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After hitting three home runs with Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday, the Mets decided Mark Vientos was ready to return from his rehab assignment for their series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.

Not only that, but interim manager Andy Green decided to ride the hot hand and slotted the slugger right into the lineup, batting cleanup as the DH in his first game back. Good thing he did, too, because Vientos stayed hot and rewarded his manager with a solo home run that ended up being the difference in New York's 3-2 win.

"It felt great," Vientos said about not only the home run, but being back with the team after a long time away. "Felt great to come back and contribute in some way and a home run is always cool so it felt great for sure."

The home run, Vientos' 12th in what's been a disappointing season, traveled 418-feet to center and reminded everyone of the raw power he possess.  

Despite playing in just 74 games, Vientos is now seventh on the team in home runs and just two away from being tied for third. If he keeps up his pace over the last few days, he'll be near the leaderboard in no time.

"He has such a powerful swing, he stays in the middle of the ballpark and he turns himself loose," Green said. "He can drive the ball out anywhere, he’s proven that… There’s only a few guys who can do that consistently and he can."

It's true, while Vientos is hitting just .212 with a .654 OPS, he does have power to all fields and is a dangerous hitter as evidenced by his breakout 2024 season in which he slashed .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs in 111 games while adding five home runs in 13 postseason games that year and hitting an incredible .327 with a .998 OPS.

The key for Vientos is getting back to that hitter -- a chance he will likely get more of now following his big home run in his return. Even before re-joining the Mets, Green publicly challenged Vientos by saying he wasn't sure what his role would be once he returns, but that if he hits his role would increase.

Since those comments, Vientos has been on a power surge between the minor leagues and now the majors.

"Just trusting my ability, just trusting myself and seeing pitches trusting that I’ll recognize -- if it’s a spin or it’s a fastball -- and allowing myself to adjust to pitches and just putting bat to ball," Vientos said of what he's thinking at the plate.

"Happy to have him back," Green said.

The Texas Rangers scored eight runs while the Athletics scored one run.

Where has this kind of game been our whole 2026?

A part of the reason that the Rangers are in the mess that they find themselves in — currently trailing for an AL playoff spot — is the lack of success against teams below them in the standings and especially baffling, a miserable mark against teams trailing them in the American League West.

Tonight, however, they bullied the Athletics in a manner that finally matched expectations. With the A’s leading the season series 6-4, the Rangers arrived back home after a two-stop midwestern road trip and promptly dunked on their division rivals.

Though held off the board in the first inning, the Rangers scored runs in each of the next four innings with a couple in the second, a run apiece in the third and fourth frames, and then three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. As if to punctuate the beating, Texas piled on for a final run in the bottom of the eighth.

The Rangers got RBIs from five of the members of the starting lineup and pinned seven of the eight runs on Athletics’ starter Gage Jump in his turbulent 4 1/3 innings of work. Corey Seager was one of four Rangers in the starting lineup who didn’t contribute a hit but he walked twice and scored two runs. Meanwhile, Brandon Nimmo and suddenly red hot Cody Freeman each had two hits and two RBIs to lead the way.

The victory gives the Rangers their second in a row, their fifth victory in eleven games against the Northern California team, and a final win in what had been a trying month of August.

See ya in September!

Player of the Game: Fresh off his worst start in like ten years and easily his worst performance with the Rangers, Jacob deGrom bounced back in a big way. After giving up eight runs in 3 2/3 innings last week in Chicago, tonight deGrom went seven innings and allowed just one hit — a Lawrence Butler leadoff single in the top of the second — and walked none while striking out eight.

deGrom is likely still managing whatever old man hip thing he’s got going on, so he’s probably going to be prone to some Jekyll and Hyde outings but the Rangers could certainly use more vintage deGrom down the stretch and tonight he delivered one his best.

Up Next: The Rangers will try to get a streak going tomorrow night against these A’s with LHP MacKenzie Gore set to make the start for Texas opposite a pitcher to be named for the franchise to be named.

The Tuesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Box Score

Luckily, you can only lose once per game.

Kyle Harrison struggled badly tonight, and by the time he was removed from the game with two outs in the fourth inning, things were already wildly out of control. On the other side, Clay Holmes came in as one of the hottest starting pitchers in baseball, and this one was decided early.

Holmes got things started with back-to-back strikeouts of Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio, for which he needed only seven pitches, none of which were balls. Jake Bauers drew a walk — but blew a challenge in the process — and William Contreras lined out to left to end the inning.

The white-hot Pete Crow-Armstrong led things off for the Cubs; you could tell how well he’s getting around on things when he blasted a fastball up and in foul down the right-field line, but Harrison struck him out a couple pitches later. Harrison, whose fastball velocity was in the low 90s in the first inning, couldn’t find the zone against Seiya Suzuki and walked him on five pitches, but Harrison picked up the second out on a popout in foul territory by Alex Bregman.

Unfortunately, Harrison then left sluggish fastballs right over the middle to both Tyrone Taylor and Nico Hoerner, and back-to-back homers gave the Cubs an early 3-0 lead. Michael Busch then ripped a double into the right-field corner and Carson Kelly jumped on the first pitch for an RBI single up the middle, and Harrison was in serious danger of not making it out of the first inning on this steamy Chicago night. Miguel Amaya finally did fly out to end the inning, but the Cubs had jumped all over Harrison and had an early 4-0 lead.

With one out in the second, the Brewers got their first hit, a Garrett Mitchell single up the middle (at 112 mph — Mitchell continues to hit it hard when he hits it). Things went poorly after that, though: with Mitchell running on a 3-2 count, Sal Frelick struck out looking — on a pitch that was outside the zone — and Mitchell was thrown out at second. It was a rough start for the good guys.

Harrison got two quick outs in the second, but Suzuki ripped a single into left, and another Harrison meatball to Bregman ended up in the bleachers, making it 6-0 Cubs. He just couldn’t locate the fastball tonight, but instead of missing outside the zone, he was doing something much worse: missing right down the middle. Taylor grounded out to end the inning, but the Brewers were in a deep hole against a locked-in pitcher.

For the second straight inning, the Brewers hit into an unconventional double play. After a one-out single from Cooper Pratt, Turang grounded one to Busch at first, who stepped on the bag and threw to second, where Pratt was tagged out.

In a good encapsulation of the Brewers’ night, Hoerner hit an easy ground ball to Bauers at first to start the bottom of the third, and Bauers booted it, fell down, tried to shuffle the ball to Harrison, and instead bounced the ball off the base while Harrison wiped out. Hoerner was safe, and Harrison got a visit from the trainer, though he stayed in the game; after a flyout to left, Kelly blooped a single to center and set up the Cubs to score again. Harrison was able to work out of the jam, though; with runners on the corners and one out, Harrison struck out Amaya and got Matt Shaw to ground out to first.

The Brewers were showing very few signs of being able to work their way back into the game. Chourio started the fourth with a “bad Chourio” strikeout in which strike three came on a pitch way out of the zone. Bauers reached for the second time when he lined a single up the middle with one out, and Contreras walked to put the first real pressure on Holmes that the Brewers had managed on the night. Unfortunately, Yelich and Mitchell both struck out chasing outside the zone, and the fleeting chance went by the wayside.

Bauers made a highlight-reel catch to rob PCA of a hit to start the bottom of the fourth, but things went bad again after that. Suzuki inflicted pain on Harrison in a different way — this one was at least not a bad pitch, but Suzuki went with it to the opposite field for a solo shot. Bregman, up next, did get a bad pitch and demolished it, and the Cubs were up eight.

The trouble didn’t end there for Harrison, who was firmly in “wearing it” mode. Taylor singled and Hoerner drew a 12-pitch walk; Harrison stayed in to face Busch, who he struck out, but was taken out with two outs in the bottom of the fourth with eight runs in and two runners on. Out of the bullpen was Chad Patrick… who couldn’t throw strikes. His first eight pitches all missed, most of them quite badly, and the Cubs had another run. Patrick finally found the strike zone against Shaw, and a fly ball ended the inning with the Cubs up 9-0.

There wasn’t much else to write home about. In the seventh, Cooper Pratt hit a two-run homer. DL Hall allowed one to Kelly, which made it an eight-run lead, allowing the Brewers to move to a position player on the mound. Tonight, that was Andrew Vaughn, who took over in the bottom of the seventh. The peculiar infield lineup also handed Joey Ortiz his debut as a first baseman.

Vaughn’s first pitch, a 47-mph “knuckle ball,” hit Amaya, and things went about as you’d expect from there. Chicago picked up three more runs off of Vaughn, Colin Rea gave one back in the eighth (a Chourio double followed by a Vaughn single), and Chicago got four more in the eighth. By the end of the inning, they had nine homers — a franchise record. The game mercifully ended at 17-3.

Yeah, let’s flush that one and move on to tomorrow! It’s a matchup of lefties on Tuesday night, with Robert Gasser starting for Milwaukee opposite Matthew Boyd for Chicago. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. See you then.

The Tigers went to Minnesota to open a three-game series with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread. They did nothing to assuage their fans’ fears on Monday night, dropping said series opener by a 11-1 score.

Starting for the Tigers was Jackson Jobe, making his fifth start this year after recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’s struggled with walks: his past two starts have seen him walk three batters in sub-five-inning outings, throwing 86 pitches in each. His stuff has looked good so far, though.

Taj Bradley started for the Twins, and he’s been a solid part of their rotation this year; he started his career with a few years in Tampa, and they traded him to Minnesota midway through the 2025 season. His walk rate has really crept up this year to something you shouldn’t see in a starter: it was 3.8 per 9 innings coming into today. That wasn’t a problem tonight, though.

Minnesota got on the board in the bottom of the first: a leadoff double by Luke Keaschall was followed by a productive groundout and a sacrifice fly by Old Friend™ Kody Clemens. Did you know Clemens had over 20 home runs this year? I sure didn’t.

The Twins and Tigers traded nice 5-6-3 double plays in consecutive innings. You don’t see that too often.

Clemens wasn’t done, though: he mashed a high curveball into the right-field seats for his twenty-third home run of the year to lead off the bottom of the fourth, and the Twins were ahead 2-0. Kevin McGonigle had a rough inning in the field, too: a ground ball slipped under his glove, and on a throw in from the outfield which would’ve nabbed a runner at second base, he just straight-up dropped it. But a routine fly ball to left field got the Tigers out of the inning without further damage.

Keaschall led off the fifth by reaching base on an error by Hao-Yu Lee at third base, and he stole second. He drew a pickoff attempt by Jobe (heh) which plunked him, so let’s just say that the defence wasn’t great overall. Clemens walked at the end of a twelve-pitch battle, and Ryan Jeffers followed that with a three-run home run to make it a 5-0 game.

The Tigers got on the board against Bradley with a leadoff no-doubter home run by Lee, going 439 feet into the bullpen to make it a 5-1 game.

Gleyber Torres followed with a sharply-struck single and Colt Keith walked, and you had to wonder, hey, are the Tigers getting something going here? Well, McGonigle flew out to the wall in right field, advancing Torres to third, but alas, Dillon Dingler then hit into a double play and the inning was over. The above clip is, truly, the Tigers’ only highlight of the game.

Jobe’s night was done after five innings, and his final line was 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 4 K. So, the control was a little better and the stuff looked decent, but those results just weren’t there. The Twins came into tonight’s game tied for the most runs scored in the American League, so they aren’t exactly pushovers.

Yilber Díaz followed, and while he has a lively arm, he apparently has some trouble controlling where that ball might just end up. He walked the leadoff batter, and after nicely fielding a popup, he walked the next two batters to load the bases with one out. Brooks Lee followed and he cleared said bases with a single; he got thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, but as the old saying goes, “That’s like closing the barn door after all the horses have run out.”

Meanwhile, Bradley hummed right along into the seventh, and put the maraschino cherry on top of the sundae by striking out Lee on his final pitch of the night; if you round up, it was a 100 mph four-seam fastball and moving all over the place. Tip your cap.

Díaz carried on into the eighth and served up a solo home run to lead off the inning, making it a 9-1 game. But then he got three straight flyouts, so, hooray, I guess?

That extra run allowed Zach McKinstry to take the mound, and John Peck made his Major League debut as a defensive replacement at third base amongst a flurry of defensive changes. McKinstry gave up some runs, of course, but at that point pretty much nobody cared.

Final score: Twins a lot, Tigers not enough

Numbers and Notes

• As mentioned, Kody Clemens has over twenty home runs. But did you also know he leads the American League with six triples? I sure didn’t know that, either.
• It’s been a while since Spencer Torkelson’s last home run. It was in that Baltimore game near the end of July that we shan’t discuss further.
• On this day in 1886, an earthquake estimated to be about 7.0 on the Richter scale hit Charleston, South Carolina. If you thought to yourself just now, “I don’t think South Carolina is on any major fault lines,” you’re right: but it’s close to a minor fault line in the middle of the North American Plate, and those cracks can definitely produce earthquakes.

Tonight’s game at Fenway Park was capital-B Baseball. Yesterday the Red Sox lost 16-1 to the Yankees in ways that were humiliating in line wit what losing to the Yankees naturally implies, especially around Labor Day. Just over a day later, they won as good a regular season game as you’ll ever seen. It was a 9-8 extra innings walk-off after several comebacks against the Mariners generally but specifically Randy Arozarena, who had a Randy Arozarena Game, and overtook all of Boston’s leads but the last one. The last one came on a Trevor Story single in the bottom of the 10th to end it. Before that, they played the hits: Mickey Gasper went deep again, because of course. Jarren Duran did too, because why not? Payton Tolle hugged a dude!

And yet all these feats were repeatedly and rudely refuted by the M’s, not just Randy but Cal Raleigh, whose sleeves are too short and seemed to have put it out of reach at 8-5 in the 7th:

But no. The Sox would and could not be denied. Story didn’t just have the hit to end it, he had the critical slap in the 8th to bring it within a run. After Aroldis did his thing in the top of the ninth (scare the crap out of us while being objectively impressive but [redacted]) Roman Anthony came out and hit a leadoff triple and scored on a sac to left to tie it. Once the Sox dispatched the top of the 10th and came back up, they moved the fake runner to 3d and the M’s walked ‘em loaded and went to a 3-1 count before this happened:

“Nine-eight in 10.” That’s great stuff, Obie. I can’t lie.

Mariners 8, Red Sox 9

Staying home when you feel sick: Randy Arozarena, +0.49 WPA
Going into the office and infecting your co-workers: George Kirby, -0.32 WPA

Game Thread Comment(s) of the Day

Manny Gonzalez worked four innings in 90-degree heat and humidity Monday night before his vision went blurry behind the plate.

The home plate umpire left the Padres-Reds series opener Aug. 31 at Great American Ball Park with heat exhaustion, MLB umpire supervisor Randy Marsh said. The game stopped for 14 minutes and finished with a three-man crew. MLB said Gonzalez suffered heat illness and was receiving care.

It was 90 degrees with 61% humidity at first pitch in Cincinnati.

As the Reds took the field for the top of the fifth, Gonzalez was in trouble. Third-base umpire Tom Hanahan got to him first. Reds head trainer Sean McQueeney followed, then medical staff from both clubs ran out. Gonzalez sat on the grass while they worked on him.

He walked off with the Reds' assistant trainer Tomas Vera, down to the medical area under the ballpark. He was also dehydrated and his blood pressure was up, according to reports.

Most of the delay was due to equipment change. D.J. Reyburn had been working first base. To call balls and strikes he had to put on the gear for working behind the plate, including his chest protector, mask and metal-toed shoes.

The Athletics’ losing streak hit four games on Monday night. The team dropped their series opener in Texas against the Rangers 8-1. The starting pitching wasn’t great, the bats were silent against a generational talent, and that all adds up to another loss. The team is now 53-85 going into September. Pain.

Rangers jump on Jump

Lefty Gage Jump got the ball tonight, the 19th of the season for the rookie. The left-hander had an easy 1-2-3 bottom of the first but that was the highlight from his evening.

Texas would score in each of the next four innings, totaling seven runs. Jump clearly did not have his best stuff in this one and it became more evident the longer the game went. He’d ultimately make it to the fifth but was unable to finish that inning, departing with runners on the bases.

• Gage Jump: 4 1/3 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 91 pitches

Not a great night for Jump. Not a lot to say but to try and learn from it and move on. He’s now sporting a 5.15 ERA in his rookie season and a personal goal of his should be to get that number below 5. He’s lined up to take on the Mariners in Seattle this coming weekend.

Bats silent against deGrom

On the other side of the ball, the A’s offense was listless against Texas’ future Hall of Famer Jacob deGrom. Right fielder Lawrence Butler collected a leadoff single in the second but that was literally the entirety of the Athletics’ offense through the first seven innings. deGrom showed why he’s ticketed for Cooperstown when he hangs his cleats up. A vintage performance and you can’t do anything but tip your cap to him.

The final frames

Righty Chris Roycroft came on for Jump and finished the fifth, then proceeded to pitch the sixth and seventh as well before Jose Suarez pitched the eighth and gave up that eighth run. deGrom departed after his seven strong frames and the Texas bullpen did their job. The A’s managed to push across a run in the top of the ninth to break up the shutout thanks to a pair of hits and an Darell Heraniz sac fly, but that was it for the A’s.

Not a good night in any facet. Jump did not look like he had his best stuff and got knocked around again. The offense managed one hit for the first eight innings before pushing across a meaningless run in the ninth. That’s not going to cut it against a team that’s in playoff contention and has more motivation to win. September can not come soon enough.

The series continues tomorrow night, same time same place. For the A’s, it’s still technically up in the air. The team doesn’t have a scheduled starter and it would be J.T. Ginn’s turn up in the rotation. He’s already far exceeded his career high in innings pitched though and the team is skipping him this time around:

No word yet on who will take his spot.

The Rangers on the other hand know exactly who is getting the start in the middle game of the series. That’ll be lefty MacKenzie Gore, a high-upside southpaw who has had his ups and downs in his first year pitching in Texas. This’ll be his fourth start of the year against the A’s; he’s 1-1 and has allowed eight runs in 15 1/3 frames.

The Mets scratched out a 3-2 win over the AL-leading Tampa Bay Rays in their series opener on Monday night.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Making the most out of his opportunity with New York this season, Robert Stock put together the best start of his career against the Rays, recording his first major league win since 2019 and his first win ever as a starting pitcher.

The 36-year-old, able to flip the switch after a terrible start against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field in which he allowed seven earned runs on 10 hits in four innings his last time out, was at the top of his game and managed to shut out the team with the best record in the AL for 5.1 innings.

-- As if that wasn’t impressive enough, it was also the first time Stock has thrown a pitch in the sixth inning as a starter. Of course, the right-hander has only made nine starts in his career (six of them coming this year), but if it wasn’t for interim manager Andy Green taking him out after just 72 pitches (50 strikes), Stock could’ve been out there even longer.

-- The excellent outing by the right-hander also came in the midst of a low-scoring affair with New York clinging to a 1-0 lead. Stock was put to the test in the fifth inning when a fly ball single and a ball deflected off of Bo Bichette’s glove at third put the first two batters on. Stock’s unlucky streak in the inning continued when Francisco Lindor, who made a nice play to end the third inning, couldn’t come up with an easy ground ball tailor made for a double play which loaded the bases with nobody out. 

-- But Stock didn’t flinch at all and kept going, getting a pop out and a strikeout for the first two outs of the frame. With a chance for the right-hander to exit the inning unharmed, Jonathan Aranda lined a ball to left field that had trouble written all over it, but the former Ray Christopher Morel, not known for his glove, made a beautiful leaping grab to end the inning and save three runs. Morel made another great play in the sixth with an outfield assist at second base.

-- For good measure, Stock went back out for the sixth and struck out home-run hitter Junior Caminero as the icing on the cake of a well-deserved outing which lowered his season ERA to 5.88. 

-- Offensively, the Mets didn’t have much luck in the beginning against Rays starter Ian Seymour who struck out seven batters his first time through the lineup. New York was able to put runners on first and third with nobody out in the fourth thanks to a leadoff double by Bichette and a single by Carson Benge and eventually pushed across a run on Mark Vientos’ double play. 

-- That was it for the Mets until the seventh inning when Vientos, in his first game back from the IL, led off with a solo home run off Seymour to double the team’s lead. The home run was Vientos’ 12th of the year and came after he hit three in his final rehab game for Triple-A.

A single later in the inning by Morel chased Seymour out of the game and brought in Casey Legumina who Marcus Semien greeted with a pop fly single that landed in no-man’s land. Francisco Alvarez came through with an RBI single two batters later which gave New York a 3-0 lead. 

-- Daniel Duarte gave both of those runs back in the eighth with his third straight appearance in which he’s been scored upon after nine straight scoreless appearances and a superb showing as the eighth inning guy.

-- Kodai Senga then came in for the save in the ninth of a one-run game and shut the door for Stock and the Mets, earning his fifth save in five tries.

-- Every single starter in the lineup had at least one hit, except for Lindor who went 0-for-4 from the leadoff spot. A.J. Ewing had two hits.

Game MVP: Robert Stock

The veteran journeyman recorded his first win in seven years.

He's here, he's there, he's everywhere!

Francisco Lindor makes the play! pic.twitter.com/QIUt8JTM7I

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 31, 2026

The Mets score a run as Mark Vientos grounds into a double play pic.twitter.com/uEXE5BZrii

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 31, 2026

Christopher Morel makes the leaping catch to get the Mets out of trouble in the 5th! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/5qxbaGQF7P

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 31, 2026

Robert Stock caps off 5.1 scoreless innings by striking out Junior Caminero! pic.twitter.com/BD7F59vD0q

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 1, 2026

Christopher Morel throws out Chandler Simpson at second! pic.twitter.com/fVGjZN5D6I

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 1, 2026

WELCOME BACK, MARK VIENTOS!

He returns to the lineup with a home run! pic.twitter.com/2ix2OKDjLV

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 1, 2026

Francisco Alvarez goes the other way to make it 3-0 Mets! pic.twitter.com/BOwVhfAUtW

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 1, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Rays continue their three-game series on Tuesday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. on SNY.

LHP Sean Manaea (4-6, 4.55 ERA) takes the mound for New York and will be opposed by former Met RHP Freddy Peralta (6-11, 5.11 ERA).

Rafael Devers belted his 30th home run of the season on Monday, Aug. 31 as the San Francisco Giants went on to defeat the Atlanta Braves, 7-3, at Truist Park just outside downtown Atlanta.

Devers hit a solo home run in the 1st inning, setting the tone for his Giants. He plastered the 87-mph cutting pitch from the Braves' Bryce Elder, sending it 403 feet to right field.

Both teams went back and forth with Atlanta taking a 3-2 lead through five innings before San Francisco notched four runs in the top of the sixth, including an Osleivis Basabe home run, to take a commanding 6-3 lead. Jonah Cox added a solo homer to extend the lead and seal the deal in the ninth.

The Giants record is 57-81 after their victory against the Braves.

Rafael Devers hits milestone in MLB career

It was the fifth time in Devers' 10-year MLB career that he has hit at least 30 home runs in a season, though the year marks the first time in his career with back-to-back seasons of 30 home runs or more.

Devers' career-high for home runs in a seasons is 38 in 2021 as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

Devers has now hit a 50 home runs in a San Francisco uniform during his time with the Giants.

Devers is batting .251 with splits of .328/.485/.814 in the 2026 season. He's added 131 hits and 78 RBIs.

The Giants have 24 games remaining on the schedule.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rafael Devers notches fifth season with 30 home runs in Giants' win

On the eve of the final month of their 2026 season, the Mets got the best start of Robert Stock’s career in their series opener against the Rays tonight in St. Petersburg. Having entered the game with a 7.40 ERA in five major league starts this season, Stock cut his ERA by well over a run by throwing five-and-one-third scoreless innings against the American League East-leading Rays.

Stock struck out four, didn’t walk anyone, and threw 72 pitches, 50 of which were strikes. He gave up five hits along the way, but the most impressive part of his outing was the fact that he got out of quite a jam in the bottom of the fifth inning. After giving up a leadoff single to Cedric Mullins, he gave up a smoked infield single to Jonny DeLuca, who hit a line drive that tipped off the end of Bo Bichette’s glove at third base and ricocheted to Francisco Lindor—who unfortunately couldn’t turn it into an out by air or via a throw to first base—at short.

That play was no fault of Lindor’s, but the next one was. Richie Palacios hit a chopper to the vicinity of second base, where Lindor was in perfect position to turn a double play. Instead, he botched the play and saw the ball bounce off his glove. Officially, it was ruled a hit, but even though you can’t ever assume a double play in official scoring, Lindor certainly should’ve been charged with an error.

That left the bases loaded, and that set things up for Stock to really shine. He induced a foul pop out and struck out the formidable Yandy Díaz for the first two outs of the frame. And he escaped the jam with an unexpected defensive gem by Christopher Morel, a bat-first player who managed to get back and reach a well-hit line drive that looked destined to go over his head, in left field.

As for the Mets’ scoring, Mark Vientos got them on the board when he grounded into a double play with nobody out and runners on the corners in the top of the fourth. Vientos plated the Mets’ second run of the night in much more convincing fashion when he drilled a home run to left-center field in the top of the seventh. And later in that inning, Francisco Alvarez brought home the Mets’ third run of the night with a single that plated Cristian Pache, who had entered the game as a pinch runner for Morel earlier in the inning.

And speaking of Morel and his unexpected defense, he notched an outfield assist to end the bottom of the sixth inning with Nate Lavender on the mound in relief of Stock. Chandler Simpson tried to stretch a single into a double, but Morel threw him out at second by a wide margin.

With a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth thanks to scoreless appearances by the aforementioned Lavender and Dedniel Núñez, the Mets’ bullpen bent but didn’t break. Daniel Duarte, who’s been excellent in his time in the big leagues this year, gave up two runs on three hits. He recorded just two outs and had runners on second and third before giving way to Chris Devenski, who thankfully got a ground ball back to himself that he managed to corral and turn into an inning-ending and run-saving out.

After old friend Steven Matz put up a zero in the top of the ninth, the Mets handed their one-run lead over to Kodai Senga. He issued a leadoff walk, but after getting a ground out and a fly out, he struck out Yandy Díaz looking to end the game and earn the save—preserving a win for Stock, his first since 2019.

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Win Probability Added

WPA to follow

The Yankees spent the previous week engaged in high-visibility home series against two of their most hated rivals: the Astros and Red Sox. They ultimately came out ahead in the aggregate thanks to grabbing three of four from Boston. And did they ever enjoy Sunday afternoon’s 16-1 drubbing. A happy flight across the country brought them to sunny Orange County, where they will engage in a decidedly less intense three-game set with the Angels.

The Perry Minasian Era in Anaheim ended with a decisive thud in June, when the Halos let go of their general manager of the past seven seasons as they trudged through another lost campaign. The Angels sit in the basement of the AL West once again, entering this series with a 52-85 record. The equally moribund Athletics have occasionally slipped past them in the race to the bottom every so often, but an active seven-game losing streak rectified that real fast. They remain the worst kind of bad team: a bad team that isn’t even fun to watch. Not to mention the fact that Mike Trout, All-Star that he was this season, is in year four of an extended decline from the ranks of the league’s elite players.

With all that said, tonight’s pitching matchup promises plenty of talent. Elmer Rodríguez, just a few weeks removed from his 23rd birthday, will make a second start in his latest big-league cameo. It’s easy to forget that this will only be the righty’s sixth start up in the Show, considering that MLB debut in Arlington came all the way back in April. All the while, he’s continued to pitch well in International League play, earning these additional opportunities when mainline guys like Max Fried have hit the shelf. Last time out against Houston, Rodríguez earned his first MLB quality start—though the offensive explosion which would have earned him his first MLB win came an inning later than it needed to. At least it happened at all. He gets another shot at it tonight.

Rodríguez’s opponent on the mound is a young man who has quietly pieced together a great rookie season: 22-year-old Walbert Ureña. Ureña made the Angels’ pitching staff out of spring training as a reliever, and pitched in their season opener before being optioned back to the minors. He came back in mid-April and quickly earned a spot in the rotation which he isn’t due to relinquish anytime soon. With September on the horizon, Ureña boasts a 2.94 ERA; and the peripheral stats back it up. Sure, he throws hard, but his changeup has been the X-factor: a dead fish-type offering which misses bats and avoids the barrel on contact. Batters have posted a meager .156 batting average and .251 slugging percentage against it.

In other words, this ain’t your average late-season battle between two young hurlers who were virtually unknown outside of prospect circles before 2026. It’ll likely be one worth staying up late on the East Coast for. Join us! Let’s have some fun.

Ureña will face a lineup that begins with a lefty stack; Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, and Luis Garcia Jr. will make up the top. Amed Rosario hits cleanup ahead of a second trio of lefties: Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Spencer Jones. José Caballero takes shortstop and Austin Wells does the catching.

How to watch

Location: Angel Stadium — Anaheim, CA

First pitch: 9:38 pm ET

TV: YES, ABTV

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280; KLAA 830, Angels ES

Streaming: MLB.tv

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