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The Mets took advantage of walks and wildness and got some clutch pitching of their own to defeat the Yankees 6-3 at Citi Field Saturday night, evening this Subway Series at 1-1. 

Here are the takeaways...

-Luke Weaver’s escape from a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the seventh inning was the game-changing sequence of the ballgame.

After the Yankees had scored a run in the seventh and loaded the bases against Brooks Raley, due in part to dropped fly ball by Carson Benge in right field, Weaver came on with the Mets leading 5-3 and got three huge outs on a total of 11 pitches.

He struck out Amed Rosario and Trent Grisham, both swinging at change-ups. Then he got Anthony Volpe to ground to shortstop on a fastball for a force out to end the inning.

Weaver has had his hiccups this season but has been good lately, with a 1.69 ERA over his last 10 appearances before Saturday’s outing.

-The Mets got some outstanding work from five pitchers, from opener Huascar Brazoban to closer Devin Williams, who got the save and now hasn’t allowed a run over his last eight appearances.

-Despite his embarrassing drop of a routine fly ball, Benge continues to spark the Mets with his bat as the leadoff hitter.

He went 3-for-4 on Saturday night, the fourth time in his last five games he’s had a multi-hit game. Over his last 21 games, Benge is hitting .342 with 13 runs scored, raising his average from below .200 to .245.

-With Juan Soto starting to heat up again, it’s up to Mark Vientos hitting behind him in the No. 4 spot to be an RBI, as well as make pitchers pay for walking Soto.

On Saturday Vientos delivered in a couple of such situations.

With runners at first and third in the fifth, after Benge singled and Soto walked, Vientos lined a double down the left field line, scoring both runners to give the Mets a 5-2 lead.

Two innings later, with runners at second and third, after singles by Benge and Soto, plus a Soto stolen base, Vientos hit a hard ground ball toward the hole between first and second, far enough that Jazz Chisolm Jr. had no play at the plate even after fielding the ball.

For the night Vientos had three RBI, giving him 14 in 12 games in May.

-Without Clay Holmes the Mets need David Peterson more than ever to recapture his old form as a dependable starter, but he remains something of an enigma after a four-inning stint as the bulk reliever Saturday in which he struggled with his command, gave up six hits and three walks, yet managed to limit the damage to two runs.

Peterson had good stuff, as indicated by his eight strikeouts, but he was constantly in deep counts, and wound up throwing 82 pitches during his four innings.

Peterson’s biggest out was a two-out strikeout of Jazz Chisolm to end the fifth with runners on first and second, the Mets leading 3-2 at the time.

-Carlos Rodon’s wildness enabled the Mets to take the lead in the third inning after falling behind 1-0. After a two-out double to right-center by Benge, Rodon walked both Bo Bichette and Soto to load the bases.

Rodon then threw a wild pitch too high for Austin Wells to catch and all the way to back wall behind home plate. The ball caromed off the ledge high into the air, allowing Benge to score easily. Rodon ran to catch the carom in the air near the first base line, and though he had no shot at Benge, he threw to the plate anyway, wild again, past Austin Wells, allowing Bichette to also score on the play.

Game MVP: Luke Weaver

Weaver’s escape from a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the seventh inning with the Mets leading 5-3 at the time changed the complexion of the game.

Weaver relieved Brooks Raley with the bases already loaded and proceeded to strike out Rosario and Grisham, and get Volpe on a ground ball to short to end the inning. Weaver has stranded all seven runners he has inherited over his last 11 appearances.

Highlights

Trent Grisham brings home the first run of the game! pic.twitter.com/oBWXHMHohT

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 16, 2026

Carlos Rodón throws a wild pitch, then throws the ball away and two Mets runs score! pic.twitter.com/IOMpGHtyJi

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2026

Brett Baty brings home Austin Slater with an RBI double 💪 pic.twitter.com/ABqHxAIAKI

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2026

Paul Goldschmidt gets a run back for the Yankees with an RBI single! pic.twitter.com/5pqt7wZS17

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 17, 2026

David Peterson strikes out Jazz Chisholm Jr. to strand two and keep the Mets in front pic.twitter.com/4yEICgV9XY

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2026

MARK VIENTOS DELIVERS!

He brings home two with a double 🔥 pic.twitter.com/YZQBAWvSa5

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2026

He dropped the ball!

Carson Benge's error leads to a Yankee run! pic.twitter.com/971J7e5Amv

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 17, 2026

CLUTCH PITCHING BY LUKE WEAVER!

He comes in with the bases loaded and nobody out and doesn't allow any further damage 💪 pic.twitter.com/DK7nraV7CZ

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Yankees wrap up their series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:40 p.m.

Freddy Peralta (3-3, 3.10 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets, while recently called-up prospect Elmer Rodriguez will start for the Yankees.

The roof was closed from the start on a blustery afternoon in Seattle, with rare thunderstorms in the forecast. The Mariners’ offense gathered, swirled, and covered the field in strong contact, line drives, and threat after threat. But it was the Padres whose lumber cracked like thunder, pummeling Logan Gilbert under a storm of punished mistakes. Enlisting the help of my compatriots around the ballpark, I’ve secured a procedural slice of the game from a collection of the staff seated in the 300 level, adding the crucial details from the press box that had little insight pregame and few happy faces postgame including a dour-faced Dan Wilson.

From the collective:

First Inning: It’s a 4:15 start. The vibes are confusing immediately. Logan Gilbert looks sharp in the home whites and cuts through the Padres easily. The Mariners pick up the dance steps and go 1-2-3 in kind.

Second: Gavin Sheets hits a solo homer. Everyone involved should be embarrassed. Luke Raley singles, and the threat of total mortification disappears.

Third: The side was struck out, and not the one you want.

At some point in the earlyish innings, Dan Wilson is tossed. He does not pick up and throw a base, which is disappointing, but at one point he does point strongly at the field, which is Dan Wilson for “Bleep you, you bleeping, bleeper from bleep.” It is done to defend the honor of Logan Gilbert and the sanctity of a check swing, something nobody knows the rules of.

Fourth: Logan Gilbert had the good slider for one wonderful inning this game. This was not that inning. There is a man in the crowd wearing a Dodgers jersey, and you have to respect a hater with commitment. You do not have to respect Nick Castellanos, but you still shouldn’t throw him middle-middle braking balls.

Fifth: J.P. Crawford homers, every one feels like a last gasp. We stand and applaud, as you should when a man is dying in front of your eyes.

Sixth: No.

Seventh: J.P. Crawford steps up to the plate, following Leo Rivas’ daily ritual (rolling over on a grounder). He may not be dying, we think! Perhaps his homer portends great things! Perhaps he’s been motivated by America the Beautiful just before the bottom of the inning, and he’s ready to start a two-out rally! J.P. Crawford strikes out on a 2-2 count.

Eighth: On a pitch from Nick Davila, Jhonny Pereda throws out Fernando Tatís Jr. stealing second. Shortly thereafter, Leo Rivas makes an unbelievable grab on a line drive from Manny Machado. Yes, of course, we all saw this type of inning coming.

Reclaiming the reins:

Ninth: The tying run came to the plate, something that seemed impossible at several stages of this evening’s grind of a loss. This was only possible thanks to two more highlights of the defensive variety, on a night where the gloves shone all around. With his second brilliant throw of the game, Jhonny Pereda cut down Miguel Andujar attempting to steal second. That seemed like a face-saving moment when, following his debutante moment, longtime toiling minor leaguer Rodolfo Durán clubbed what looked to be his second home run of the game. Julio, mercifully, is a thief for joy.

Alas, if the brown of the Padres uniforms weren’t hint enough, we’re in Mudville despite Julio’s best efforts. Two on, one out, chasing a 7-4 deficit, Seattle mustered a fielder’s choice and a groundout. The chase for .500 is deferred another day.

Mars might consider rebranding their famous M&M’s candy to M&M&M&M.

Davis Martin, Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery set the tone early and never looked back in the Chicago White Sox landslide 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs, and it was mightily sweet.

Davis Martin

Right off the jump, Davis Martin sat the Cubs down in order to begin the ballgame, and he never let up. Notching a quality start, Martin shoved for six innings and only allowed one run via a Miguel Amaya homer. He struck out seven and induced 15 swings and misses.

Tonight’s start marked the sixth consecutive outing Martin has allowed one run or less.

Davis should be well on his way to Philadelphia for this year’s All-Star Game.

Miguel Vargas (11)

In the home half of the first inning, Sam Antonacci (single) and Munetaka Murakami (walk) made their way on base for Miguel Vargas, who put a charge into a sinker right down the middle: 108.4 mph exit velocity, 421 feet and most importantly, a 3-0 Sox early lead.

This marked back-to-back games with a home run for Vargas.

Munetaka Murakami (16, 17)

On a 1-1 count with one out in the third inning, Munetaka Murakami took a high-and-away changeup to the left-center field bleachers for a 391-foot bomb, his 16th of the season, for a 4-0 Sox lead. Pete Crow-Armstrong measured the ball all the way to where DeWayne Wise made “The Catch,” but this ball? Uncatchable.

As impressive as Murakami’s young MLB career has been, he had yet to homer more than once in a single game until the fifth inning of tonight’s ballgame. After Antonacci slashed a single down the left field line, Mune unloaded on a 4-seam fastball right down the middle, driving it 428 feet to the fans in right-center field to make it 7-0, Sox.

Colson Montgomery (13)

In the same frame as Mune’s first bomb, Colson Montgomery hit the definition of a moonshot (112.4 mph exit velocity and 442 feet) to the right field fans in the stands for his 13th longball of the season. The towering drive banged off of a window in the right field suites; the oddity of such a blast alone found the umpires reviewing the blast, but it had the distance and the height and was fair all the way for a call-stands declaration.

This homer marked Colson’s third in as many games, and he has four such stretches in his young career: July 22-25 & August 22-26 in 2025, and April 18-22 & May 13-16 in 2026. It also marked the fourth time this year where Vargas, Mune and Montgomery all homered in the same game. The last time this happened? José Valentín, Paul Konerko and Joe Crede in 2004, and they did it five times.

The Highlights

When it was still a 3-0 ballgame in the top half of the third inning, Tristan Peters robbed Matt Shaw of a triple, if not an inside-the-park home run. On a ball I thought was ticketed for the gap, Peters laid out in a full Superman extension on an 8% catch probability to take extra bases away and immediately plug any momentum the Cubs were trying to concoct.

With Jameson Taillon looking to take one for the team and pitch into the sixth, Andrew Benintendi joined the home run parade with a 406-foot dinger to right field, running Taillon out of the game and extending the Sox’s lead to 8-1.

As for the bullpen? Still a bit shaky. Brandon Eisert walked two in his inning of work in the seventh, but escaped the frame scoreless. Trevor Richards pitched a clean eighth, but the ninth gave him some trouble. Allowing a leadoff double to Michael Conforto, he gave up the longball to Crow-Armstrong for an 8-3 game. However, he ate the final six outs in tonight’s series-tying victory.

The White Sox reclaim a winning record at 23-22, while the Cubs drop to 29-17.

The Good Guys look to take the series in tomorrow’s rubber match against the Bad Guys, starting at 1:10 p.m. CT on CHSN and ESPN 1000.

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Left-hander Jordan Wicks was activated off the injured list and assigned to Triple-A Iowa. So not much changed for him from his rehab assignment.

Left-hander Caleb Thielbar started a rehab assignment for South Bend.

So great news from South Bend (or Appleton, technically). You might want to close your eyes for the other games.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs had their eardrums broken by the Nashville Sounds (Brewers), 12-1.

Starter Vince Velazquez didn’t make it out of the first inning, leaving with an injury, but not before giving up a grand slam. Velazquez’s final line was five runs on one hit (the grand slam) over two-thirds of an inning. Velazquez walked four and struck out two.

Third baseman James Triantos singled hom second baseman Pedro Ramírez in the top of the ninth for Iowa’s only run of the game. Triantos was 1 for 4 and Ramírez went 1 for 2 with a double and two walks.

DH Owen Miller went 2 for 3 with a walk.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were sliced up by the Columbus Clingstones (Braves), 6-2.

Starter Tyler Schlaffer pitched four innings and surrendered two runs on five hits, including one solo home run. Schlaffer walked two and struck out two.

Luis Rujano pitched the next two innings and got the loss. Rujano gave up two runs, one earned, on two hits. He walked one and struck out one.

Knoxville had six hits, all singles, and the two runs scored on an error and a sac fly.

DH Jordan Nwogu was 2 for 4.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs skinned the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Brewers), 24-4. It was the most runs scored by South Bend in a game since they scored 25 on Thursday.

Jostin Florentino threw the first four innings and other than a solo home run in the third, he did really well. Florentino’s final line was one run on just one hit and two walks. He struck out four.

Brayden Spears pitched the next three innings and got the win after allowing one run on one hit, again a solo home run. Spears walked three and struck out two.

Caleb Thielbar pitched the eighth inning on a rehab assignment. Thielbar gave up a single and a walk, but no runs. He struck out two.

South Bend scored seven runs in the second inning and never looked back after that. They scored 24 runs despite hitting no home run. The Cubs had 20 singles, four doubles, 12 walks and were hit by three pitches. They were 12 for 24 with runners in scoring position. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit and reached base a second time by either a walk or a hit batter.

Center fielder Kane Kepley had an RBI single in the second inning and seventh inning, a two-run single in the ninth and a bases-loaded walk in the fourth for five total RBI. Kepley finished 4 for 7 with a walk and three runs scored.

Shortstop Ty Southisene was 4 for 6 with a walk and a hit by pitch. He drove in four and scored once.

First baseman Cameron Sisneros went 2 for 5 with three walks. He had one RBI and scored three times.

DH Leonel Espinoza was 3 for 5 with two walks. He scored three times and singled home the seventh run in the second inning.

Third baseman Alex Madera was 3 for 5 with a double and two walks. He scored three runs and had two runs batted in.

Catcher Miguel Useche went 4 for 5 with a double and two walks. Useche scored five runs and drove in two.

Left fielder Christian Olivo doubled twice in a 2 for 4 day. He also walked once and was hit by a pitch. Olivo scored five runs and had two RBI.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans landed in the sand trap against the Augusta Green Jackets (Braves), 11-1.

Luis A. Reyes retired the first two batters of the game, striking out one of them. Then he walked the next four before getting pulled. Since all four of those runners scored, his final line was four runs on no hits and four walks over two-thirds of an inning.

Reyes now has an ERA of 41.40 on the season.

The Birds only managed five hits. The one run came when Jose Escobar scored on a Derniche Valdez ground out in the second inning. Escobar was 1 for 3. Valdez was 1 for 3 with a double.

ACL Cubs

Lost to the Athletics, 8-2.

Box Score

For the second straight night, the Brewers used the help of a mistake made by third baseman Royce Lewis to tie the game, making way for the offense to take care of business later on. Tonight’s win secures their seventh series win over their last nine.

Despite a lack of offense from both sides, the Minnesota Twins were threatening early on in the bottom of the second inning. Josh Bell singled, and Kody Clemens doubled to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. After Lewis struck out, Logan Henderson gave up a walk to load the bases. With the Twins set up for a large inning, Henderson prevailed, striking out back-to-back batters to escape the bases-loaded jam and keep the game scoreless at 0-0.

Later on, the Twins struck first as Trevor Larnach hit a two-out solo home run to give them a 1-0 lead. It wound up being the lone run the Twins scored against the Brewers pitching staff.

With the two young pitchers in the middle of a pitchers’ duel, the Brewers were looking for their first real threat in the ballgame. Brice Turang led off the top of the fourth inning with a single to right field, then Andrew Vaughn was able to add a second runner on base with a walk of his own. For the second straight night, an error by Lewis helped Milwaukee get on the board, as Luis Rengifo reached to score Turang from second to tie the game at 1-1.

A couple of innings later, Jackson Chourio continued his hot start to the road trip as he slugged his first home run of the 2026 season over the left-center field wall to give the Crew their first lead of the night at 2-1. This was the first of his two hits on the night, making it a total of four hits to start the road trip for the Brewers.

Henderson was pulled from the ballgame in the bottom of the sixth inning for Chad Patrick. Henderson finished his night with a stellar outing, and on top of it all, engraving his name among some of the best in franchise history. First, Henderson struck out seven batters while allowing just one run on six hits. Secondly, he moved up to second for the most strikeouts with 56 through his first nine career games. The only person with more? Old friend Freddy Peralta, who struck out 63.

After using all of their big arms in the opening game of the series, the Brewers could’ve trotted out their tandem closer duo, but instead they opted out after the night Patrick was having. Patrick finished the night with four innings pitched, striking out three, allowing one hit, and continuing to prove that he can pitch in any kind of situation. He earned his first MLB save, and his first save on the baseball field since his collegiate days at Purdue University Northwest.

The Brewers’ 2-1 victory over the Twins tonight was their first road win scoring two or fewer runs this season. It was also their eighth victory over their last nine games, bringing their month of May record to 10-3 overall.

Although it hasn’t officially been announced, tomorrow has the possibility of being another day of young pitching talent going for the Brewers on the mound, as the speculation leads us to believe that Robert Gasser will be throwing his first pitch for the Brewers since September 27 of last year. One thing we do know for tomorrow is that the right-hander Bailey Ober will be taking the rock for the Twins in the series finale as they try to salvage one win of the Border Battle. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m.

Padres 7, Mariners 4

Tom DeLonge, musical artist: J.P. Crawford, .07 WPA

Tom Brokaw, musical artist: Logan Gilbert, -.30 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day:

Paging Luis Castillo.

In a play reminiscent of the former Mets second baseman’s infamous error in the Subway Series, rookie Carson Benge made an ugly miscue in the top of the seventh with the Mets up by three runs over the Yankees at Citi Field.

Carson Benge drops a fly ball and allows the Yankees to make it a two-run game pic.twitter.com/E1NJzsJiPW

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 17, 2026

After Aaron Judge opened the inning with a double off Brooks Raley, Cody Bellinger sent a fly ball to right field, where Benge was ready to make a routine catch.

But Benge, who had made some highlight-worthy plays and some head-scratchers, dropped the ball for a two-base error that allowed Judge to score and Bellinger to reach second.

It gave the Yankees a big chance to spark a rally with the Mets already reeling in the wake of Clay Holmes’ injury on Friday night.

But former Yankees reliever Luke Weaver entered and struck out Amed Rosario and Trent Grisham before Anthony Volpe grounded out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

That turned out to be the key moment in the Mets’ 6-3 win over their crosstown rivals. Game 3 of the Subway series is on Sunday.

Folks, we have to have a conversation about Angel Martinez.

After tonight’s two-run homer to put the Guardians’ ahead of Tito Francona’s persnickity Reds, Martinez has a 125 wRC+ with eight homers and eight doubles. Martinez has a sustainable .290 BABIP. While he as outperformed his xWOBA a bit (.338 to .315 coming into tonight), but he is also third on the team and 36th in MLB in pulled-fly ball rate at 25.2% which generally helps players outperform their expected stats.

Most excitingly, Martinez had a wRC+ of 127 vs. RHP coming into tonight, and 93 against LHP. Up until this season, in the majors, Martinez had a wRC+ around 60 vs. RHP and a wRC+ of 120 against LHP. If he is capable of hitting right-handers now, this is very likely a valuable hitter on a sustainable basis. He’s also stolen 8 of 10 bases and flashed 65th percentile sprint speed, which is another very positive development.

So, why wouldn’t you believe in Angels? Well, he still has only a 4% walk rate and he chases 40% of the time. But, hey, he makes contact with 85% of all pitches he sees. And he has demonstrated the ability to lay off the worst pitches he sees and keep fouling off other bad pitches until he gets one to hit. There is no way to say anything for sure with a player as young as Angel, but I think what he’s doing looks extremely sustainable and he has earned himself everyday playing time at this point.

Angel is still not a defensive standout, but he looks competent in the corner outfield positions, especially, and playable, so far, in center. I have cautioned folks against comparing him to Jose, and I think that his chase rate still prevents exact comparisons there… but I’m done putting a ceiling on this kid. He is so much fun, his smile is so infectious, and I am ready to give him all the at-bats at this point for finally helping this team beat the Reds.

You’ll notice I did put AngelS in the title, and that’s so I can throw in this paragraph about Angel Genao. The Columbus Clippers’ shortstop had a 134 wRC+ so far in Triple-A with five homers and three steals and he added a single and another homer in tonight’s game. Genao has a 19/16 K/BB% which is more than adequate. His 27% chase rate is a little high, but not too alarming and he has only a 7% swinging-strike rate. He has an average exit velocity of 91.7 mph and a 53.1% hard-hit rate, which is amazing. The one knock against him is his 57.3% groundball rate, which is alarming. You can hit the ball 100 mph every time in the bigs and infielders are going to make most of those plays. However, if he can continue to slug homers regularly and take walks, he has potential to make up for it. He looks like someone who is going to be knocking on the door of the big leagues by August… making it a challenge to figure out where he will play. But, shortstops can generally play anywhere (Rocchio being the exception), so we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I thought Angel Martinez should probably stop switch-hitting. I am so glad to be wrong. I thought he was probably a 4th outfielder who should start against LHP. I am so glad to be wrong. He is one of the most pleasant athletes I have ever had the chance to meet and this start to the season for him is such a delight.

Believe it or not, currently the Colorado Rockies bullpen is tied for eighth place with its 1.6 accumulated fWAR. (They are tied with the Miami Marlins.)

Their 4.35 ERA comes in 20th, and their BB/9 of 3.38 comes in ninth.

Probably, a lot of that is due to Chase Dollander’s working with an opener, so let’s set him aside as well as Tanner Gordon, who appears to be headed for Dollander’s spot in the rotation.

Instead, consider the rest of the bullpen:

• Zach Agnos
• Brennan Bernadino
• Jimmy Herget
• Jaden Hill
• Juan Mejia
• Sammy Peralta
• Antonio Senzatela
• Victor Vodnik

Right now, who’s your All-Star pitcher? Who’s impressed you with his evolution? And who are you concerned about?

Let us know in the comments.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Remember when we just complained about the third time through the order? We didn’t know how good we had it.

Holding on to a slim lead and wanting to give their top bullpen arms a break, the Braves opted not only to run Bryce Elder through the Red Sox order a third time, but also a fourth. While the first two outs of the eighth occurred with little drama, the Braves didn’t budge when a double put the tying run on second. Up came Willson Contreras, and not much later, a no-doubter of a two-run shot turned the game around. While the Braves rallied in the ninth, a ricochet didn’t quite go their way, and that was that. They’ll need to win tomorrow to take the series.

The beginning of this game zipped along, though things got a bit muddy in the middle innings. Jarren Duran hit a double to start the game, but Elder held fast and struck out two to prevent him from advancing. Drake Baldwin then jumped all over a mis-located Payton Tolle sinker and smashed it to deep center for another leadoff homer. Ozzie Albies followed with a barrel of his own, but his didn’t carry out to left. The game then went into turbo mode. There were 13 straight outs before Jose Azocar ripped a double off Tolle. Baldwin then worked a walk, but Albies and Matt Olson made outs in the air to keep it a 1-0 game.

The Red Sox threatened with a couple of soft singles to start the fourth. A number of Braves losses this season have been precipitated by terrible defensive plays in key moments, and that also happened here: Contreras hit a routine, probably should’ve been a double play ball to Austin Riley at third, but Riley booted it and then didn’t even get a force at second in time. The next batter hit a lineout to left that worked a sac fly: the Braves inexplicably took forever to decide whether to challenge, ultimately opted to, but to no avail. (I’m not sure why they thought, if they took them so long to decide whether to challenge, that somehow the borked replay system currently in place in MLB would reward them with an overturn, but here we are.) Elder and the Braves were able to wriggle out of the jam with a couple of outs in the air, but the game was now tied.

And, thus it stayed tied, as there were ten consecutive outs before Azocar hit another double. Starting Tolle’s third trip through the Braves’ gauntlet, Baldwin then came through again, lashing a 108+ mph liner to left that gave the Braves another lead, though he was thrown out trying to take second.

The Braves have been somewhat inconsistent with the urgency of their pitching management this season. I think both sides are understandable, though understandable doesn’t mean pleasant to watch. Pushing the reliever button early could suggest needing to take it easy here and there, though the Braves have played a number of close games due to their great position player production on both sides of the ball, which has made it somewhat hard to find a place to do so. To his credit, Elder didn’t melt down the third time through, working around a two-out Contreras single in the sixth, and then getting three straight balls on the ground to strand a leadoff double in the seventh.

Meanwhile, the Braves just weren’t doing much against Tolle. He wasn’t exactly defeating them, more just letting them hit the ball in the air over and over, but Cedanne Rafaela made a number of nice catches in center and the Braves just didn’t get any ball-in-play fortune, receiving a .130 BABIP on the night.

So, then came the fateful bottom of the eighth, which also heralded Elder’s foray into ye olde 4TTO. There was a pop-out. There was a groundout. Wilyer Abreu poked a double the other way, but the Braves didn’t press the bullpen button. Contreras fouled off a hanging changeup. He chased a buried slider. He took a buried slider. Elder threw a third straight slider. It was low, below the zone, but not so low that Contreras couldn’t demolish it for a game-winner.

Tolle went 1-2-3 in the eighth, finishing his night with a pretty weird line that included just a 3/1 K/BB ratio, a homer allowed, and a grounder rate below 20 percent. Elder was similar with a 3/0 K/BB ratio, but his grounder rate was over 50 percent. The part that would’ve made me gnaw on my shirt if I had pica or whatever was that the Braves ultimately summoned Martin Perez for the ninth, where he had little trouble. If you were going to use Martin Perez for an inning in a close game, why not just use him for two innings, and not have Elder pitch to a lineup a fourth time in the same game? On the one hand, these are the luxuries you can afford to partake in when you have the best record in baseball. On the other hand, I’d rather it be some other team engaging in the eff-ayy-eff-oh Olympics.

The Braves actually threatened in the ninth against Aroldis Chapman, though it didn’t actually result in a comeback. Albies popped out, and Olson hit a very hard liner that was unfortunately right at the shortstop. Riley then reached on a botched throw from that same shortstop, and Chapman floundered about a bit with back-to-back walks on four pitches each.

That brought up Ha-Seong Kim, who hasn’t really hit at all since returning from his Injured List stint and rehab assignment. Kim had a chance to play hero, and he almost did, lining an 0-2 pitch back up the box and off Chapman, who tumbled to the ground but recovered and tossed it to first in time to end the game. If the ball had gone through Chapman, it’s likely an easy out; if it ricochets away a bit further, this game is tied and I’m probably writing some other flavor of recap, the massive 34TTO blunder/self-inflicted wound overshadowed by whatever else happened. But, as we’ve seen for a while now, the beneficence, or lack thereof, of a ricochet off the pitcher seems to be nigh-deterministic, and this one did not go the Braves’ way.

They can still win the series tomorrow. Hopefully they’ll go back to chasing wins and whatnot.

The Dodgers finish off their weekend series against the Angels on Sunday afternoon at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, with Roki Sasaki on the mound for the series finale.

This will be the first career game against the Angels for Sasaki.

Grayson Rodriguez is expected to be activated from the injured list to make his Angels debut on Sunday, after missing the first seven-plus weeks of the season with right shoulder inflammation. Rodriguez struck out 11 last Sunday in 4 2/3 innings in a rehab start for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga against the Dodgers’ affiliate Ontario.

Sunday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Angels
• Ballpark: Angel Stadium, Anaheim
• Time: 1:07 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, KCOP channel 13 (Angels broadcast)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Texas Rangers scored one while the Houston Astros scored four home runs.

The Rangers had five more hits tonight than last night! Six hits! That’s pretty good. That’s one more hit than Houston! They also walked eight times. That’s a ton of baserunners!

The bad news is none of Texas’ hits went for extra bases and only one of them produced a run — a run that scored when the game was 4-0 — which means Texas has now scored one run in 18 innings against the team that has allowed by far the most runs in the big leagues this year.

Meanwhile, the Astros hit the most home runs that Jacob deGrom has ever allowed in a start. I guess on the bright side, they were all solo shots.

The Rangers have not gotten off on a good foot in their quest for the Silver Boot, I dare say.

Player of the Game: Joc Pederson singled in the Rangers’ first and only run of the series in the top of the seventh.

Up Next: The Rangers will try to avoid getting swept tomorrow afternoon with RHP Nathan Eovaldi expected back on the mound for Texas opposite RHP Peter Lambert for Houston.

The Sunday matinee first pitch from Daikin Park is scheduled for 1:10 pm CDT and will be carried on the Rangers Sports Network.

The Twins got a career-best start from Connor Prielipp, who struck out eight Brewers and held them to three hits in a six-inning start, but could only prop up a single run despite outhitting the visiting Milwaukee victors.

After squandering a second-inning opportunity with two men in scoring position and nobody out — then a one-out, bases loaded situation — the Twins were able to touch Logan Henderson in the third, when Trevor Larnach welcomed himself back to the batting order by smacking a homer just over the right-field wall.

The lead, unfortunately, proved short-lived. After a single and a walk set up a scoring chance for the Crew, it was a left-side bouncer getting past Royce Lewis that allowed Brice Turang to rush home and tie the game. But it was an unearned run, and the hit that put Turang on the basepaths was the only knock allowed by rookie Connor Prielipp through the first five innings of another rock-solid start.

At right around 70 pitches, Prielipp was trusted with entering the sixth inning for the first time in his big-league career. Jackson Chourio decided to call that decision into question immediately, blasting his first dinger of the year into left-center field, and putting Milwaukee up 2-1 on only their second hit of the ballgame.

Prielipp stayed locked in through the rest of his start, striking out two more batters in the sixth to bring his line up to eight on the evening. So far, he’s done what it says on the tin; a strong xBA and an ability to generrate chase and swing-and-miss has rewarded him with a 2.88 ERA to open up his Baseball Reference table.

With the bullpen able to hold the score tonight, the Twins’ best chance to tie the game came in the seventh, when James Outman’s one-out triple put him 90 feet away from home; unfortunately for him, a bloop flyout snagged by Chourio and a 3-1 groundout that saw reliever Chad Patrick beat Brooks Lee to the bag ended the threat.

So, with the game improbably held by a combination of Eric Orze and Yoendrys Gomez, Minnesota remained down by a 2-1 score heading into the bottom of the ninth. For Milwaukee, Chad Patrick effectively piggybacked with Henderson, taking over in the sixth and going the distance in a 50-pitch relief appearance. A pop-out from Kody Clemens and a rather rough swinging strikeout by Royce Lewis set the stage for Tristan Gray to line out softly to short, and send the mostly-Wisconsinite crowd home happy.

As has been the case in far too many Twins games in 2026, there were some inspiring takeaways from some of the young starting pitching, but the rest of the team failed to put together a complete effort.

Minnesota plays to avoid the sweep tomorrow. See you then!

STUDS:

SP Connor Prielipp (6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, ER, 2 BB, 8 K)

1B Kody Clemens (2-for-4, 2B)

DUDS:

RF Austin Martin (0-for-4, 2 K)

SS Brooks Lee (0-for-4)