Category: Sports News

Former Yankees pitcher and Hall of Famer CC Sabathia celebrated his 46th birthday the way every parent dreams of: seeing their child live out a dream. 

Sabathia watched as his son, Carsten Sabathia III, signed his first professional baseball contract with the Brewers on Tuesday after the club drafted him in the 20th round of this year’s draft. 

The pitcher, who played 19 years in the major leagues and was inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer, celebrated the moment in a post on X. 

“Best Birthday ever. My son Carsten is officially a Brewer!!!” the former hurler wrote in the post, along with a photo of him with his son and wife, Amber. 

Carsten wore a Brewers jersey in the photo and had a team hat on the desk where he signed his contract. 

Carsten played infield during his time at the University of Houston, hitting .283/.374/.511 with six home runs during his senior season. 

The elder Sabathia played for a trio of teams during the course of his major league career, including a stop in Milwaukee during the 2008 season. 

He was acquired at the trade deadline that year from Cleveland and posted an 11-2 record with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts for a team that reached the playoffs for the first time since 1982 that season. Even with just half of a season with the Brewers, he was inducted into the franchise’s Wall of Honor in May.

All of that is to say, the fact that his son will now play for a team he was once part of must mean a lot to Sabathia. 

The Mets feel really good about Nolan McLean and Christian Scott as arms of the future, but Zac Thornton is quickly emerging as an intriguing name in that mix, as well.

Thornton was spectacular again against one of baseball’s best on Tuesday night, shutting out the Brewers across six strong innings to take home his first career victory. 

“It’s sort of a lift off the shoulders,” he told SNY’s Steve Gelbs postgame. “I’ve always wanted to help this team contribute to winning, and now I’ve made my mark.”

The lefty was in control for the majority of the night, leaning on his full arsenal and consistently pounding the zone. 

He did face some trouble after an infield single and a walk in the bottom of the first, but immediately turned a comebacker into an inning-ending double play. 

Thornton would face the minimum from there, retiring the next 13 batters he faced in order before the Brewers were able to generate some traffic again in the sixth. 

Back-to-back singles brought that stretch to an end and put two men on with no outs, but the 23-year-old quickly bared back down and picked up a huge strikeout. 

He was then helped out by a Milwaukee baserunner blunder and A.J. Ewing’s second spectacular catch of the night in left to end his outing with another zero on the board. 

Thornton allowed just a walk and three singles on the night. 

“He’s just the same guy,” interim manager Andy Green said. “Unafraid, attacks, went after every hitter -- it’s a good mix with aggression and there was some good defense behind him, a ton of good plays all over, it was fun to see.”

The southpaw has now pitched to a 1.93 ERA through four big league starts. 

He’s also gone 18 consecutive innings without allowing a run, which is the longest streak by a Mets rookie since fellow lefty Steven Matz in 2016. 

With each passing inning, Thornton’s already sky-high confidence only continues to grow.

Following the Mets' 4-0 win over the Brewers on Tuesday night, interim manager Andy Green and others talked about the game...

ROBERT STILL LOOKING FOR RHYTHM

Tuesday was Luis Robert Jr.'s second game back from an injury that kept him sidelined since April, so it was going to take some time for the first-year Mets outfielder to shake the cobwebs out at the plate.

After going hitless in four at-bats, with three strikeouts, in Monday's series opener with the Brewers in Milwaukee, Robert showed the power that made him coveted by the Mets this past offseason.

With the Mets up 3-0 in the eighth, Robert slammed an 87 mph cutter from Brewers reliever Bryse Wilson over the left-center field wall for his third home run of the season. The blast left Robert's bat at 112.2 mph and went 451 feet over the bullpen and into the concourse at American Family Field.

Robert was asked how many times in his career he's hit a ball that well and far before. The 28-year-old, who has hit 105 long balls in his seven-year career, said he's hit plenty like it, but acknowledged he's still trying to find his rhythm at the plate after missing nearly three months. 

"Yesterday and today, the first couple of at-bats I was just trying to get that rhythm," Robert said after the game through an interpreter. "I was able to connect today with that homer, but at the same time, just continue to go out there, work and try to fall into that rhythm."

Following Tuesday's game, Robert is slashing .213/.308/.340 with an OPS of .648 through 26 games. Robert has started in center field since he's returned as the Mets showcase the outfielder for a potential trade before the Aug. 3 deadline. 

ELITE OUTFIELD DEFENSE

In the Mets' 4-0 win over the Brewers, the defense was superb.

The combination of Robert in center, Carson Benge in right and A.J. Ewing in left -- his first start there in his MLB career -- meant no ball hit out there would hit the grass.

"A.J. is going to defend wherever you stick him in the outfield. Feels like when those three guys are out there together, you have three centerfielders," Green said. There’s a ton of extra value of having guys that can make those types of plays in the corner outfielders.

"[The Brewers] hit some balls hard and they found the gloves of good defenders today."

"It’s great, it’s a beautiful thing because none of us have to cover that much ground when we’re all out there," Robert said of the outfield through an interpreter. "It’s a lot of fun because any of us can get to those balls at any moment." 

While young starter Zac Thornton was dealing, a lot of the zeroes he put up was thanks to the defense behind him. Of the 18 batters Thornton retired, nine were retired by the three outfielders. None bigger than in the sixth inning. 

With two outs and two runners on, Brice Turang hit a fly ball to left field. Ewing was turned around, but adjusted fast enough to make a sprawling catch to end the inning.

A.J. Ewing makes another big-time play in the outfield! pic.twitter.com/7ehT55KfMu

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 22, 2026

"I yelled and said, ’Let’s go," Thornton said of the Ewing play. "He made two great plays out there." 

"With the speed that's out there, it gives you confidence to attack the zone and have the guys play defense behind you," Devin Williams, who pitched a clean ninth, said of his defense.

DEVIN RETURNS TO MILWAUKEE

Williams allowed a hit, but otherwise put the bow on the Mets' win on Tuesday night. What was significant about the appearance for the closer is that he made his first appearance in Milwaukee as an opposing player.

The last time Williams pitched in Milwaukee was when he allowed the go-ahead homer to Pete Alonso during the 2024 Wild Card series. Williams was traded to the Yankees that offseason but never pitched in the city of the organization that drafted him until Tuesday.

"Kind of a weird feeling, sitting in the opposing bullpen having been there since 2020," Williams said of the experience. "It was good. Put up a zero and helped us get a win.

"I had a little bit more adrenaline, I would say. But nothing crazy," Williams later said.

In six seasons with the Brewers, Williams pitched to a 1.83 ERA and saved 68 games across 241 appearances. 

Baseball games, even walk-offs, are not decided by one play. And, more pertinent to the sweeping point that I will eventually make at some point in this story, baseball games certainly are not decided by one lack of a play, even though our minds often wander the “what if” caves all night. There’s some damn good spelunking in those caves. Far better than anything the San Francisco Giants are doing. Allocate your time accordingly.

All of this is to say that there are a lot of reasons, people, and moments behind the Giants’ 3-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. Tyler Mahle allowed a pair of runners to reach base without recording an out to start the sixth inning — that’s bad. Sam Hentges entered and allowed an inherited run to score, while loading the bases — that’s bad. Keaton Winn replaced him and gave up a go-ahead RBI single that would have been a tailor-made double play if it were a few feet in either direction — that’s unlucky. The front five in the lineup (Heliot Ramos, Bryce Eldridge, Casey Schmitt, Rafael Devers, and Willy Adames) combined to hit 1-18 with six strikeouts — that’s atrocious. They had six balls all day hit harder than 91 mph — that’s awful. Luinder Avila had far and away the best start of his career — that’s either bad or unlucky, depending on your point of view.

And so on and so forth. You know the drill. You’ve followed 59 of these losses now.

But. You know there’s a but. All those literary tropes in the first paragraph were leading to that but.

While a loss is always a collection of poor moments weaved together to build an unsightly quilt, there are, in some cases, A Moment. Usually it stands out in the box score. A big home run. A walk-off hit, which the Giants had experienced in two of the prior three nights.

But sometimes, especially for teams with a narrative, that moment is a little more hidden. Because it’s less how the moment impacted the game, and more what it represents. A Moment that stands as a surrogate for A Season, and my goodness are the Giants in the midst of A Season.

Tuesday’s loss had such a moment. It occurred in the top of the seventh inning. The Giants had ceded a pair of runs in the prior inning, seeing their 2-1 lead get flipped into a 3-2 deficit. They needed one lowly run, and they had three innings to accomplish it.

Jung Hoo Lee led off the inning with a single, setting a potential rally in motion. Jesús Rodríguez, who had doubled earlier in the game and scored on an incredibly artful dive, laid down a lovely bunt to advance Lee into scoring position. With that, Avila, who had stymied the Giants all game long, was done. He exited the front of the stage, while Matt Strahm entered from the back.

And suddenly, all was set for A Moment. The Moment. Which was, arguably, less a moment and more an absence of one.

The tying run was at second base, with just one out. The pitcher, while once an All-Star, was a player laboring through the type of season that ends careers — Strahm entered the game with a 7.24 ERA, and having allowed 10 home runs in just 32.1 innings.

It’s at the point in the tale where I need to point out one critical detail: Strahm is left-handed. He presumably writes left-handed, and I suppose he likely eats left-handed, but, more pertinently, he throws a baseball left-handed.

And it was Drew Gilbert’s turn to bat.

Gilbert, as you’re likely aware, simply cannot hit left-handed pitchers. Not yet, at least. Probably not anytime soon, if ever. Just can’t stand them, really.

He entered the game having hit 1-28 against southpaws on the season, with one walk and 10 strikeouts. He had ground into as many double plays against lefties as he had hits and walks, combined, against them. Throw in last year’s starts and he’s a career .065/.104/.087 hitter against left-handed pitchers.

Here’s some context that you really, really weren’t asking for: for his career, Tim Lincecum hit .112/.171/.129.

So in the one corner the Giants had Tim Lincecum in the midst of a hitting slump. And in the other corner they had something about as visible in Giants land as Lincecum these days: a bench.

With Harrison Bader and Jonah Cox injured, the Giants didn’t have a right-handed center fielder they could turn to, but they had Grant McCray, a fellow lefty who could serve as a defensive replacement if Gilbert were pinch-hit for.

And on the bench they had Daniel Susac, a right-handed hitter who had a delightful game at the plate on Monday. Sitting next to him was Luis Arráez, who received a rare day off but was available to pinch-hit. You might be familiar with Arráez: he’s hitting .316 against left-handed pitchers this year.

The only question should be whether they opted for Susac or Arráez. But since this is A Moment we’re talking about, you know what they actually did: let Lincecum Gilbert have his at-bat.

These are the moments that define a game, sometimes for surprising good and other times for predictable bad. Since I’ve already revealed numerous times that the Giants lost, you probably can surmise as to which category this moment fell into.

Gilbert took a first-pitch strike in the heart of the plate, then fouled off a second-pitch strike in the heart of the plate, then swung wildly at a third-pitch fastball a foot above the zone. And just like that, he was gone. And so, too, was the rally, try as Christian Koss did to prolong it.

Tony Vitello would finally pull that bench off the shelf in the ninth inning. After Lee drew a mighty impressive one-out walk, McCray pinch-ran for him. But alas, McCray never attempted to steal second, despite reliever Alex Lange using both of his step-offs.

And when the game ended — fittingly, on a Gilbert fly ball (this time against a righty) — Arráez was standing in the on-deck circle, awaiting an opportunity two innings late, and which ultimately never came.

Had Vitello handled the seventh inning more sensibly, what would have happened? The Giants lose, probably. Because that’s the team they are. But the inevitability of defeat does not forgive a baseless process. If anything, it only makes the inexcusable that much harder to justify.

It’s times like these that make you wonder whether the Giants are 17 games below .500 because of talent, luck, or simply because, top to bottom, it doesn’t seem like anyone has any idea what they’re doing. The evidence is certainly mounting in favor of one of those options.

Diagnosing what is wrong with the Yankees lineup begins with Aaron Judge’s absence and includes Giancarlo Stanton’s injury. Their catchers’ collective .176 batting average and .521 OPS play a large role. So does Paul Goldschmidt’s recent 0-for-34 skid.

As recently as Sunday, Jazz Chisholm Jr. acknowledged he has “sucked all season” (although he has not since making this admission). They have not received enough offensively from the left side of their infield.

A bit more quietly, Cody Bellinger has been a below-average hitter for two and a half months.

A strong candidate to step up in a lineup missing a pair of sluggers, Bellinger instead has continued a long offensive slide.

Way back on May 7, Bellinger was hitting .299 with a .924 OPS and five home runs in his first 37 games. Combined with his defensive excellence and flexibility, you did not have to squint too hard to see Bellinger making a case for MVP on a team with Judge and Ben Rice.

But since that high-water mark, Bellinger owns the same OPS (.662) as Anthony Volpe does in his career.

For 61 games — in which the Yankees are 30-31 — he has hit just .229 and added just six home runs. His expected numbers in the span are better than his actual ones, but he has struggled regardless.

“I’ve been through it and just got to continue to stick to your plan. Got to stay positive,” Bellinger said at the All-Star Game, where his two-run single made him MVP, when asked about his slump. “This game’s hard.”

More recently, the issue has involved far more strikeouts than the Yankees and Bellinger are used to seeing. Re-signed in part because of his contact skills and knowledge about when to unleash a big hack and when to shorten up, Bellinger has struck out 20 times in his past 17 games and 70 plate appearances while walking just three times.

His strikeout rate in that span is 28.6 percent. Last season that mark sat at 13.7 percent.

“Probably a little more swing and miss in there,” manager Aaron Boone said recently of Bellinger. “I feel like a lot of the balls he’s getting in the air, it’s like, ‘Ooh, just missed.’ He’s hit some balls decent to center, decent to left, even decent to right.”

There are signs of hope for a player locked up on a $162.5 million deal. He has reached base four times in the past two games.

Even one of his outs during Monday’s victory over the Pirates was well struck, a hard ground ball up the middle that was aimed directly at the shortstop.

If Bellinger escapes the depths of this slide and joins a suddenly on-fire Chisholm, the wait for Judge to return would be far more manageable for the Yankees.

“He’s fouling some pitches that I feel like he’s getting a pitch to hit, maybe he’s fouling it off or he’s just missing it in the air,” Boone said of Bellinger, whose OPS has fallen from .813 last year to .760. “The difference between success and scuffling is razor-thin sometimes. But he’ll get it going.”

Fans who had tickets to Tuesday’s game can use them for Game 2 on Wednesday (scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m.), with the regularly scheduled day game now beginning at 1:05 p.m.

Charlotte Knights 7, Norfolk Tides 6
Charlotte (51-46) had to battle from behind, but a pair of rehabbing big leaguers helped spark the comeback. The Tides grabbed an early 1-0 lead after the dreaded leadoff walk surrendered by David Sandlin came around to score in the first. However, the Knights’ cavalry broke through in the fourth with a three-run frame. Rikuu Nishida worked a free pass before Everson Pereira roped an RBI double. Austin Hays followed by launching a two-run homer to put Charlotte in front for good.

Norfolk tried to creep back in with a pair in the fifth, but Charlotte had a four-run answer. Andy Weber mashed a homer, Nolan Jones drove in another run, and suddenly it was 7-3. The Tides did their best to make it interesting late, nicking Tanner McDougal for one and then squeezing two more out of Garrett Schoenle in the ninth, but the comeback fell a run short. Sandlin, for his part, was stingy with hits but generous with walks, serving up three in four innings and missing out on the win. He fanned two.

MVP
Austin Hays: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR

Runners-Up
Everson Pereira: 1-for-2, 2 R, RBI, BB, 2B
Rikuu Nishida: 2-for-4, R, BB
Nate Jones: 2-for-4, RBI
Andy Weber: 1-for-4, R, RBI, HR

Cold Cat
Garrett Schoenle: 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 BB, K
Tanner McDougal: 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R
Duncan Davitt: 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, BB, 2 K, W
Mario Camilletti: 0-for-4, 2 K

Montgomery Biscuits 13, Birmingham Barons 4
Caleb Bonemer wasted zero time, cranking his 22nd bomb of the year in the first to hand Birmingham (34-57) a quick 1-0 lead.

That was the last bit of good news. The Biscuits baked Birmingham as the Barons’ pitching staff got shelled for 13 runs on 17 hits.

The Birmingham offense couldn’t capitalize on its opportunities despite collecting nine hits and three walks, and they finished a disappointing 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Bonemer kept swinging, though, driving in another tally with a single in the fifth after Jacob Burke and Boston Smith worked back-to-back walks. Brendon Dixon chipped in a solo shot in the ninth, but by then, the game was long gone.

MVP
Caleb Bonemer: 3-for-4, R, 2 RBI, HR

Runners-Up
Dylan Campbell: 2-for-4, SB, OA, E
Brendon Dixon: 1-for-4, R, RBI, HR, E
Anthony DePino: 1-for-4, RBI
Alec Briley: 1-for-4, 2B

Cold Cat
Connor McCullough: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 2 K, L
Jarold Rosado: 1 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 ER), BB, K
Samuel Zavala: 0-for-4, 3 K

Greensboro Grasshoppers 6, Winston-Salem Dash 1
Things started well as the Dash (50-41) got on the board first in the bottom of the second. A leadoff single by James Taussig, a pair of wild pitches, and a triple by Ely Brown plated Taussig. Unfortunately, that was the high-water mark for the Dash, as the Grasshoppers answered in the top of the third, grabbed a 2-1 lead, and never looked back. That’s where things stayed until late in the game when Greensboro padded the score off the W-S bullpen with four more tallies, to put the contest out of reach. Five hits for the Dash, with four of them singles, and they went a dismal 1-for-7 with RISP.

MVP
Ely Brown: 2-for-3, RBI, 3B

Runners-Up
James Taussig: 2-for-4, R
Jack Young: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 2 K
Jeral Perez: 1-for-3, BB
Ryan Burrowes: 1-for-3, BB, SB

Cold Cat
Drew McDaniel: 4 IP: 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K, L
Aric McAtee: 2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K
Kyle Lodise: 0-for-4, 3 K
George Wolkow: 0-for-4
Kaleb Freeman: 0-for-4, K
Arxy Hernández: 0-for-4, 3 K

Columbia Fireflies 7, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4
The Fireflies came out swinging, and starter Gabriel Rodriguez never stood a chance, allowing six runs in not even two innings, and the Ballers were already buried. The Kanny (47-44) bullpen held Columbia scoreless for five frames until Choyce Diffey served up a run in the eighth. The Ballers’ offense finally ignited in the seventh. With one out, Stiven Flores and Derek Cerda slapped singles, and Matthew Boughton worked a walk to pack the sacks. Alexander Albertus punched in a run, Christian Gonzalez lifted a sac fly for another, and Jurdrick Profar doubled home the last of the rally. Kanny tried to make it interesting in the ninth when Boughton ripped a leadoff triple, and Albertus doubled him in, but it was too little too late.

MVP
Alexander Albertus: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB, 2B

Runners-Up
Jurdrick Profar: 1-for-4, RBI, 2B
Matthew Boughton: 1-for-3, 2 R, BB, 3B
Jaden Fauske: 1-for-3, BB
Derek Cerda: 1-for-3, R, BB
Blaine Wynk: 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 K

Cold Cat
Gabriel Rodriguez: 1 2/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 3 K, L
Billy Carlson: 0-for-4, K
Javier Mogollón: 0-for-4, 2 K

ACL Reds 4, ACL White Sox 2
The ACL White Sox offense was missing in action. Four hits, two walks, and a goose egg in eight shots with runners on. Leandro Alsinois briefly tied it up with his first bomb of the year in the third, but Orlando Suarez handed the lead right back in the bottom of the frame. Frank Mieses added a solo shot late, but that was just window dressing. Both runs came on solo homers, and the rest of the lineup might as well have stayed on the bus.

DSL White Sox 9, DSL Blue Jays Blue 4
Despite only five hits, the DSL White Sox (12-22) had no trouble finding their way around the bases, taking full advantage of a DSL Blue Jays pitching staff that completely lost the strike zone. Toronto hurlers uncorked seven wild pitches and handed out 14 free passes, and the Sox gladly cashed them in, scoring in every inning except the fourth. DSL All-Stars Ronald Cardoza and Sebastian Romero each drove in a run in the opening frame, while Cardoza added another RBI knock in the third, and Felix Lebron added a two-run single in the fifth. The pitching staff did its part, too, limiting the Blue Jays to just four hits and two earned runs across seven frames.

ACL White Sox 8, ACL Brewers 7 (July 20 — 7 innings)
The ACL White Sox looked dead in the water early, trailing 7-4, but then broke through with four late runs to swipe the win. Yordani Soto got things rolling with an RBI double in the second, and then the Sox hung a crooked number in the third, thanks to a two-run shot from rehabbing Wes Kath, who is still trying to justify that second-round pick from 2021. The third baseman, now 23, has yet to put it all together.

Still down three in the fifth, D’Angelo Tejada decided enough was enough and launched his fourth bomb of the year, plating three and knotting things at 7-7. The clincher came in the sixth when Jefrank Silva worked a walk, took second on a passed ball, and Darren Baker, also on the rehab trail, came through with a base hit to bring Silva home for the go-ahead run.

DSL White Sox vs. DSL Pirates Black (July 20 — postponed)
It’s unclear why this one was postponed. Makeup date is July 31.

The All-Star break may have been just what the Royals needed.

Kansas City won their fourth game in five tries since the Midsummer Classic with a 3-2 victory over the Giants on Tuesday night. Luinder Avila was solid over 6.1 innings, and Nick Loftin provided the go-ahead run as Alex Lange was able to slam the door shut for the win.

Carter Jensen got the scoring started for the Royals in the third inning when he battled Giants starter Tyler Mahle to drill a home run to right, his 14th of the year. The Giants got on the board in the fifth with two outs, when Jesus Rodriguez doubled. Drew Gilbert singled him home with Jac Caglianone’s throw home just off line to allow Rodriguez to score to tie the game. After a Christian Koss single, Tyler Tolbert misplayed a routine, potential inning-ending grounder by throwing the ball away, allowing another run to score.

The Royals tied the game back up in the bottom of the inning when Vinnie Pasquantino came through with an RBI single. After Starling Marte was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Michael Massey was caught looking. But Nick Loftin picked him up with a clutch RBI single to put the Royals on top.

Avila would exit the game in the seventh with seven strikeouts and one walk, having induced eight groundouts in the game. Matt Strahm was able to retire the two hitters he faced, and John Schreiber had a scoreless eighth.

Alex Lange has allowed a game-tying home run with two outs in each of his last two save opportunities, but there would be no such drama tonight. He allowed a walk, but recorded to strikeouts and earned his ninth save of the year.

The Royals improved to 42-60 and can go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon when Seth Lugo faces Landen Roupp at 1:10 CT.

The post-All Star break winning streak came to an abrupt end on Tuesday night as the Brewers were held to three hits and were shutout by Mets rookie starter Zac Thornton. The Mets were able to get a couple of big blasts and won the game 4-0.

Brandon Sproat faced his old team for the first time and it did not go the way he had planned. After a 28 pitch first inning, Sproat allowed a one out homer to Jared Young in the 2nd to put the Mets up 1-0. Sproat battled traffic on the bases all night, partially due to the four free passes he allowed.

The last of which was a two out walk to Bo Bichette in the 5th on Sproat’s 99th pitch of the night. At that point, Pat Murphy had seen enough and made the call to the bullpen, something Sproat was upset with himself about.

Francisco Lindor then sneaks a ball off the glove of a diving Brice Turang and gets a double out of it to put the Mets in business. Carson Benge then gets a 2 RBI double through the right side to put the Mets up 3-0.

Meanwhile, the Brewers bats could get absolutely nothing going at the plate. Jackson Chourio led things off with a single in the first inning and William Contreras walked to give the Crew two on and one out. But Andrew Vaughn grounded into a 1-4-3 double play and Thornton retired 12 in a row after that.

Milwaukee then got two runners on and nobody out in the 6th after singles from Cooper Pratt and Joey Ortiz to set up the top of the order. But a strikeout from Chourio and then a baserunning blunder on a passed ball led to Pratt being thrown out heading to third during Turang’s at-bat. Turang hit one to the warning track, but came up short and the threat was quickly ended.

They didn’t fare much better against the Mets bullpen and ultimately went down with their first shutout loss since June 3rd.

Bryse Wilson helped save the bullpen with four innings in relief, though he gave up a lot of traffic with seven hits and allowed a run on a mammoth, 451 foot blast by Luis Robert Jr.

The Brewers may have had some hard-hit balls in this game, but couldn’t get them to land. They’ll be back at it for the rubber match tomorrow afternoon with Logan Henderson on the mound against Christian Scott.

In his second game back with the Mets after a lengthy stint on the injured list, Luis Robert Jr. crushed a 451-foot blast over the left field wall in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

In the eighth inning of the Mets’ 4-1 win, Robert smashed the blast off reliever Bryse Wilson. Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio turned around and watched the ball sail over the wall, not even making a move toward the warning track.

As Robert Jr., playing in his second game since April 26, rounded the bases, the SNY camera showed his Mets teammates in the dugout looking on in disbelief at the sheer magnitude of the outfielder’s homer.

Zac Thornton, who started the game for the Mets and tossed six scoreless innings, stood on the top step of the dugout with his mouth agape and arms raised in the air.

Robert’s fellow outfielder, A.J. Ewing, who had seen lots of playing time in center field during Robert’s time on the shelf, watched the scene with his hand over his mouth, laughing.

It was a happy moment for Robert, who missed nearly three months of his first season in Queens due to a lumbar spine disc herniation.

Robert was activated from the 60-day injured list, where he was placed on April 30, before Monday’s 8-3 loss in Milwaukee and started in center field, batting seventh.

After going hitless Monday, Robert finished Tuesday 1-for-5 with his third roundtripper of the season.

The return of Robert marks the first time the Mets have had the roster they envisioned over the winter all playing at the same time, as various injuries have kept the team from having the complete roster they built over the offseason.

Interim manager Andy Green, at least before the trade deadline, now has more choice in how to construct his lineup, including in center field, where Ewing had played excellent defense and batted to a 116 OPS-plus in one of the brightest spots of the club’s rocky year.

MILWAUKEE — The intrigue surrounding Zac Thornton isn’t about to dissipate anytime soon. 

For a second straight start, the rookie left-hander worked at least six innings for the Mets and departed without allowing a run. What’s not to like? 

His attack-the-strike-zone approach is refreshing, as veterans such as Freddy Peralta and Kodai Senga in particular continue to struggle on that front. On Tuesday, Thornton carried the Mets to a 4-0 victory over the Brewers at American Family Field for the team’s third win in five games since the All-Star break. 

Thornton, who picked up his first career victory, pitched six shutout innings, allowing three hits and one walk with two strikeouts. It followed his seven scoreless frames against the Red Sox on July 12, and in his previous start he surrendered only one earned run over six innings against the Phillies. The opposition has been challenging. 

“I have always wanted to help this team win ballgames,” Thornton said. “It’s always been my No. 1 thing as a baseball player, not my personal accolades or anything like that. I have always been very team-driven and wanted to be part of the winning and a successful team.” 

David Peterson’s trade to the Cubs last month created the opening for Thornton, and he’s seized the moment. This latest gem extended his scoreless innings streak to 18 and lowered his ERA to 1.93 over four career major league starts. 

Another young pitcher who has excelled, Christian Scott, is set to face the Brewers in Wednesday’s series finale. Those two arms have joined rookie Nolan McLean to give the Mets a starting pitching nucleus worth celebrating. 

“[Thornton] was the same guy, unafraid, he attacks,” interim manager Andy Green said. “He went after every hitter, and it’s just a good mix with aggression and really good defense behind him today.” 

Jared Young’s second-inning homer against Brandon Sproat gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Young’s blast was his seventh of the season, continuing his left-handed offensive contributions at first base, where he has provided a measure of respectability for the Mets this season. 

Thornton received a defensive boost in the third when A.J. Ewing snagged Joey Ortiz’s sinking line drive on a dive in left field for the second out. Thornton began his night by allowing a single and a walk in the first inning, but escaped by getting Andrew Vaughn to ground into a double play. 

Sproat, who was once the Mets’ top pitching prospect — he was traded to the Brewers with Jett Williams for Peralta and Tobias Myers in January — lasted 4 ²/₃ innings and surrendered two earned runs on two hits and four walks with four strikeouts. 

“On a personal level, I have a ton of respect for Brandon, the way he went about his job with us,” said Green, who served as the organization’s farm director before becoming interim manager last month. “He works incredibly hard and he’s a great person, a great teammate. You pull for those guys, but at the same time you face him today, you go hard in the other direction.” 

Carson Benge stroked a two-run double in the fifth after Sproat walked the final batter he faced, Bo Bichette. Francisco Lindor doubled ahead of Benge’s hit that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead. 

Luis Robert Jr. smashed a 451-foot homer to left in the eighth that gave the Mets their final run.

Robert was activated from the injured list a day earlier after missing 2 ½ months. 

Thornton surrendered the Brewers’ first legitimate hit in the sixth on Cooper Pratt’s sinking line drive that just eluded Benge’s glove in right field. Ortiz also singled in the inning.

Thornton escaped with help from Ewing’s tumbling catch on the warning track in left field on Brice Turang’s fly ball. 

“I didn’t want to leave the infield out there any longer, so I tried to throw my best strike pitch,” Thornton said.

PHILADELPHIA –– Nothing will top the championship significance, or defensive intuition, of the now-famous wheel play the Dodgers turned in the National League Division Series against the Phillies last October.

But on Tuesday night, in the same ballpark where the Dodgers produced that unforgettable highlight to escape a near-collapse in Game 2 of that NLDS, their infield conjured some more ninth-inning magic.

Only this time, with the help of an inexplicable baserunning mistake from veteran Phillies catcher JT Realmuto.

To finish off a rain-soaked 2-1 win against the Phillies, the Dodgers turned a game-ending double-play by catching two Phillies players in no-man’s-land on the bases.

There were runners on second and third with one out. Tanner Scott was in danger of blowing a five-out save. But on what should have been a routine rundown, the Phillies instead ran themselves right out of the game.

With only third baseman Max Muncy playing in on the Dodgers infield, Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh hit a ground ball straight to him. The runner at third, speedy pinch-runner Justin Crawford, tried breaking for home, but got caught in a pickle as Muncy fired a strike to catcher Dalton Rushing, and Rushing zipped the ball back to shortstop Mookie Betts to make the tag near third.

The real disaster was what came next, with Realmuto suffering a stunning “lapse of judgement,” as he put it, by running all the way from second to third –– only to turn and try retreating to second again.

Had Realmuto stayed on third, only Crawford would’ve been out, the Phillies would have still had runners on the corners, and their comeback bid, which had been fueled by a leadoff single from Alec Bohm and one-out double from Realmuto, would’ve still been on.

Instead, Realmuto’s scamper back to second was too late, allowing Betts to turn after tagging Crawford and fire back across the diamond to second baseman Tommy Edman.

“When I saw JT going back, I think that’s like the first time I’ve yelled on the field,” Scott said. “I was like, ‘Mookie, two!’ Crazy play.”

So it went in a game that began with a one-hour, 20-minute rain delay, was played through steady showers from the second inning onward, and saw the sloppy conditions from the sky mirrored by sloppy play on the field.

Way back in the third inning, the Dodgers had committed their own baserunning gaffe. Shohei Ohtani got thrown out trying to turn a two-out RBI single into a hustle double. Even worse, baserunner Eliezer Alfonzo hadn’t even crossed the plate yet after jogging obliviously down the third-base line, wiping away a run that would’ve erased an early 1-0 deficit.

The Dodgers responded in the fourth, however, when Muncy flipped the score with a two-run homer off Phillies ace Zack Wheeler –– a blast that tied him with Ron Cey for second-most home runs in the franchise’s Los Angeles history.

And from there, the team held on, getting a 6 ⅓-inning gem from Justin Wrobleski, then another miraculous escape on the Citizens Bank Park infield. 

“The way Mookie kind of threw it and tagged, it kind of gave me a little bit of flashbacks [to last year], yeah,” Muncy said.

“You can’t really think about it [on a play like that]. You have to hope that all the work you put in in pregame and just from the start of the season kicks in, just instincts. That’s where the experience really matters in those types of situations. And with us, we always have a ton of experience out there.”

What it means

First and foremost, that the Dodgers won’t have to play a second double-header in the space of four days on this East Coast road trip.

Things seemed to be heading that way for most of the afternoon, with stormy forecasts and flash flood warnings threatening to postpone Tuesday’s game to Wednesday afternoon.

But then, a window in the weather opened. And the Dodgers –– who played a double-header at Yankee Stadium on Sunday –– were happy to squeeze the contest in.

Winning the way they did was only an added bonus.

“Big adrenaline, big win,” Roberts said. “Real fun ballgame to be a part of.”

Who’s hot

Wrobleski picked up where he left off in the first half of the season, continuing his breakout, All-Star season with yet another quality outing. 

As usual, he was efficient, needing only 89 pitches to rack up 19 outs (he could’ve gone longer, but manager Dave Roberts said pregame that the team has “got to be mindful of the workload” with Wrobleski as he compiled more innings than he ever has in his career).

In the continuation of a promising recent trend, he also got plenty of swing-and-miss, striking out seven batters while walking only one on a night his fastball was once again effective (getting seven whiffs on 22 swings).

After recording only 53 strikeouts over his first 86 ⅓ innings this year, Wrobleski has now amassed 27 over 20 ⅓ innings in his last three outings.

It’s been the latest development in his breakout season, helping him lower his ERA on Tuesday to 2.62 (fourth-best in the National League).

Who’s not

Ohtani’s base-running mistake was bad enough.

But more concerning has been his slow start offensively coming out of the All-Star break.

With a 1-for-4 performance on Tuesday, Ohtani now has just four hits in 21 at-bats over five games to begin the second half. Bad weeks happen, but Ohtani’s has come in the wake of a lubricant injection he received during the All-Star break to address a lingering left knee injury –– one that is currently preventing him from making pitching starts in the Dodgers’ rotation.

So did Roberts think Ohtani’s knee was starting to have an impact on his swing?

“I don’t think that’s the case,” he insisted pregame. “I would argue that if it was the right knee, potentially, because that’s kind of you’re turning on that knee, hitting off the front side. But with the left knee, I still see the intent there.”

Up next

With the threat of a double-header averted, a rubber-match game in this series now looms on Wednesday, when Eric Lauer (4-5, 4.81 ERA) will face Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola (3-7, 5.68).

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