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Phillies answer every Braves punch behind Zack Wheeler's resilient start originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Saturday at Citizens Bank Park did not look promising early, especially after an underwhelming showing against the rival Atlanta Braves in Friday’s series opener.

Zack Wheeler had backed himself into about as difficult a spot as possible in the first inning: a leadoff single, another single and a walk.

That loaded the bases with nobody out for one of baseball’s hottest hitters, Atlanta center fielder Michael Harris II.

Wheeler, coming off a bounce-back start in Anaheim, remained aggressive. He started Harris off 0-2, then induced a soft foul out.

A massive first out.

Mauricio Dubón followed and worked the count to 2-2. Wheeler fired a fastball at the top of the zone and away from Dubón. It was ruled a ball, but J.T. Realmuto, who has the best challenge rate in baseball, disagreed.

The ABS challenge system ruled it strike three.

Citizens Bank Park was roaring.

The Phillies’ right-handed ace then went right after Ozzie Albies with two outs. Albies flew out to center on the first pitch.

You could sense the sigh of relief around the ballpark. It felt like the escape relaxed the home club.

A momentum shift, per se?

It was in the Phillies’ 4-2 win over Atlanta.

In the bottom of the first, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner drew consecutive walks against left-hander Martín Pérez, putting two on with nobody out.

Bryce Harper skied a ball to left field. Schwarber tagged and, in typical Schwarber fashion, used his wheels and baserunning savvy to slide around Austin Riley’s tag at third. Turner tagged up and advanced to second.

There’s that momentum again.

Luis Arraez, who continuously finds himself in situations to drive in runs, lined a single to right that scored Schwarber. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Realmuto worked a four-pitch walk.

The Phillies had their first lead, 2-0.

Bryson Stott, back in the lineup after he was a late scratch Friday for the birth of his third child, then roped a ball toward the sunny area of deep right-center field. But Ronald Acuña Jr. made a lunging catch to rob Stott of a bases-clearing extra-base hit.

The Braves’ right fielder has made his share of run-saving catches at the Phillies’ home park.

Even if Acuña’s play sucked some energy out of the stadium, it did not last long.

Derek Hill led off the second with a triple, his first of two hits, racing to third after Acuña appeared to hold onto the ball a beat too long. Schwarber then hit a hard grounder to Matt Olson at first. Olson bobbled it, and Hill aggressively broke for the plate to score the Phillies’ third run.

But the Braves’ right fielder wasn’t done.

Acuña came up in the next half-inning and greeted Wheeler with his second hit of the night, a 450-foot homer into the second deck in left field.

To the home faithful’s dismay, Acuña slowly trotted around the bases, looked toward the Phillies’ dugout as he flipped his bat and did his signature step-back on his way to third.

It may have been one of the loudest rounds of boos at Citizens Bank Park this season, but Acuña had kept Atlanta within striking distance.

The Phillies punched right back in the fourth.

Schwarber launched a rocket that left his bat at more than 108 mph and traveled 435 feet. His 41st homer of the season restored the Phillies’ three-run lead, 4-1.

That was enough for Wheeler, who was nearly spotless outside of the first three hitters he faced and the pitch to Acuña.

He again leaned heavily on his four-seamer, throwing it for a strike 73 percent of the time. He got ahead early and often with the pitch, too.

It marked the second consecutive start in which Wheeler used his four-seamer at least 10 percentage points more than his season average. Both have come after he made a mechanical adjustment following a rough stretch.

Wheeler gave the Phillies six innings of one-run baseball and racked up nine strikeouts, his most in a start since July 21.

Arguably his biggest punchout of the night, and certainly his loudest, was his eighth. Wheeler got Acuña swinging in the fifth, sending the crowd into another eruption.

Jonathan Bowlan relieved Wheeler and, for the third time in his last four outings, allowed a homer. Austin Riley launched a towering solo shot that brought Atlanta within two.

The Phillies’ bats went quiet after the fourth. When the eighth inning arrived and José Alvarado allowed the leadoff runner to reach with Acuña coming to the plate, the ballpark was filled with boos and nerves.

Once again, Acuña was involved in a major play. This time, he grounded into a double play.

Alvarado, who has rarely worked in leverage situations during a difficult season, pounded his mitt. He did it again after striking out Olson to end the inning.

That got the ball to Jhoan Duran for his seventh save opportunity since the All-Star break.

Duran closed it out for his 30th save, becoming the first Phillie to reach that mark in a decade and the first since Jeanmar Gómez in 2016.

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Braves:

Let’s talk about it.

The title tells it all, but SB has this idea that I should put something into a post, not just a title. Seems strange to me.

Jameson Taillon was put back on the IL with right elbow inflammation. Ricky Tiedemann has been called back from Buffalo. Tiedemann would have had to stay down for ten days, but the rules change when someone had to go to the IL. I’m glad Tiedemann is back (though I’m pretty sure he’ll be going back down when another pitcher is activated from the IL).

I doubt Taillon will be back this season, but you never know.

Tiedemann has pitched in two games for the Jays, 2.2 innings allowing 2 hits, 1 earned, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. I like pitchers starting their MLB careers in the bullpen. That’s how the Jays did it back in the ‘good old days’. Jimmy Key (among others) started his career in the pen, pitching 62 games from the bullpen before becoming a starter the next year. But then, that was back when we had a surplus of pitchers (can you imagine that?).

The Jays also picked up catcher Shawn Ross off waivers from the Mets. Ross will be 27 at the end of this month. He made it to the majors this year, playing five games for the Pirates. He’s one of those ‘three true outcome’ type games, in 70 minor league games he hit 11 home runs, had 41 walks and 92 strikeouts with a .184/.333/.418 batting line. This is the second time he’s been selected off waivers this year, he was DFAed by the Pirates and picked up by the Mets back at the end of July. I always think guys with big power are worth taking a look at. He’ll be send to Buffalo.

Tonight’s lineups. I keep hoping to see Sean Keys in left field and I keep being disappointed.

Texas Rangers lineup for September 5, 2026 against the Tampa Bay Rays: starting pitchers are Jacob deGrom for the Rangers and Drew Rasmussen for the Rays.

We have a Saturday night game at the Shed, as the Rangers look to Jacob deGrom to prevent a loss yesterday from turning into a losing streak.

The lineup:

Pederson — DH

Seager — SS

Langford — LF

Nimmo — RF

Duran — 2B

Burger — 1B

Carter — CF

Freeman — 3B

Jansen — C

6:05 p.m. Central time. The game is a pick ‘em.

Prior to Saturday's game against the San Diego Padres, the Yankees placed center fielder Trent Grisham on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain and recalled outfielder Jasson Dominguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Grisham tweaked his hamstring in Friday's game while playing the outfield when he was unable to get to a ball dumped in front of him by Xander Bogaerts in the second inning after getting a late break. He exited the game an inning later, although he said after that he initially felt something on a stolen base attempt in the top of the second.

It's the second time Grisham has landed on the IL this season after he strained the same hamstring in mid-June which cost him nearly three weeks on the shelf.

Even when healthy, the 29-year-old has struggled this season with a .211/.308/.395 slash line as New York's everyday center fielder following a career-year in which he had 34 home runs and a .812 OPS.

Defensively, it's also been a battle for Grisham who has a -7 defensive runs saved (DRS) and a -6 outs above average (OAA), tied for second-worst and worst in the league, respectively.

Meanwhile, Dominguez returns to the Yanks after a tough season of his own which includes an injury and poor performance. In just 53 games, the 23-year-old slashed .230/.270/.380 with six home runs and 14 RBI before getting optioned to Triple-A where the youngster had been playing better, hitting .283 with a .781 OPS in 54 games.

With Grisham out, Spencer Jones figures to see time in center field. The rookie has looked good in his first taste at the big-league level and has come on recently, slashing .326/.373/.630 with four home runs in his last 15 games.

Last Sunday, there was quite a hubbub surrounding a catch/no catch call in the Yankees-Red Sox game. Ceddanne Rafaela came very close to making a catch on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. fly ball that then would’ve led to a double play. However, the call on the field was that he trapped it, and that ruling was upheld on replay. A seemingly rattled Red Sox team then gave up five runs in the innings and ended up getting crushed by the Yankees. The victory gave New York the season series over Boston, which could come into play should the teams end up tied after the regular season.

We’ll never truly know how much that call and subsequent replay ruling actually did rattle the Red Sox, but it did get me thinking. I was wondering about the time where a set of mistakes by the other teams proved the costliest. It’s hard to argue against an instance of that happening in a World Series Game 7, so I think this might be it.

Having been down 3-1 in the series, the Yankees won Game 5 and 6 against the Milwaukee Braves to force a winner-take-all finale of the 1958 World Series. The Braves struck first against Don Larsen, with a run scoring on a Wes Covington groundout in the bottom of the first inning.

Braves’ starter Lew Burdette had been the hero when the two teams met in the Fall Classic in 1957. Burdette was the winning pitcher in Games 2, 5, and 7. The last two were both shutouts as Burdette was named Series MVP. This time luck wasn’t quite on his side.

In the top of the second, Yogi Berra led off the inning with a walk. Elston Howard was up next and he laid down a bunt attempt. Milwaukee first baseman Frank Torre — brother future Yankee skipper Joe; Frank famously received a heart transplant during the 1996 World Series — fielded the bunt. However, Torre’s throw to a covering Burdette at first was poor and got away. Howard was safe and Berra ended up at third.

Next up was Yankees’ third baseman Jerry Lumpe. He too hit a soft groundedr to Torre, this one of the unintentional kind. Torre once again fielded it, but this throw to Burdette was also off. A high effort allowed everyone to be safe, loading the bases. The next two batters both hit into outs, but both were good enough to score runs, giving the Yankees a lead that was only partly of their own doing.

Now, those two plays on their own did not win the Yankees the game and the series, but the Bombers never trailed again after that. Larsen got himself into some trouble in the third, eventually making way for Bob Turley. Del Crandall did tie the game for the Braves with a sixth inning homer, but other than that, Turley was excellent, throwing 6.2 innings out of the bullpen, allowing just that one run on two hits.

Turley’s performance eventually allowed the Yankees to breakthrough in the eighth. Howard was involved again, hitting an RBI single to give the Yankees the lead. However, the big play came a couple batters later when Bill Skowron hit a massive three-run homer off Burdette. The Yankees are blessed with many clutch moments throughout history, because for many other teams, that Skowron homer would be the singular best moment in franchise history. Meanwhile, it gets lost in the shuffle a bit for the Yankees.

Obviously, there was quite a bit of crucial moments following Torre’s two errors in the third, but there’s no way to accurately predict what happens if he just makes those plays cleanly. That being said, not only did they lead to two runs immediately after, but that was a bunch more pitches Burdette had to throw in that inning. They probably added a bit of fatigue that the Yankees then took advantage of later on. They may not have been the singular difference, but it’s hard to say they weren’t one.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

At the time of writing (during the early stages of Friday’s game in Houston), the Diamondbacks have scored a total of five runs across the last 38 innings at the plate. It’s therefore no great surprise that the results in this week’s poll focused on the team’s clutch hitting – or lack thereof – as far and away being the most important thing for the team as we negotiate our way through the final months of the season. Part of this is perhaps recency bias, with this week’s struggles being undeniable: they literally went the entire series against Philadelphia without an RISP hit. But can anything be done?

First though, here’s how you voted.

Brought to you by FanDuel

Here’s how the team’s number with runners in scoring position have broken down over each month of the season so far, along with their rank in MLB

• April: .291/.341/.561 = .902 OPS (#1)
• May: .270/.347/.422 = .769 OPS (#8)
• June: .162/.288/.259 = .548 OPS (#29)
• July: .237/.323/.388 = .711 OPS (#21)
• August: .248/.324/.472 = .797 (#5)

As you can see, it’s all over the place. They were actually pretty good in these situations last month. All told, they are +34 points with RISP, compared to overall: .744 OPS vs. .710. Both figures are actually pretty close to average, because teams generally do hit a bit better with runners in scoring position, compared to normal. The respective figures across all of MLB were .742 and .719. So, I’d expect Arizona’s numbers to come back to that over the rest of September. If anyone has to worry about regression to the mean down the stretch, it’s probably the Phillies, who come into play this weekend almost a hundred points better with RISP (.811 vs. .713).

Personally, I’m more curious to see how the starting rotation shapes up. The return of Corbin Burnes and Michael Soroka should provide a boost, given how shaky the replacements in the rotation have been. Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Merrill Kelly have combined for 68 starts and an ERA of 3.55, going into Friday night’s game. Discounting Soroka’s 18 starts, everyone else in the rotation has made 55 starts and a 5.54 ERA. So you don’t need Cy Young caliber pitching from Corbin to be helpful. What matters is, the bar for Burnes and Soroka to improve on who they are replacing, is not high. And that’s discounting entirely Zac Gallen and his pre-IL ERA of 6.34.

It’s time for the second of three games between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets, and here’s hoping it goes better than the first game did.

Taking the mound for the Giants is right-hander Anthony Molina, the 24-year old who came to the Giants in the Tyler Mahle trade. In two games with the Giants, Molina is 2-0 with a 2.89 ERA, a 3.31 FIP, and seven strikeouts to just one walk in 9.1 innings.

For the Mets, it’s left-hander Zac Thornton, a 24-year old in his first MLB season. Thornton, who was taken in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, has made 11 starts this year, and is 3-4 with a 2.93 ERA, a 3.89 FIP, and 45 strikeouts to 14 walks in 61.1 innings. In his last start, Thornton gave up two runs in five innings against the Houston Astros.

Enjoy the baseball, everyone!

Game #143

Who: San Francisco Giants (58-84) vs. New York Mets (64-77)

Where: Citi Field, Queens, New York

When: 1:10 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

The Yankees lost in walk-off fashion to San Diego on Friday night, but they might not have played extras had it not been for a misplay that allowed the Padres to score their only run of the initial nine innings. With two outs in the second, Xander Bogaerts got under a pitch from Max Fried on what could charitably be described as a flare to center. It was a ball that most center fielders would’ve at minimum come close to and have the chance for a diving catch.

But for the Yankees, Trent Grisham was in center field, and while he was once an elite defender, he has been far from that in 2026. It didn’t help that he was playing a guy with an 82 OPS+ and only 11 homers far too deep, but regardless, he was clearly not moving well on the play. The ball dipped in with ease and Ty France scored. When the half-inning ended, Grisham spoke to the team trainer and disappeared down the dugout tunnel. Soon, the Yankees announced that Grisham was dealing with discomfort in his right hamstring, the same one that sent him to the IL earlier in 2026. It’s been an uneven year on the whole for Grisham, who has hit .211/.308/.395 with 18 homers but only a 95 OPS+.

Now, we know that Grisham is indeed heading back to the IL. Jasson Domínguez will fly from Scranton to San Diego to rejoin the team and take Grisham’s spot on the roster. The former top prospect had an injury of his own earlier in 2026, but when given the chance to play, he did not acquit himself well, batting just .230/.270/.380 with a 79 OPS+ and exactly 0.0 rWAR.

It might only be a short-term stay for Domínguez since it seems like Aaron Judge is tracking to return to the team soon (though New York has made no announcements) and there’s only so much roster flexibility at the moment. But for now, Domínguez will serve as outfield depth, though Spencer Jones will likely get the lion’s share of time in center with Grisham out. Cody Bellinger is a candidate for some center field time as well, though he did bang himself up a bit on a foul ball last night too.

What. A. Game. The San Diego Padres edged out the New York Yankees in a pitcher’s duel on Friday night. It was a win the Friars desperately needed after dropping their series against the Cincinnati Reds earlier this week. Starters Walker Buehler and Max Fried went toe to toe, each allowing a run. Their respective bullpens locked it down, forcing extra-innings drama.

The Yankees quickly got on the board in the 10th with a Spencer Jones RBI single. The onus was then on the Padres to tie the game in the bottom of the tenth. They did that, and more. Luis Campusano, after throwing out three Yanks on the basepaths, hit a two-run homer into deep right field off of Paul Blackburn. It was a walk off for San Diego, the first in quite some time. Hopefully, it’s the turning point that the Padres need.

Taking the mound

Carlos Rodón (NYY) v. Robbie Ray (SD)

Rodón has spent much of the 2026 season stuck on the injured list. He’s made three starts since returning from his most recent stint, pitching to a 2.84 ERA during that time. That’s just a little higher than his 3.20 ERA this season. When he’s been on the field, Rodón has looked stellar.

That said, the Yankees’ starter has yet to work through six innings since June 10 against the Cleveland Guardians. Rodón has yet to pitch five innings since returning from the IL. But, in the time he has spent on the mound, he’s dominated. The bigger question for New York will be if their bullpen can hang on.

Since being traded to the Padres, Ray has looked great. He’s cemented himself as a valuable contributor to San Diego’s starting rotation, pitching to a 3.42 ERA through five starts. Most of that damage came in his first start (4 ER, 5.0 IP). Without that start, Ray’s ERA with the Padres goes down to 2.53 clip.

Ray has reinvented himself this season, owning a 3.14 ERA through 149 innings pitched. Most of that time was in San Francisco, where Ray was the de facto ace while Logan Webb struggled all season. He’s been dominant from the left side of the mound and will look to continue that against a potent Yankees lineup.

Batter up!

Ty France, per usual, had a productive night at the plate. The star first baseman went 2-for-3, scoring the lone run the Padres had in the first nine innings. The game would never have gone to extras if France had straightened out a fourth-inning foul ball from Fried just a little. He missed a home run by inches that would have been the winning run. The Friars ended up getting the job done anyways.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Samad Taylor, LF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Xander Bogaerts, SS
7. Freddy Fermin, C
8. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
9. Ethan Salas, DH

The lineup, despite struggling against Fried, put together some decent offense against New York. That said, the Friars struggled to score in any of their opportunities, going 2-for-7 at the plate. That being said, San Diego will have an opportunity to turn that around versus Rodón tonight.

Relief corps

The Padres’ bullpen locked it down after Buehler departed. Yuki Matsui, Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller pitched four scoreless innings before heading into the 10th inning. Miller pitched an (almost) immaculate ninth inning, throwing nine strikes but inducing a fly out from Ben Rice instead of a strike out. Miller gave up a run in the 10th due to the ghost runner, but quickly locked it down afterwards.

That leaves San Diego with plenty of options to turn to for Game 2. Jhony Brito, Griffin Canning, Kyle Hart, David Morgan and Wandy Peralta will all be available for manager Craig Stammen. None of them have pitched particularly well in high-leverage situations. Though, with the way Ray has been pitching, the Padres should be alright.