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They’ve played 18 respective big-league seasons. They’ve combined for nearly 6,500 strikeouts and 435 career wins. They each have two World Series titles, and three individual Cy Young Awards. And one day, they’ll share immortal plaques in Cooperstown, future first-ballot Hall of Famers who defined their generation of pitchers.

For Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, there’s nothing left to prove.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there’s nothing left to play for.

On Friday night at Dodger Stadium, in a pitcher’s duel that saw both veteran aces turn in vintage performances, two players who have meant so much to the sport’s past found themselves in the center of its present.

They were both pitching for first-place teams. They were both effective despite their diminished stuff. They were both wrapped up in what felt like a pivotal game at the start of each team's late-season push.

“I think it's going to be kind of quiet intensity from both of them,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “I think that they both are obviously great competitors.”

And in the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays, it was Kershaw who proved to be a fraction better.

Over his six innings, the 37-year-old left-hander navigated traffic and limited damage, giving up seven hits and one walk, but only one run, thanks to four well-timed strikeouts and three crucial double-plays turned behind him.

The 41-year-old Scherzer, meanwhile, saw what had been a scoreless night shattered in the span of two swings in the fifth, with Shohei Ohtani hitting a two-out double before Mookie Betts belted a go-ahead, two-run homer.

The Dodgers (67-49) eventually pulled away late, scoring three times against the Blue Jays’ bullpen in the seventh.

But up until then, the night’s two starting pitchers were hardly separable.

“I don't know,” Roberts said, “if you're gonna see this one again.”

Early on, Scherzer appeared to be the one on the ropes. In the first, the Dodgers loaded the bases against him on two singles and a walk. Scherzer appeared to be battling his command, missing the zone on seven of 14 pitches at one point. And the side was only retired after Teoscar Hernández missed a couple of fastballs left over the heart of the plate, before eventually striking out on a slider in the dirt.

Kershaw, by comparison, needed only 11 pitches in a clean opening frame.

From there, however, the tables started to turn.

Kershaw quickly ran into trouble in the second. Bo Bichette hit a squibber past Freddie Freeman for a leadoff double. The Blue Jays (68-49) opened the scoring on Addison Barger’s RBI single off a hanging two-strike curveball. Two more base hits from Ty France and Daulton Varsho loaded the bases. Kershaw escaped the jam, but only with the help of a diving play by Betts at shortstop, who snared a line drive from Myles Straw before doubling off France at second for an inning-ending double-play.

Kershaw encountered more traffic in the third (working around a Davis Schneider leadoff single), the fourth (when Barger’s one-out hit was erased by a France double-play grounder), the fifth (when second baseman Alex Freeland helped strand a runner with a sprinting catch in shallow right field) and the sixth (when a leadoff walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was canceled out by yet another double-play grounder).

But after getting through each new threat unscathed, he ended his 74-pitch night with a 3.14 season earned-run average — the lowest it has been since late June.

Scherzer, meanwhile, bounced back from his shaky first inning by finding a midgame groove. Starting with his strikeout of Hernández, he retired nine consecutive batters. And even after Andy Pages led off the fifth with a single, it appeared Scherzer had caught a break, with Pages getting doubled-off at first base on a Freeland pop-up after getting back to the bag late following an attempted steal of second.

Five pitches later, though, Scherzer hung a 2-and-2 slider that Ohtani drove to right field for a double off the wall. Then Betts came to the plate and continued his recent — and long-awaited — turnaround offensively, ambushing a first-pitch slider for his first home run since July 5.

Since a career-worst 0-for-22 skid ended Tuesday, Betts is six-for-his-last-11 with three extra-base hits and, just as encouragingly, one walk to zero strikeouts.

Read more:‘Straight grinder.’ How new Dodger Alex Call became one of MLB’s toughest at-bats

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Mets blew an early two-run lead with a mistake-filled fifth inning, but they were in position to tie the game in the ninth against the Brewers on Friday night.

Facing All-Star closer Trevor Megill, Starling Marte lined a two-out double to keep the Mets' hopes alive. Down by a run, Jeff McNeil then hit a soft single to center fielder Blake Perkins. Perksin got to the ball quickly and launched a one-hop throw to home plate to get Marte and end the game.

"Hell of a play by Perkins," Mendoza said after the loss. "We know he’s a solid defender with a plus-plus arm. Showed it right there, came in and attacked that single on a perfect one-hop to the plate to win the game."

The loss on a play at the plate was just another in a string of disappointing losses for the Mets, who have now dropped five in a row and nine of their last 10 games. But could it have been prevented?

With Marte at second base and two outs in a one-run game, the Mets were sending the veteran slugger on a hit no matter what. So, should they have lifted him for a faster runner, like Tyrone Taylor? Marte's spring speed is in the 28th percentile of MLB, while Taylor is in the 95th percentile, according to Baseball Savant.

Mendoza was asked if he considered using Taylor for Marte in that situation.

The second-year skipper said he didn't and that Marte is "a good runner too."

BLAKE PERKINS!

The @Brewers win it on a play at the plate! pic.twitter.com/66kyAz0EYL

— MLB (@MLB) August 9, 2025

Marte, 36, has been hampered by leg injuries in recent years and has been relegated to the DH role, which he was on Friday. Perhaps Perkins still makes the play with Taylor running, but that will have to be left for the "what if" of the Mets' 2025 season.

For Marte, there was nothing he could do on that play and gave props to Perkins.

"He was able to make a great play right there, able to get the ball in quick. Tremendous throw on one bounce. You have to give him credit over there," Marte said. "I don't think I could have done anything differently. I ran the bases well, my sprint speed was up in a situation like that. At the end of the day, it was a great throw. There’s nothing you can do but give him credit."

Managerial decisions aside, the Mets have a larger problem on their hands. The offense has stalled, especially from their top four hitters (Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo). Soto and Marte provided solo homers in Friday's loss, but the team as a whole just could not get anything going throughout the game.

They finished with only five hits, two coming in that final inning. The top four hits combined to go 1-for-14 with two walks and six strikeouts. Since June 30, the Mets are 30th in runs scored (3.91), 29th in average (.224) and 29th in OPS (.666).

Those stats have raised questions about the effectiveness of the staff under Mendoza, including the hitting coach, something that president of baseball operations David Stearns gave a vote of confidence for before the series opener.

And that confidence is present with the players.

"This is a good team ... we haven’t been hitting the last few games. This is a team that continues to work hard, that has a great amount of talent," Marte said of the team's struggles. "Right now we’re hitting a low point in the season, but I know and I’m confident this team is able to turn it around because we work hard and give 100 percent day in and day out and we show up. Right now it’s not going the way we want, but eventually it’s going to turn and it’s going to turn quickly."

After Friday's games, the Mets sit 3.5 games behind the Phillies for first place in the NL East and 3.5 in front of the Reds for the final wild card spot with two more against the MLB-best Brewers coming up.

Aaron Boone's decision to pitch struggling Yankees reliever Devin Williams in the 10th inning of Friday's series opener against the Houston Astros backfired when the right-hander turned New York's 2-2 tie into a 5-2 deficit and eventual 5-3 loss, but the bullpen options were limited, the manager explained.

"We're kind of short down there at that point," Boone said after Williams (3-5, 5.73 ERA) allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits (one home run) in one inning -- his latest implosion. "You get five innings out of the starter. You're trying to get back in it and get through and staying away from (David) Bednar today. So, then you're probably even lighter, staying away.

"So, then you're down to lefties and then it's that little right lane there for Devin. So, didn't work out tonight."

With Bednar unavailable after throwing 42 pitches in 1.2 IP of Wednesday's 3-2 win at the Texas Rangers, Bednar and fellow right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. were only available in case of emergency, Boone added.

"Obviously, right now, several struggles now in a row," Boone said of Williams, who has allowed nine runs (eight earned) on seven hits (three home runs) in 4.2 IP over his past five appearances. "So, we just try and find softer landing spots.

"Harder to do that right now when you have shorter outings by the starter. You're piecing it together and you've got a guy down. You don't always have that opportunity. So, we'll try and find good spots for him getting back to being a part of the 'pen, which he should be."

Where Williams will fit into the rest of the three-game set remains to be seen, with the Yankees (61-55) losing five of their past six games and primed for more high-leverage situations against the Astros (65-51).

"Yeah, I mean, look -- it's no fun," Boone said of Williams' struggles. "It's tough. But, again, he can hopefully lean on he's been there -- he's been down that road before a little bit, too. He's been through some struggles and come out on the other side and found some real consistency for a couple of months. So, hopefully, he can draw on that as we move forward here."

The Yankees blew this weekend's series opener against the Houston Astros as Devin Williams allowed three runs and a comeback attempt fell short in the 10th inning of Friday's 5-3 loss.

Takeaways

1. Cam Schlittler continues to give the Yankees a chance. New York's 24-year-old RHP allowed a two-run homer to Jose Altuve with one out in the first inning but kept the Astros at bay otherwise, following with 4.2 shutout frames through the fifth. Schlittler (1-2, 4.38 ERA) scattered seven hits, allowed two runs and struck out three while walking one and hitting another on 97 pitches (66 strikes). After losing five of their past six games, the Yankees needed their starting pitcher to give at least five strong and Schlittler did just that.
2. Until the 10th inning, the same could be said about New York's bullpen. Yerry De los Santos (1.2), Camilo Doval (1.1), Luke Weaver (1) took the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings and combined to allow one hit in four scoreless frames. Aside from Williams, the Yankees' bullpen stepped up.
3. At this point, what more is there to be said about Williams? Aaron Boone keeps putting Williams in high-leverage situations and is getting the same results. Williams, who allowed Carlos Correa's go-ahead RBI single to score the ghost-running Altuve (who took third base after a wild pitch) and Taylor Trammel's two-run homer with two outs, is simply not fit for the role. In Williams' past five appearances, he has allowed nine runs (eight earned) on seven hits (three homers) over 4.2 IP. What more is there to see from Williams in these spots that has Boone going to him?
4. The Yankees fought, including a two-run sixth inning between RBI singles by Ben Rice and Aaron Judge, before Anthony Volpe's own RBI single in the 10th inning kept New York's hopes alive. With two outs in the fourth inning, Cody Bellinger's throw from right field on Cam Smith's single caught Trammel out at home and prevented the Astros' potential 3-0 lead. The Yankees showed fight and made the plays to pull out a win, but Williams' 10th-inning implosion was the difference.

Who's the MVP?

Correa, who reached base four times (two hits, two walks) and delivered the go-ahead RBI single that pushed the Astros ahead -- and sparked Williams' unraveling.

Highlights

Ben Rice gets the Yankees on the board! pic.twitter.com/INafQlITR0

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 9, 2025

Aaron Judge ties the game with an RBI single 💪 pic.twitter.com/WtHFiOpkrP

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 9, 2025

What's next

The Yankees (61-55) and Astros (65-51) continue their three-game series with Saturday's 2:05 p.m. start. New York RHP Luis Gil (0-1, 13.50 ERA) and Houston LHP Framber Valdez (11-5, 2.83 ERA) are set to take the mound.

Mets right-handed pitcher Paul Blackburn allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out three in 5.2 innings of Triple-A Syracuse's 9-5 win over Charlotte.

Blackburn, who improved to 5-1 with a 2.55 ERA in eight starts for Syracuse this season, completed his fourth rehab start since the assignment reached Triple-A July 22.

He threw 61 strikes on 97 pitches and was replaced by Dom Hamel with two outs in the sixth inning.

Paul Blackburn's final line for Triple-A Syracuse tonight:

5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 3 K (97 pitches) pic.twitter.com/dsje0j8bbi

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) August 9, 2025

The Mets placed Blackburn, 31, on the 15-day injured list July 3 (retroactive to June 30) after he was diagnosed with a right shoulder impingement.

Blackburn last pitched in a game for the Mets on June 28 when he lasted one inning and allowed three runs on six hits.

In six games (four starts) with New York this season, Blackburn is 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA and 1.98 WHIP.

A monster night from Marsh powers Phillies to win over Rangers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ARLINGTON, TX – Before and after the trade deadline, both Dave Dombrowski and Rob Thomson talked of more offensive production being needed from within. Especially when it came to power. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper can’t be the only true long ball or gap-hitting threats in the lineup.

The trade for outfielder Harrison Bader brought hope for another slugging bat, but also somewhat overcrowded an already platooning group of left and center fielders. And while Thomson said he has still not exactly figured out who will be mostly manning those positions for the stretch run, one player’s arm seems to be being raised higher and higher – much like his batting average.

Since an 0-for-31 stint in April left him at 4-for-42 on the season, centerfielder/leftfielder Brandon Marsh has gone 66-for-210, a .314 average. More recently, since July 25 he’s 17-for-35 (.486) with six doubles and four home runs in those 12 games. And a telltale sign may have happened Friday against the Texas Rangers in the fifth inning when Thomson allowed Marsh to hit with a runner on first and a lefthander came out of the bullpen.

All Marsh did was hit his second double of the evening, to go with a home run and a single in the game, leading the Phillies to a 9-1 win over the Rangers. They are now 66-49 on the season and lead the New York Mets by 3.5 games as they lost to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.

“To be honest, I’m just trying to take it at-bat by at-bat, day by day,” said Marsh. “I’m really just trying to stick to the approach, stay stubborn, just let the body work.

“I do my best to try and treat it the same way (facing a left hander). Them bringing in (Robert) Garcia was a little bit of a shock, but they’re going to their guy to try to get out of a situation and keep them in the game. I totally understand it. I do treat it like as a little challenge, but I feel like the more I do that the more I press. Just got to stay relaxed and treat it like any other at-bat.”

Cristopher Sánchez not only continued his domination throughout the league but proved again how high his maturity level has risen as he overcame a shaky first inning and finished the night with six innings pitched and just one earned run. He improved to 11-3 on the season.

He threw a whopping 25 pitches in the first inning while allowing a run and three hits. In the following five innings, he allowed no runs, just three more hits and threw a total of 100 pitches. He struck out six.

“Just staying calm and staying focused throughout that situation,” said Sánchez. “I think that’s one of the keys that got me through it today. They were showing me something else than what I had thought. I just tried to pitch to the opposite of what they were trying to do.”

The Phillies grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first as Schwarber blasted his 41st home run of the season, this one hitting three-quarters of the way up on the foul pole. It was his fourth homer in the past five games. The Phils put three more on the board in the fourth when Marsh led off with a line drive home run to right. After Otto Kemp and Bryson Stott walked, Trea Turner drove them in with a double down the left field line and the Phillies opened the lead to 4-1.

A bases-loaded double in the ninth by Bryson Stott knocked in two and a three-run home run by Turner turned the game into a route. Turner finished the night 2-for 4 with five RBI, a pair of walks and a stolen base.

“I think the power is there,” said Turner of the team. “Marshy has been swinging the bat really well, Nick has been hitting some homers, Kyle is obviously doing his thing, Bryce is going good. We talked about that power a lot in the first half and it’s starting to come out all down the lineup, not just one person and I think that makes a big difference.

Max Kepler, who started in left Friday, is among those trying to win the majority of playing time in left. Though he went 0-for-4, he didn’t disappoint his manager. “First at-bat he got the runner over, runner at second base, nobody out (on a dribbler to first after a Marsh double.

“Then he got jammed up a little bit the next couple at-bats and then he hits a bullet (hard liner to right). Outfielder made a great play. All in all, he did his job. You can’t control what happens after you hit the ball. As long as you hit it hard, that’s what you want.”

The way the pitching worked out Friday was almost exactly the way Thomson hopes it plays out for the rest of the season and in the playoffs. Have a starter, in this case Sánchez, give six or so strong innings, followed by an inning apiece from relievers (in Friday’s case Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering), and then have closer Jhoan Duran nail it shut. Problem was, after Duran got warmed up, the Phillies put five on the board in the ninth. And Sánchez was his usual self.

“We’ve put a lot of innings on him the last couple of starts” said Thomson. “I think he was up a little bit today and just didn’t have the finish to his pitches that he normally does. But he grinded and battled through some adversity and got through it.”

Saturday, the platooning/auditioning will continue, as Thomson said he will start Harrison Bader against the great Jacob deGrom. Marsh’s lefthanded bat probably will be in the lineup against the righthander. Heck, he’s making the case that he should be in there against anybody. Maybe he’s making the manager’s decision a little bit easier.

“It was a really good offensive night,” said Thomson, “Nine walks, eleven hits and we put a lot of pitches on the pitching staff. It seemed like we had traffic early but just didn’t capitalize. Finally we got it done in the ninth.”

Several reasons Kai-Wei Teng's first MLB win in Giants victory worth celebrating originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Finally, the music was back to blasting in the Giants’ clubhouse. Strobe lights danced across the ceiling and a team tradition was reignited for all the right reasons after their first home win in exactly four weeks to the date.

As beer and who knows what were sprayed all over Kai-Wei Teng, he couldn’t see what was going on around him. He could barely even breathe. He also wouldn’t dare change a second of his Giants teammates celebrating his first MLB win. 

“It was a pretty special experience,” Teng said through interpreter Andy Lin. “I couldn’t even breathe when I was in the beer shower. I couldn’t even see. I couldn’t open my eyes. I just smelled some stinky stuff. I didn’t even know what that was.”

With two left-handed hitters atop the Washington Nationals’ lineup, Giants manager Bob Melvin used lefty reliever Matt Gage to open Friday night’s game at Oracle Park, coming back from a six-game road trip. Gage was able to sit the Nationals down in order, handing the ball over to Teng, who easily had the best performance of his young MLB career in the Giants’ 5-0 win to start off a nine-game homestand. 

Teng’s night began by striking out cleanup hitter Nathaniel Lowe in three straight pitches, making him look perplexed at a changeup that dropped off the table and into Patrick Bailey’s glove. He then struck out the next batter, Josh Bell, and retired the first six batters he faced. The sixth out ended on the defensive play of the night from the player who figured to grab the biggest spotlight. 

The story of the game was supposed to belong to rookie Drew Gilbert’s MLB debut, a former first-round draft pick acquired from the New York Mets in a trade one week ago that sent reliever Tyler Rogers to the Big Apple. Gilbert chased down a sliced liner down the right-field line and made a crowd-pleasing diving catch, stumbling but still finding a way to snag the ball into his glove. 

“I almost lost my footing in the first once I went over the line, so thankfully I was able to hold onto the ball,” Gilbert said. “I think I was OK with my face. Might have got a little dirt on it, but otherwise I was OK.” 

Throughout his five shutout innings, Teng, 26, kept finding ways to get out of adversity. James Wood doubled off the right-field wall to start the third inning, only to see Teng retire the next three batters. In the top of the fourth, he ran into his most trouble of the night, finding himself with the bases loaded and no outs. After a mound visit from Giants pitching coach J.P. Martinez, Teng forced a groundout to first baseman Rafael Devers on the first pitch, throwing Bell out at home plate. 

Just two pitches later, a curveball from Teng turned into an inning-ending double play. 

“Those are the biggest three outs of the game,” Melvin said. 

Teng credited Martinez with calming him right when he needed it most. 

“It helped me to settle down, just take a deep breath and figure out what kind of strategy and pitches I’m going to pitch and face the next batter,” Teng said. “It helped a lot.” 

The start to Teng’s major league career was far from calm. He pitched 11 innings out of the bullpen last season and allowed 12 earned runs with eight walks and seven strikeouts. Teng has bounced back and was enjoying a strong minor league campaign for Triple-A Sacramento this season, where he walked 3.5 batters per nine innings and struck out 14.3 batters per nine innings ahead of his return to the majors last Saturday. 

But because of one rough inning, Teng was tagged for five earned runs in a loss to the New York Mets over 3 1/3 innings. Like he did Friday night in front of more than 38,000 Giants fans, Teng wasn’t deterred from the ups and downs of baseball.

His final inning of his first big league win came against the Nationals’ one, two and three hitters in the lineup. Teng took them down in seven pitches, finishing his night by striking out Brady House on a sweeper that ended in the other batter’s box. 

The beer-induced celebration is a feeling and smell that will last a lifetime for Teng. The real celebration was 15 hours ahead in Taiwan, where Father’s Day was celebrated the same day Teng took the mound. Teng became the ninth Taiwanese-born pitcher in MLB history to earn a win, and the first since Wei-Chung Wang in September of 2019.

“I want to thank my dad for supporting me over the past 18 years. Anything related to baseball he was always there for me, and I’m just so glad he was there to support me,” Teng said. “I want to say I love you to my dad.”

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Mets manager Carlos Mendozaraised some eyebrows when he said his team is unable to make adjustments after Wednesday's loss to the Guardians.

Some took it as the skipper calling out his coaches and the players for not being able to figure out Guardians starter Gavin Williams, who was two outs away from pitching a no-hitter. It was the culmination of a terrible homestand where the team went 1-5 and have lost eight of their last nine games. 

And a large part of the slump has been the Mets' offense. Since the All-Star break, their team's OPS is .639, last in MLB, and their .213 batting average ranks 29th in baseball. 

Despite those numbers, the president of baseball operations, David Stearns, voiced his confidence that the offense will turn itself around.

"I believe in our guys," Stearns told the media prior to Friday's series opener against the Brewers. "Clearly, everyone’s frustrated. Players are frustrated. At times, I’ve been frustrated. But I believe this is a good offensive team, I believe in the process we have in place and I’m confident we’re going to see that going forward."

Stearns was then asked about the team's hitting coaches and whether they should be to blame for the team's offensive struggles.

"No. I have confidence in our hitting coaches," he said. "They have track records and lead and put together quality offenses. This is, at times, baseball. It will drive you crazy when you have talented players that go through stretches like this. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve had a lineup where we’ve had stretches where we haven’t performed up to our capabilities. It’s frustrating and everyone is working as hard as they can to turn this thing around. And I think we will."

Mendoza was asked about the coaches before Friday's game, as well, but the Mets skipper echoed Stearns in giving them a vote of confidence.

"I think they are good at what they do," Mendoza said. "Making sure they get the message across. Extremely hard workers. Day in, day out not only the physical work but putting together game plans, starting pitchers, working on the mechanics. There’s a lot that goes behind the scenes. They are really good at what they do."

Stearns did acknowledge Mendoza's lack of adjustment comments from Wednesday, saying that it's a reasonable criticism and there have been discussions, but it's an "easier said than done" situation. But he believes in the veteran players to make those adjustments in-game, especially from the top of the lineup.

Over their last 15 games, entering Friday, Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo have gone a combined 48-for-232 (.206) with nine home runs and 68 strikeouts.

That inconsistency has put the Mets behind the eight ball in a lot of their games, but the team remain confident they will bounce back.

"I don’t have a silver bullet answer for [the inconsistency]," Stearns said. "We’re not the first good team to have periods in the season where we’re not clicking. I understand it’s unique when you have the quality of players at the top to go through some struggles at the same time. I completely understand why that raises some questions and why that raises frustration. But at the same time, we have to trust that these are really good players. They believe in themselves. As an organization, we certainly believe in them, and I have full faith that they are going to snap out of it. And we’re going to see a good offense."

"We got really good hitters. That’s where it starts," Mendoza said. "They’re really good players, they’ve done it before. When you’re going through it, it gets noisy. When you look at our players, when you look at that locker room there’s a lot of talent there. They’ll get out of it."