Ryan Helsley's time in Flushing has been anything but successful for the All-Star closer.
Since the Mets acquired him from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, Helsley has pitched to a 0-3 record and a 10.38 ERA -- thanks to 14 runs (10 earned) in 8.2 innings pitched. In four save opportunities, Helsley has blown each one, including Tuesday's eventual 6-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
With a 5-3 lead, manager Carlos Mendoza called on Helsley to hold the lead for closer Edwin Diaz. It's the first save opportunity Helsley has had since Aug. 15 against the Mariners. In three appearances (3 IP) between outings, Helsley has allowed three runs -- all coming from one appearance. The veteran right-hander had pitched in a low-leverage situation in Monday's series opener against the Phillies, striking out one in a 1-2-3 frame.
Helsley would have the opposite outing, giving up a two-run shot with one out to Harrison Bader to give up the lead. After a walk, Mendoza had no choice but to remove Helsley for Diaz, who got five outs to pick up the win thanks to Brandon Nimmo's walk-off single in the ninth.
Diaz was asked about his cohort in the bullpen and if he could relate to his struggles. The Mets closer knows struggles all too well, as he had a rollercoaster season in 2024 before rounding into his 2022 dominant form by the end of the year. And because of that, he trusts Helsley to figure it out.
"I've been through that. My advice to him is just, stay with your head up. We trust him," Diaz said after Tuesday's game. "We know what pitcher he is. He's one of the best closers in the game. He's going through some bad moments right now but we trust in him and we support him. Just stay with your head up and we keep going."
Just last year, Helsley led MLB with 49 saves in 53 opportunities with a 2.04 ERA. So that dominance is in there and the Mets know it, they are still trying to navigate these struggles.
Helsley intimated in the past that he's still adjusting to his new role with the Mets, but Mendoza hinted that it could be something else. Is Helsley tipping his pitches? Some games, it feels like it and the Mets are trying to get to the bottom of it.
"Too good of a stuff for them to be taking some really good swings on fastballs, get really good takes on sliders. We got to look back and see what we’re missing," Mendoza said of Helsley. "For teams to have comfortable at-bats like that, something is going on here. We have to figure it out."
After appearing in back-to-back games, Helsley is likely unavailable in Wednesday's series finale with the Phillies, so the right-hander will have to wait until the Marlins series to show that he can be the bridge to Diaz that the Mets traded for.
Clayton Kershaw pitches in the first inning Tuesday. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
The Dodgers might be sprinting toward the finish line this year, trying to edge out the San Diego Padres in a tight National League West race.
But on Tuesday night, in a win that kept them one game up in the standings with 29 to play, they made a 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds feel more like a nice, leisurely stroll.
Clayton Kershaw continued his renaissance season, pitching five innings of one-run ball to earn a fifth-consecutive victory (his longest such streak since the end of the 2022 season). The offense steadily wore the Reds' pitching staff down, answering a first-inning Cincinnati run with one of their own before taking the lead for good in the fourth.
It all added up to a third-straight win for the Dodgers (76-57), and helped them hold serve on a night the Padres beat the Mariners in Seattle (despite blowing an early five-run lead).
“It's been really fun to watch our guys play at the level that they're capable of,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I like how we're playing. I like where we're at right now."
Kershaw provided the bedrock for Tuesday’s victory.
The left-hander was pitching on four days’ rest for the third time this season (more than anyone else on the team), so that Shohei Ohtani could be lined up to start ahead of an off day on Wednesday. His already diminished fastball was playing down, averaging only 88 mph. And early on, the Reds (68-65) tagged him with a quick run, after Spencer Steer led off with a double and later scored on Miguel Andújar’s groundout.
“It wasn't a great night, stuff-wise,” Kershaw said. “Didn't have a lot of life on the fastball, or really anything.”
And yet, starting with that Andújar grounder, Kershaw proceeded to retire the last 14 batters he faced. Six came via strikeout, marking his second-highest strikeout total this season. And of balls put in play, only four were “hard hit” (with an exit velocity greater than 95 mph). Not one left the bat at more than 100 mph.
It was the latest example of the 37-year-old left-hander’s newfound recipe for success: Hitting both sides of the plate with his fastball, leaning heavily on a slider that generated five whiffs and four outs, and mixing in his trademark curveball and newfangled splitter to keep an entirely right-handed Reds lineup off-balance in a 72-pitch outing.
“We kind of flipped the script and just started throwing kind of a lot of different stuff, trying to be creative, keep them off balance,” Kershaw said, while giving credit to catcher Will Smith’s pitch-calling behind the plate.
“I've seen growth in that sense,” Roberts added. “Just in the last couple years, he's been more open to doing different things. And I commend him for that. I think in that fourth inning [when Kershaw retired the side with two strikeouts], you could see — it didn't matter what Will was putting down, he felt like he could throw anything. And that's something that was really rare and really cool to see."
Given the low pitch count, Kershaw might have been able to go past the fifth. He and Roberts appeared to have a brief conversation in the dugout before shaking hands, a sign his night was over. But between his quick (by modern-day standards, at least) four-day turnaround, and the team’s careful management of his workload overall this season, Kershaw’s five innings were plenty.
“I think that he's smart enough to understand how many bullets he has,” Roberts said.
On the season, Kershaw is 9-2 with a 3.06 ERA, third-best among Dodgers starters this year. He also finishes August with a 1.88 ERA in five starts, third-best among National League starters for the month.
"It was a good August,” Kershaw said. “Fun to be a part of it this time of year."
While Kershaw cruised, the Dodgers’ offense also found a groove.
They erased the early 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the first, when Mookie Betts walked, Freddie Freeman doubled and Betts scored on a throwing error by Reds left fielder Austin Hays.
They took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, after a leadoff double from Teoscar Hernández, an infield single from Michael Conforto on a scorching comebacker that ripped the glove right off the hand of Reds pitcher Nick Martinez, and a sacrifice fly from Kiké Hernández (who returned to the lineup for the first time since early July after being out with an elbow injury).
Then, in the sixth, they broke the game open with a four-run rally.
Smith turned around a center-cut fastball for an opposite-field, leadoff home run, a positive sign for the slumping catcher who entered the night with a .150 batting average in August and only one long ball in his previous 25 games.
Miguel Rojas came off the bench for a two-run double later in the inning, smoking a flyball to deep center that got Noelvi Marte (who was making his first career MLB start in the middle of the outfield) turned around at the warning track.
Ohtani followed that with an RBI single to right, helping him break a one-for-16 skid.
The only bad news for the Dodgers on Tuesday came pregame, when left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was placed on the injured list with a right oblique strain. Vesia described the injury as mild and was hopeful of returning once his 15-day IL stint was complete.
But even without him, the Dodgers’ bullpen largely coasted in relief of Kershaw. Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott, both having recently returned from the IL, pitched scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth (giving Scott his first save since returning). And though Hays hit a two-run home run in the seventh off Ben Casparius, it did little to make Tuesday feel like anything more than a late-season cakewalk — even amid a mad dash down the season’s closing stretch.
Sasaki’s latest rehab start
In triple-A Oklahoma City, rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki made the third start of his minor-league rehab stint, giving up three runs in 3 ⅔ innings on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts. The most encouraging takeaway from the outing was Sasaki’s fastball velocity, which averaged 96 mph for a second-straight outing and topped out at 98.8 mph — the hardest he has thrown in his recovery from a shoulder injury. Sasaki is expected to make at least one more rehab start before being ready to be activated.
If March goes in like a lion and out like a lamb, what will they say to describe the August the Mets have just experienced?
After starting the month with 11 defeats in 13 games (compounded by losing the final three of July), the Mets fell from 18 games over .500 to just a half dozen games. In the fortnight since, the offense that was once scuffling has produced 68 runs and seven wins out of their last 10, including a 6-5 walk-off win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night at Citi Field
They once were lost, but now they’re found?
“This team knows what it’s capable of,” Brandon Nimmo, who collected the fourth straight hit in the ninth inning to end the game, said. “We’ve got a lot of veteran guys on here that know. For me, personally, this is the most talented team I've ever played on… It's just going out there and executing it every night.”
For Nimmo, that means “keeping it small” and not trying to look too far past the series finale against Philadelphia on Wednesday.
“Let’s take it one game at a time,” he said after his second RBI pulled the Mets to 5.0 games behind the Phillies in the NL East race. “[Wednesday] we have another game against a team that is in front of us. If we can win that game and just control what we can control, then we like our chances.”
The turn of fortune has been on the back of an offense finding its form. Entering Tuesday night's games, the Mets were the best hitting team in all of baseball over the past 15 days with a .319 average and a .951 OPS (both highest in MLB), pounding out 29 home runs (second most) and 99 RBI (most).
“Baseball’s a funny game. Sometimes things start to click together, and we’ve been having that happen lately,” Nimmo said about the turnaround. “We’ve been doing great on the road, and then we come home and continue it.
“I think it’s just a testament to the guys paying attention to the little things and making each at-bat and where we are at the present moment the most important thing, and not trying to look back to the past or the future. Just, ‘What can I do to help the team win right now?’ And I think that attitude has been able to lead to some success for us recently.”
Ahead of the game, David Stearns said they’ve always seen themselves as a “good offensive team” that dealt with pressing and some bad luck.
“We’ve talked a lot about the challenges earlier in the season in leverage spots and runners in scoring position, men on base. And some of that was maybe at times we were pressing a little bit, getting a little bit too aggressive,” Stearns said earlier Tuesday. “But a lot of that was misfortune. And some really unfortunate batted ball luck, and that’s tough to stomach for all of us.
“That’s not a satisfactory answer for any of us. But we did try to focus on what we can actually control: Are we swinging at the pitches we should swing at? When we do, are we putting them in play in ways that we want to put them in play?
What’s changed? “Continue to have good approaches, but we’re having good results, too,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the win. “Now, we’re getting those balls to find holes, we’re using the whole field, we see it time after time going the other way, with two outs, not trying to do too much, just staying short, and trying to hit line drives as opposed to hit the ball out of the ballpark.
“There’s times where the game will dictate what to do in situations and I feel like we’ve been able to do that.”
The situation dictated that in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth inning, after Starling Marte and Pete Alonso ripped bullet singles, Brett Baty battled to flare a single to left before Nimmo took a 2-0 fastball on the outer half and smacked it the other way to score the winning run.
“If I had to point to one thing, I would say… they just made my job a whole lot easier,” Nimmo said of his teammates' at-bats to load the bases. “A lotta things get the job done, I just need to find the barrel, so just keeping things real simple from my end.”
What Nimmo would really like next is to keep things going now and continue that in the playoffs.
“I’ve always said ‘hottest team wins in playoffs,’” Nimmo said. “It doesn’t matter who's the best team; it’s the hottest team. This would be a good time to keep things going, and we’re very happy with the way the offense is playing right now.”
The Mets have two straight punch-back victories over the team they’re chasing, so they should have some license to dream right now. Why not? The tenacity they’ve shown in beating the Phillies offers compelling evidence that they can make some October noise, should they continue to exhibit this kind of grit.
Of course, they’ve got some things to clean up before fall foliage goes orange, too, and their 6-5, walk-off victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday at Citi Field offered reminders of that, along with the on-field celebration after Brandon Nimmo’s clutch winning hit.
First, the good.
The Mets’ offense is cooking. After all the hand-wringing over their failures with runners in scoring position throughout much of the season, they are getting big hits with runners on thanks to patient approaches and the in-game adjustments that Carlos Mendoza recently branded necessary. The Mets were 5-for-10 in those situations Tuesday in downing the Phils and are batting .358 with RISP in August, tops in the majors.
That helped them overcome a 2-0 deficit and also to fight through blowing a 5-2 lead. They scored the winner off Philly closer Jhoan Duran because, as Nimmo said, Starling Marte, Pete Alonso and Brett Baty, who hit consecutive singles to load the bases, had had such remarkable at-bats.
“We won the game because of their at-bats,” Nimmo stressed.
And thanks to Edwin Diaz, who got five outs. He came in when Ryan Helsley blew the lead in the eighth inning and struck out two to end the inning. He fanned two more in a perfect ninth, setting up the Mets’ ninth. “He was pretty nasty again,” Mendoza said.
The end result meant the good vibes kept percolating. There was a sense of sweet anticipation early in the day when the club announced that touted pitching prospect Jonah Tong was coming up to start on Friday and that slugging catcher Francisco Alvarez was headed for a rehab assignment.
Now the bad.
The Mets got another short start from Sean Manaea, who was charged with two runs in 4.2 innings. He left after 90 pitches, one shy of his season high, when the game was scoreless, though the Phillies had two runners on. Gregory Soto allowed both inherited runners to score.
Maybe there was an argument to be made to leave Manaea in to face lefties Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper – Manaea and Soto are both lefties, after all. But Mendoza seemed concerned about the pitch count and David Stearns had said before the game that he wondered if Manaea’s recent struggles are tied to him still building up stamina.
Whatever the cause, Manaea has a 7.12 ERA in his five August starts; he had a 2.08 ERA in his first four starts back from the IL in July. The Mets must fix Manaea, a key cog in last year’s run to the NLCS.
“I feel like I’m getting in good counts, just not putting guys away,” Manaea said. “I don’t know if it’s a mixing issue..Just taking a very long time to put guys away. So, yeah, I don’t really know what the fix is, but hopefully, figure it out.”
Mendoza, though, doesn’t think Manaea is that far off. He did get 19 swings and misses on the night and struck out eight, which at least demonstrates some effectiveness. “I really like what I saw, especially with the way he was using all three pitches – the fastball, the sweeper and the change,” Mendoza said.
“I thought, overall, it’s probably one of the best outings we’ve seen from him.”
Still, he’s got to deliver more innings. And Manaea knows it.
The Mets must fix Helsley, too. He gave up a two-run homer to ex-Met/current Met-killer Harrison Bader in the eighth inning, which tied the score at five. That meant Helsley’s ERA as a Met has ballooned to 10.38 ERA in 8.2 innings.
Mendoza was not specific, but he certainly seemed to be getting at something when talking about Helsley after the game. Could the Mets believe he’s tipping his pitches?
“We’ve got to get Hels right,” Mendoza said. “He’s got too good of stuff for them to be taking some really good swings on fastballs, really good takes on the slider. So we got to look back and see what we’re missing. For teams to have comfortable at-bats like that, something’s going on there that we have to figure out.”
Overall, though, the night ended well. The Mets trail the Phillies by only five games in the NL East race. It’s definitely not over, and these wins the last two nights reinforced that, especially since they are trying for a sweep Wednesday and have four games in Philadelphia in September.
Hard things like stealing the division could be doable for a team with this kind of moxie. We’ll see.
“For me, personally, it’s the most talented team I’ve ever played on,” Nimmo said.
We’re only 44 days away from the San Jose Sharks hosting the Vegas Golden Knights at the SAP Center to kick off the 2025-26 season on October 9.
In honor of this, let’s take a look at the number 44, a number which has been on the ice starting in the Sharks’ inaugural season.
In the Sharks’ debut season, 5-foot-9 winger Kevin Evans became the first player in franchise history to wear the number 44. Evans made his NHL debut with the Minnesota North Stars during the 1990-91 season before joining the NHL’s next expansion franchise the following season. Evans played five games at the Cow Palace, recording his first and only career point as a member of the Sharks. He also recorded 25 penalty minutes in that short frame of time. After his stint with the Sharks, Evans was a regular in the International Hockey League and ECHL before retiring near the turn of the millennium.
It wouldn’t take long for the number 44 to take the ice for the Sharks again, as the following season Beauport, Quebec native Michel Picard would wear it for a short stint of his own. Picard played 25 games for the team in teal, scoring four goals in the process, before departing the organization. He’d have a lengthy career as a fringe player, never earning a full-time role in the NHL, but regularly playing a few games throughout the season. He’d make his final NHL appearance as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2000-01 season. Today, Picard works as a scout for the St. Louis Blues organization.
Once again, the number 44 didn’t remain vacant for long. Physical defenseman Shawn Cronin would wear it for two seasons, starting with the 1993-94 season. In that span, he played 63 games for the Sharks, recording four points and 137 penalty minutes. Cronin would call it a career after the 1996-97 season, when he played with the Fort Wayne Comets of the IHL.
Defenseman Vlastimil Kroupa debuted with the Sharks at the age of 18 wearing the number 26 during the 1993-94 season. Once Cronin left the organization though, Kroupa quickly changed to the number 44 and wore it through the 1996-97 season. During his time with the Sharks, Kroupa played 103 games and totaled 22 points over four seasons. He played his final two NHL games for the New Jersey Devils during the 1997-98 season. At the turn of the millennium he’d return to Europe to finish out his career, ultimately he’d retire from hockey following the 2010-11 season.
The number 44 would be off of the ice for a few seasons, until Matt Bradley wore it during his rookie season, 2000-01. After 21 games in the number 44, he’d change to the number 28 and spent two more seasons with the Sharks before moving to the Pittsburgh Penguins. His NHL career would come to an end following a single season with the Florida Panthers in 2011-12. He played a single game in Finland the following season before fully hanging up his skates. Today, Bradley is a scout in the Washington Capitals organization.
Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff would be the next to wear the number 44, starting in his rookie season, the 2003-04 season. He wore it for two seasons, before changing to the number 10 for the 2006-07 season. Over the course of five seasons, Ehrhoff played 341 games with the Sharks and recorded 132 points in the process. He retired from the NHL after a short stint with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2015-16 season, returning to Germany for the next two seasons. After multiple years on the sidelines, at the age of 41 Ehrhoff signed with the Krefeld Pinguine in the German second division for the 2023-24 season, before retiring once again.
Once Ehrhoff changed to the number 10, it allowed the player synonymous with the number 44 in San Jose to take over the reins. Marc-Edouard Vlasic is undoubtedly the most well-known player to wear the number 44, spending 19 seasons with the team in teal while wearing it.
Regarded as one of the top stay-at-home defensemen of his time, Vlasic was a key part of the blue line during the Sharks’ “golden years.” He played the second-most games in franchise history, making it into the lineup 1,323 times. While he wasn’t known for his offensive ability, he also tallied a total of 379 points during his time with the Sharks.
At the end of his run in the Bay Area, age quickly caught up with Vlasic which made it difficult for him to perform at the level we were accustomed to seeing from him. He was out of the lineup regularly, and unfortunately he exited the organization under less than desirable circumstances this summer.
Currently an unrestricted free agent, what’s next for Vlasic remains a mystery.
ST. LOUIS (AP) Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras has been suspended for six games and fined an undisclosed amount for his tirade in St. Louis' 7-6 win over Pittsburgh on Monday night.
Contreras has informed Major League Baseball he plans to appeal the suspension, which means it will not take effect immediately. He was in the lineup for Tuesday night's 8-3 loss to the Pirates and went 0 for 3, driving in a run with a groundout in the sixth inning.
After the game, Contreras declined to comment about the suspension with his hearing pending.
On Monday, Contreras threw a bat that mistakenly hit Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown and tossed bubble gum on the field after he was ejected. Manager Oliver Marmol also was tossed during an animated argument with the umpires after a called third strike in the seventh inning.
Contreras said he didn’t understand why he was thrown out of the game. He said he argued balls and strikes with plate umpire Derek Thomas but didn't address a specific pitch and didn't say anything disrespectful.
“Apparently, he heard something (he thought) I said. I did not say that,” Contreras said.
Crew chief Jordan Baker told a pool reporter that Contreras and Marmol were ejected for “saying vulgar stuff” to Thomas. Baker also said Contreras made contact with the plate umpire.
The Mets needed a big-time outing from Edwin Diaz, and boy, did he deliver.
The All-Star closer entered Tuesday’s game against the Phillies with things knotted at five in the eighth.
Ryan Helsley endured another rough appearance, retiring just one batter and allowing a game-tying two-run home run to former Mets outfielder Harrison Bader.
Helsley then walked the pinch-hitting Bryson Stott, and was booed off the mound by the hometown crowd.
Diaz entered knowing that the speedy Stott was going to be aggressive on the bases.
He immediately stole second, but that proved to be no bother, as Diaz struck out the pinch-hitting Brandon Marsh with a slider in the dirt for the second out of the inning.
Stott then swiped third, but that was no issue for Diaz either, as he retired All-Star shortstop Trea Turner on just four pitches to escape the inning with things still evened up.
“I just tried to stay calm in that situation,” he said. “I know they would run the bases against me with me being slow to that plate, but I was just trying to make pitches and try to make them chase out of the zone.”
After the Mets failed to scratch a run across against Jose Alvarado in the eighth, the righty came back on for the ninth, still in a tie ballgame.
He easily retired the meat of the lineup in order, striking out Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the process.
Overall, Diaz struck out four of the five batters he faced in 1.2 gutsy innings of work. The closer got seven whiffs on 13 swings with another four called strikes, for a 50 percent called strike-whiff rate.
And he ended up being rewarded for the efforts, as he took home the win after the Mets rallied to walk things off on All-Star closer Jhoan Duran thanks to Brandon Nimmo’s single.
“He was pretty nasty again today, going through their best hitters,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Runner at third with two outs against Turner, he gets him, then he’s going back out against their best guy and makes it look easy. Gives our offense a chance to win the baseball game -- it was a huge outing for him.”
It was a huge outing for the Mets as well, as they now have a chance to continue closing the gap and sweep the NL East leading Phillies on Wednesday night.
Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.
With more talent in the system than Pittsburgh has had in years - and 13 picks in the 2025 NHL Draft - top prospects lists are becoming more competitive and more difficult to discern. Since the prospect pool is deepening, The Hockey News - Pittsburgh Penguins takes a look at the top-20 prospects in the organization.
Today, we spotlight No. 11, a Penguins' 2025 first-round pick who has begun to turn some heads after Penguins' prospect development camp: center Will Horcoff.
#11: F Will Horcoff
When the Penguins selected center Will Horcoff 24th overall in 2025, the first reaction of many was to think that the Penguins were reaching for the pick. After all, Horcoff was a largely unproven player straight out of the U.S. National Team Development Program who went on to play at the University of Michigan midway through the season - where he was the youngest player in the NCAA - and registered four goals and 10 points in 18 games.
Granted, it's unwise to put too much stock into a performance at prospect development camp, as - oftentimes - it is not all-gas, no-brakes. The stakes aren't high, and it's not as if players are truly playing for roster spots at that point.
But there's no doubt that Horcoff was a standout once the competition kicked off on the last day of camp during the scrimmages. The 6-foot-5, 203-pound forward showed off his high compete level, strong work ethic, ability to drive his way to the net front, and strong two-way presence.
The biggest draw to Horcoff's game is easily his versatility. Already a high-IQ player at such a young age, Horcoff is responsible in his own zone, can win faceoffs, is deployed in all situations, and has been known to put the puck in the net using his craftiness and ability to read defenses.
Like fellow first-round draftee Bill Zonnon, Horcoff's all-around game is already on display. But the fact that Horcoff waltzed onto Michigan's roster and made an impact right away as the league's youngest player speaks volumes. There is a maturity, a recognition, and a will in his game that may not be matched by anyone else on this list.
And he can always be found right around the blue paint and unafraid to get confrontational, which is an energy the Penguins desperately need.
Horcoff's father, Shawn, spent 15 seasons in the NHL and was drafted in the fourth round (99th overall) by the Edmonton Oilers in 1998, finishing his NHL career with more than 1,000 games played and north of 500 points. Hockey is in Horcoff's blood - and he very well could take that for granted - but he plays every shift like his career depends on it.
Horcoff has a nice ceiling as a versatile middle-six center, and he's the kind of player any team wants when they're trying to contend for Stanley Cup championships. He's certainly one to watch as the Penguins continue to build toward the future.
The Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 on Tuesday night on Brandon Nimmo's walk-off single.
New York has now won nine straight games against the Phillies at Citi Field, dating back to last September.
Here are some takeaways...
- Sean Manaea has been up and down since returning from the IL in mid-July, but he fared a bit better in this one. The lefty allowed just one baserunner and struck out four over the first two innings. He worked around an Edmundo Sosa leadoff double in the third, thanks to another strikeout and a pair of groundouts.
Manaea danced past two singles in the fourth with some help from two more punchouts and a caught stealing, but as has been the case in his recent outings, he was unable to get through the fifth. He was pulled after allowing a two-out single by Trea Turner put runners on the corners.
Gregory Soto entered, and after issuing a walk to Kyle Schwarber to load the bases, he allowed Bryce Harper to put the Phillies in front with a two-run single the other way. Manaea's book closed with two runs allowed on six hits while tying his season-high with eight strikeouts in just 4.2 innings of work.
The 33-year-old's ERA is now up to 5.01, and he is yet to complete six innings over nine outings.
- The Mets wasted a couple of early opportunities against Jesus Luzardo, but they were finally able to break through and answered right back in the fifth. They chased the southpaw after the first four batters of the inning reached base safely, including a Juan Soto RBI single.
Luzardo was ejected by home plate umpire Willie Traynor as he left the mound.
Orion Kerkering entered and was greeted rudely as Pete Alonso laced a go-ahead two-run double into the left-center gap, the scorching hot Mark Vientos lined an RBI single the other way, and Brandon Nimmo lifted a sacrifice fly to cap off a five-run inning.
Kerkering entered the night with a 5.59 ERA in 10 career appearances against the Mets.
- Huascar Brazoban allowed Philly to creep back in but stranded a pair in the sixth. Tyler Rogers followed that with a perfect seventh, but Ryan Helsley's struggles continued in the eighth as he allowed a long game-tying two-run blast to former Met Harrison Bader.
Helsley has now allowed 10 earned runs in his 11 appearances since joining the Mets.
- Edwin Diaz cleaned up Helsley's mess in the eighth and then worked through a scoreless ninth before the Mets pieced together a rally against Phillies trade deadline addition Jhoan Duran with three-straight singles – bullets from Starling Marte and Alonso and a flare to shallow left by Brett Baty – before Nimmo lined a single the other way to walk it off.
Game MVP: Brandon Nimmo
Nimmo provided the late-inning heroics in the victory, picking up his fifth career walk-off RBI. Honorable mention to Alonso, who went 4-for-5 with two RBI
Nolan McLean (2-0, 1.46 ERA) makes his third career start against former Met Taijuan Walker (4-6, 3.44 ERA) in the final match of this three-game set on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m.
Giancarlo Stanton was all the offense the Yankees needed as he drove in all five runs of New York's 5-1 win over the Nationals.
The Yankees were outhit by the Nationals, 8-6, but delivered when it mattered. The Yanks were just 1-for-6 with RISP, with eight runners left on base, while the Nats were 3-for-12 with nine left on base.
Here are the takeaways...
-Luis Gil was up and down in this one, getting through the first two innings, stranding runners and not allowing a run. However, the Nationals' overaggressiveness benefited them when Robert Hassell III ran through the stop sign at third base and scored on a one-out single that took Cody Bellinger and the Yankees by surprise. There was no urgency to throw the ball in, and Hassell got in ahead of the cutoff throw from a double-clutching Amed Rosario.
Gil escaped the third but walked two in the fourth. The right-hander's velocity seemed a tick low on his fastball (93 mph) and Aaron Boone and the training staff came out to see if Gil was ok. Gil convinced them he was fine and struck out Jacob Young on a 95 mph fastball to end the frame.
After James Wood led off the fifth with a double, Gil bounced back, getting the next two batters, and then Bellinger gunned down Woods at home after a Josh Bell single to keep the Nationals at one run.
Gil's night was done after five innings and 92 pitches (59 strikes), allowing one run on five hits and four walks while striking out five batters.
-Fernando Cruz, activated Tuesday from the IL, was the first arm out of the bullpen and immediately got into trouble. He gave up a leadoff single and hit a batter to put two runners on with no outs. After a strikeout, Hassell bunted for an infield single to load the bases before striking out Young. Boone brought in Tim Hill, who got Wood to ground out to end the threat.
The rest of the bullpen kept the Nationals at bay to lock down the win. Here's how the relievers broke down:
Cruz: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 K
Hill: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Camilo Doval: 1.0 IP, 2 K
David Bednar: 1.0 IP, 2 K
-The Yankees offense had a tough time with Mackenzie Gore until the third, when Paul Goldschmidt led off the inning with a double before Aaron Judge and Bellinger walked the bases loaded with two outs. Giancarlo Stanton was up with the RBI chance and the slugger delivered, clearing the bases with a double off the left-center field wall.
Stanton wasn't done. With a man on in the sixth, Stanton launched a 451-foot blast to give the Yanks a 5-1 lead. It's his longest home run of the season. The Yankees slugger was replaced in the field by Jose Caballero in the seventh, ending his night after going 2-for-3 with five RBI.
-Anthony Volpe was back in the lineup after two games on the bench. Hitting eighth, Volpe went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Game MVP: Giancarlo Stanton
The slugger is arguably on the hottest offensive streak of his career.
"It's the Finals, man. I've worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete. Help my teammates any way I can."
That was Tyrese Haliburton after undergoing an MRI on his strained calf and before Game 6 of the NBA Finals last June. He knew the risk he was taking, he even called Kevin Durant — who had tried to play through a calf injury in the Finals with the Warriors and tore his Achilles — for advice. Haliburton got through Game 6, but early in Game 7, the worst possible outcome happened — Haliburton went down with a torn Achilles. However, he has no regrets, he told Logan Paul and the crew on the Impaulsive podcast (hat tip Hoopshype).
Haliburton: "I had some close friends, family, and mentors in my life call me after Game 5 and say, 'Hey, shut it down.'"
Interviewer: "Do you wish you would have taken that advice?
Haliburton: "No. Hell no. Hell no. I'll be honest—I called KD after I got my MRI after Game 5. I said, 'Bro, do you regret playing in the game you tore [your Achilles]?' He said, 'No, not at all.' He said, 'You never...' I was like, 'Alright.' Yeah, I wasn't going to switch anyway, so I'm glad he said that. It made me feel a little bit better. But no, I don't regret it, bro."
Haliburton also said it would be 15 months from the injury before he'd play in a game again, echoing what the Pacers have said, that he is out for all of next season.
In a podcast conversation that covers a wide range of topics, Haliburton also laughed at the idea that the NBA is scripted or rigged.
"Well, the problem is, I play for the Indiana Pacers. So, if the NBA was going to rig the league, the last two teams they'd probably rig it for would be the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder."
While the Detroit Red Wings ultimately missed out on qualifying for the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, one of the positives that they took with them into the offseason was the return to form of goal-scoring forward Alex DeBrincat.
The Farmington Hills, Mich. native tallied 39 goals for the Red Wings in the 2024-25 NHL season, his highest output since reaching 41 goals while a member of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2021-22. It was also 12 goals higher than his output of 27 in his first season wearing the Winged Wheel.
Earlier this week, DeBrincat participated in the 17th Annual Ilitch Charities Celebrity Golf Classic, and spent a few minutes chatting with hosts Jim Costa and Jon Jansen of The Costa & Jansen w/ Heather Show on 97.1 The Ticket, and was asked right off the bat how much of an adjustment period it will take thanks to the multiple new faces on the roster acquired by GM Steve Yzerman.
"Not that long, I think that a lot of the bonding that we do in Traverse City off the ice helps it progress and make it a lot easier," he said. "It's nice going up there to get to know the new guys, and as a new player, it's nice to get to know the team. It's a great time up there, and it really makes us closer."
DeBrincat and the Red Wings have been in prime position to further solidify a spot in the Wild Card postseason race in each of the last two seasons coming into the month of March, only to suffer prolonged losing streaks that all but officially sealed their fate.
"I think there's a lot of things that happen at that time of year, we obviously weren't playing well, but that's history," DeBrincat said of Detroit's March struggles. "We gotta figure out a way why in the last two years, we've had a lull in that March time frame....us as players have to find a way to power through that and not get such a setback. There are going to be setbacks during the year, but we have to find a way to minimize them and not let them last."
Among the multiple new additions to the Red Wings roster coming into this season include goaltender John Gibson, forwards James van Riemsdyk and Mason Appleton, and defensemen Jacob Bernard-Docker, Travis Hamonic and Ian Mitchell.
Does DeBrincat believe that the team, as currently constructed, can bring playoff hockey to Little Caesars Arena for the first time?
"For sure," he said with no hesitation. "We got a couple guys that are coming in that should really help us, and it'll be fun to start the year and see what everyone's made of and go from there. You can't make the playoffs in the first month, but it will definitely help if you have a good start."
Following their 13-17-4 start last season, Yzerman decided to change direction, parting ways with head coach Derek Lalonde and assistant coach Bob Boughner. In their place, he hired former Stanley Cup–winning assistant coach Todd McLellan, along with assistant coach Trent Yawney.
After the coaching change, the Red Wings went 26-18-4 under McLellan, highlighted by a pair of seven-game win streaks. Over a full 82-game schedule, that pace would have been enough to secure a postseason berth.
DeBrincat believes the Red Wings will benefit from having McLellan lead a full training camp as he begins his first full season as head coach.
"It will be good and it will be hard," DeBrincat said of he's anticipating from McLellan in Training Camp. "It will be very attention to detail oriented. In Todd's game, details are really big, and just the work ethic - he requires you to give it your all on every shift, and tthat's something that will be instilled on Day 1."
DeBrincat, McLellan and the Red Wings will officially begin Training Camp in Traverse City, Mich. on September 18, followed by the annual Red & White Game (moved to Grand Rapids this year).
The Saint-Hyacinthe Bataillon of the Ligue Nord-Americaine de Hockey (LNAH) have announced that they have signed Despres for the 2025-26 season.
Despres spent this past season in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) with the Glasgow Clan, where he posted six goals, 29 points, and 63 penalty minutes in 52 games. This was after he recorded two goals and 12 points in 44 EIHL games with the Nottingham Panthers in 2023-24. Now, by signing with Saint-Hyacinthe, he will get the chance to continue his career in Quebec.
Despres was selected by the Penguins with the 30th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. In 144 games over four seasons with the Penguins from 2011-12 to 2014-15, he recorded five goals, 33 points, 120 penalty minutes, 323 hits, and a plus-27 rating.
Despres' time with the Penguins ended when he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks during the 2014-15 in exchange for Ben Lovejoy. From there, Despres played with the Ducks until the completion of the 2016-17 season. This would be the last year he played at the NHL level.
Detroit's Patrick Kane Eyes Final Olympic Run with Team USA in 2026
With the 2026 Winter Olympics on the horizon, Patrick Kane is making it clear: he’s not chasing a farewell tour but a gold medal.
The 36-year-old NHL veteran has his sights set on cracking the U.S. Olympic roster one final time, understanding this may be his last opportunity to compete at the sport’s highest international level. Kane was among the players invited to Team USA's orientation camp this week, a preliminary step in assembling the squad for the upcoming Games in Milan-Cortina.
“Winning gold in a best-on-best tournament is something that’s missing from my career,” Kane told NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika. “It would be fun to have that opportunity.”
Kane’s international résumé includes appearances in the 2010 and 2014 Olympics and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, but the only medal to show for it is silver from Vancouver. Despite a decorated career that includes three Stanley Cups and multiple individual awards, Kane remains motivated to add international gold to his trophy case.
Notably, he was left off the U.S. roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off last February but remains an impact player with nearly 60 points last season, including a season-ending hot streak in which he posted 45 points over the final 43 games.
“I don’t want to be picked because of what I’ve done in the past,” Kane explained as he wants to make the team based on performance “You want to be selected because of what you bring now.”
Detroit recently brought back Kane on a one-year, $3 million deal, where he’ll continue his pursuit of several major milestones like scoring his 500th career goal and surpassing Mike Modano as the highest-scoring American player in NHL history as he needs just eight goals and 32 points, respectively, to reach those marks.
“If I play well and someone else gets the nod, that’s part of it,” he said. “But I’ll know I did everything I could.”
From the sounds of it, Kane is motivated more than ever and could lead to another stellar season from the Buffalo native as he enters his 19th NHL season.
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