Johnson.

Valentine, now 76, is a Connecticut native who played part of two seasons for the Mets in 1976-77. But he made his real mark as their manager. He ranks third in team history with 536 wins stemming from his time at the helm from 1996-2002. His teams made the MLB postseason in 1999 and again in 2000. The 2000 team won the NL pennant, the Mets’ first since ‘86, and lost a hotly-contested Subway Series to the Yankees.

Valentine even worked in the minors for the Mets when some of their 1980s stars were learning the game and moving through the system. Valentine, who left to manage the Rangers in 1985, felt “connected” to that ‘86 Met team, even as he ached for his former roommate at USC, a Red Sox first baseman named Bill Buckner.

After 9/11, Valentine was a tireless helper when Shea Stadium turned into a staging area for supplies earmarked for Ground Zero. His nearby restaurant fed First Responders and he and his players tried to offer solace where they could. He’s done plenty since, too.

Saturday, Valentine tried to deflect some of the credit he got for those efforts, asserting both during the press conference and his on-field speech that not nearly as much would have gotten done without the coordinating work done by Jay Horwitz, now the Mets’ director of alumni relations and then their media relations head.

Valentine, like Mazzilli, wanted to be sure folks in his life got recognized for what they had meant to him. Family members of both ringed the podium where they delivered speeches.

Valentine’s shoutouts also included Lou Lamoriello, the Hall-of-Fame hockey executive, who coached him on a high-level team on Cape Cod, which got Valentine looks from big-time scouts. Lamoriello was on hand for the ceremonies, too, as well as former Mets such as Torre, Johnson, Edgardo Alfonzo, Mookie Wilson, John Franco, Al Leiter and Mike Piazza.

Mazzilli said he wouldn’t quite know how the day felt until he had taken it all in. While it was happening, though, it was clear that both men were enjoying it.

“It’s like coming back home,” said Mazzilli, the Brooklyn kid.

You can check out more on the pitching matchup in the game preview here and the lineups here. Join us and discuss the game in the comments below!

Game Info

Game Time: Saturday, May 30th, 7:15 pm EDT

Location: Great American Ball Park, , Cincinnati, OH

Watch: FOX

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

Fernando Tatis Jr. has broken through.

The zero next to his name in the home run column has mired the Dominican superstar's first two months of the season. Despite the fact that his .272 average through 237 plate appearances is on par with his six other MLB seasons, and that the underlying metrics — his 51.6% hard-hit percentage and 75.2 mph bat speed are both in baseball's top seven percent — suggest the power is still there, Tatis just hadn't been able to hit one over the fence.

Until Saturday, May 30.

Tatis got a fastball over the heart of the plate from Washington Nationals starter Foster Griffin in the top of the fourth inning and demolished it. As soon as he made contact, Tatis raised his arms and flicked his bat in the air as the ball towered 451 feet into left field for his first home run of 2026.

Nando is on the board!

Fernando Tatis Jr. CRUSHES one 451 feet 💥 pic.twitter.com/aEcYZ3ODlO

— MLB (@MLB) May 30, 2026

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fernando Tatis Jr. hits his first home run of 2026

Still reeling from losing Graham Ashcraft to the 60-day IL with a UCL strain in his right elbow, the Cincinnati Reds lost another veteran arm from their bullpen on Saturday afternoon.

Pierce Johnson was placed on the 15-day IL with inflammation in his right elbow, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed, and the ripple effect necessitated deeper roster shuffling to help backfill for his absence. Lyon Richardson – who had been designated for assignment by the Reds during the offseason – had his contract selected and was promoted, and to free up a spot on the 40-man roster fellow reliever Kyle Nicolas was DFA’d himself.

It’s yet another disaster scenario for a unit that was already down closer Emilio Pagan. No relief corps in the game today has walked more batters per 9 innings than Cincinnati’s, and that was with their top arms available; now they’re leaning on a unit that up until a few weeks ago was effectively the back-end of their AAA Louisville unit.

There’s no immediate indication of the severity of Johnson’s elbow problem, but it’s certainly not a great sign when the club placed him on the IL with the problem given how little experience there is down there without him.

The good news, if there is any, is that in Richardson the Reds are at least getting a guy who, for spurts, has held his own as a big league reliever. His overall body of work is rather ugly, but that’s not 100% indicative of his effectiveness on many instances. His AAA numbers so far this year aren’t brilliant – he’s sporting a 4.75 ERA – but he has fanned 34 against 14 walks in 30.1 IP and does have skewed numbers after being shelled for 6 ER in just 1.1 IP in his second to last outing. He’s also been throwing multiple innings for the Bats more often than not, of late, and some of his worst outings came in that role – it’s hard to imagine him being asked to go more than a single IP at the big league level, however.

It’s just about time for the Reds to go find some relief help, since they’re burning through their current stash in a hurry.