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Jonah Tongshowed the Mets just about every facet of his game in Monday's start against the Marlins in Miami.

The 23-year-old right-hander showed off his upside in the form of a good fastball-changeup combo to the tune of seven strikeouts. He showed the areas he still had to improve upon in a four-run inning. But he also showed that there's a big-league mentality in the way he responded.

“Really pleased with his outing,” interim manager Andy Green said about Tong after the Mets' 9-4 win, adding later, “He demonstrated a lot of toughness; we love to see that.”

Tong, who has been on a bit of a roller coaster as he rocketed up through the Mets' system last year from rather unheralded prospect to late-September call-up amid an ill-fated postseason push. But the rise ended there as he struggled at times during his debut month, and that carried over into the start of this year. 

The roller coaster continued in his first two innings of his first big-league start of the year on Monday: Tong struck out the first four Marlins he faced. And then he allowed the next four to all come around to score, as the home side overturned an early 3-0 deficit, with the damage coming on a first-pitch cutter going for a triple and a 1-2 fastball on the outside corner getting yanked for a three-run homer. 

“It’s just one of those things; the only hits he gives up all day are sequenced together right there, and the home run bites pretty hard at that point in time,” Green said. 

The young righty the homer stung, but the walk to the batter before that “sucked.”

“I can live with the hits,” Tong said. “I can control that part with the walk.”

But, as the interim skipper mentioned, Tong allowed just one hit, a walk, and a hit batter in his next three frames. 

“To watch him be a cutthroat competitor, get in there and go right back at them for the next three innings, it was really good,” Green said. “It's what you want to see from him. I know he’s not gonna love the line at the end of the day with the four runs coming in, but the way he pitched today was way better than that line is gonna indicate.”

Green added: “I love who he showed himself to be today. It was good to see.”

While Tong admitted to being "nitpicky" about his one walk and a few pitches he wanted back, the outing was decent for his first MLB start of the year. He got 15 outs on 87 pitches (55 strikes). The changeup was again the pitch for the right-hander, getting eight whiffs on 19 swings (42 percent) and accounting for five of his seven strikeouts. His four-seam fastball got him seven called strikes for a 44 percent called-strike-whiff rate on 27 offerings.

One pitch that wasn't used much was the curveball, just seven in the game. Green said he's "always loved” Tong’s curve, but he “didn’t have to use it” much in Monday’s outing. 

“It should feature prominently in his mix,” the interim manager said. “... Later in the game, he started to steal a strike with it. I think that probably throws teams off the scent a little bit. He can really zone it well, so it’s a great strike pitch; there’s times when he can get punchouts with it. 

“Should feature prominently in his arsenal. Today he got going without needing it, but it will be a part of what he does.”

Tong called the curveball to be a "big emphasis for him" in his evolution and one he's very "proud" of that he will continue to lean on as he develops. 

For the year, in his 15. big-league innings over four games, Tong has posted a 4.80 ERA with a 1.333 WHIP and 14 strikeouts.

And Monday's outing, along with his final 41 innings at Triple-A Syracuse since mid-July that saw him pitch to a 2.20 ERA and 1.146 WHIP with 44 strikeouts and 20 walks, are encouraging signs as much like the start against the Marlins on Monday, he responded to adversity – which came in the form of a 5.90 ERA and 1.639 WHIP over his first 61 innings at Triple-A – in earning more opportunities to show he belongs.

Two teams met today at 1:35 Eastern on Labor Day. One of them is sinking into irrelevance, limply making outs when runs are desperately needed. The other is hanging tough, gradually solidifying its hold on a playoff spot.

Today, you’d have been hard pressed to figure out which team was which. The Orioles quickly jumped on Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo – a control lefty! – with four runs in 2.1 innings. Meanwhile, in his 28th start of the season, Baltimore’s Trevor Rogers turned in yet another solid performance. Barring a terrible April/May, he’s allowed two or fewer runs in 19 of 21 starts. The lefty has been a rock in the rotation, and he was again today, going 7 1/3 innings to make his bullpen’s life easy.

Where was this offense against the league’s worst pitching staff in Colorado, where the Birds dropped a winnable series? Almost instantly, the Birds put up four runs on a Cleveland staff that proved delightfully command-challenged. Nothing came easy for Cleveland pitchers today, especially the starter Cantillo, who struggled to locate all day in the hot sun, giving up three hits, four runs, and five walks in just 2.1 innings.

Cantillo gifted the O’s several important free runners, including the first two batters of the game, Blaze Alexander and Pete Alonso. Nothing came of it then, but the O’s cashed in the second. Two more free bases, as Samuel Basallo got hit on the left hand (he’d stay in, seeming to be OK) and newcomer Rece Hinds walked on five pitches. Today, against a lefty, Dylan Beavers has was buried in the No. 9 spot, despite his solid .279/.367/.419 slashline over the last two weeks. Well, today it didn’t matter where you put him: Beavers waited on a 3-1 fastball and slammed it into the left field corner, scoring Basallo.

The Orioles weren’t done yet. Joey Cantillo was about to lose the plot. Er, the zone. The Birds left two runners on in the second, but come the third, they’d tack on three more runs, two on bases-loaded walks.

First, Coby Mayo homered. Imagine, Mayo homering against a lefty. It’s what he does now. It was a gorgeous blast to the left field second deck, the kind you make a “yuck” face at.

It didn’t get better for Cantillo. With one out, he walked Christian Encarnacion-Strand and served up a single to Basallo, the catcher’s second time on. It’s Basallo, he’s good, but Joey Cantillo probably didn’t want to also walk Rece Hinds to load the bases. Cleveland promptly lifted Cantillo, putting in the righty Franco Aleman. Dylan Beavers struck out swinging—two outs. Would the rally fizzle?

No, it didn’t fizzle, actually, thanks to Blaze Alexander, who put together an absolutely terrific at-bat. Not only did Blaze foul off off six pitches, keeping the swing short and tight, he did it after falling down 0-2 in the count. “What a walk!”exclaimed Kevin Brown from the MASN booth, calling it one of Blaze’s best AB’s all year. “Sometimes you get walked, and sometimes you earn it,” echoed Jim Palmer. True, indeed. Now it was 3-0, Orioles. Pete Alonso took a bases-loaded free pass, too, if less dramatically, and it was 4-0.

Granted, this productive offensive work could have been even more productive, as the Birds left on 12 runners today, a sign of how lavish Cleveland pitching was with the walks and singles. But given what the month of September has looked like for Baltimore, this is welcome.

And given how good O’s starter Trevor Rogers looked, by that point this game felt like a done deal. I don’t want to give Rogers stinting praise by lavishing little recap space on him, but I guess I will. What Rogers did, in compressed fashion, is make a good offense look bad while pitching deep into the game in highly efficient fashion. Rogers got through the first three innings in just 41 pitches, 32 of them for strikes, and he looked like that all game.

His one blemish was a solo run allowed in the sixth inning. It came on two straight singles and a bloop double down the right-field line, 71.3 mph off the bat of Jo Adell.

But that was all the hope that Rogers would allow Cleveland, and in the bottom of the inning, a 4-1 O’s lead became 6-1. First, Jackson Holliday singled off new Cleveland pitcher Slade Cecconi. Coby Mayo, killer of lefties, was apparently undeterred by Cecconi’s right-handedness, and he slugged his second of the game. “Beware of flying objects!” announced Kevin Brown.

That kind of did it. Rogers came out gamely for the seventh inning, facing the minimum again. Out he came, again, cool as a cucumber, for the eighth. He retired one and gave up a single before giving way to Rico Garcia, who did his cleanup thing perfectly to end the inning.

That left three more outs. With the O’s still down a real closer in Ryan Helsley and Félix Bautista (although both injured relievers are getting closer to a return this year), Andrew Kittredge has pitched the ninth more often than not. Today he again showed he’s not a real closer, even if the W was ultimately unharmed. Kittredge allowed two straight singles and an out, then hung a slider to pinch-hitting slugger Nathaniel Lowe. Bad move—and a really bad pitch. Lowe drove it to the flag court, and suddenly, at 6-4, this was a close game.

It should never have been this close, but Kittredge was allowed to face one more batter—Angel Genao, the Guardians’ second baseman, who grounded out. O’s manager Craig Albernaz put in lefty Josh Walker instead to try to get the last out. Walker did, throwing nothing but fastballs. Fly ball to right, game over. Orioles win!

Look, these games mean something. Today’s win doesn’t mean that the Orioles are a lock, or even likely, to earn a trip to the postseason, but it’s good to see them keep fighting. Maybe the Birds’ predictable unpredictability, which sunk them against a lowly team like the Rockies, will give them a competitive fire against the Guardians, a team playing these days with everything on the line.

So who was your Most Birdland Player of the day, CC’ers? If I’m being frank with you, I see two real choices. You could go starting pitching, with Trevor Rogers and his cool 7 1/3 one-run innings. Or you could opt for the long ball and pick Coby Mayo, who drove in three runs on two home runs, his first career multi-homer game. An outside-the-box choice, if you like a good batting eye, would be Blaze Alexander, who walked twice, including an 11-pitch gem with the bases loaded and two outs, to keep the rally alive. It’s good to have choices.

Craig Kimbrel came on in the 10th inning of a 0-0 tie game and allowed five singles en route to giving up five runs in a 5-4 loss to the Diamondbacks. Ildemaro Vargas snuck a bunt under Kimbrel’s dive, and then a sacrifice fly scored the first run of the game for either team. From there it went off the rails, as Kimbrel gave up single after single and the runs poured in. Five, in total. It wasn’t all on Kimbrel – Rave flubbed fielding a ball in right field – but the damage was done.

The game wasn’t over yet. The Royals offense finally woke up in the bottom half of the 10th and valiantly tried to pick Kimbrel up. Kyle Isbel walked to lead off the inning. Carter Jensen hit a double to give the Royals their first run of the game. Witt was hit by a pitch to load the bases, bringing up The Captain. Perez doubled to bring all three runners in. Michael Massey hit a long fly ball to move pinch-runner Tyler Tolbert to third base, which meant the tying run was on third with two outs and Nick Loftin up to bat. Loftin unfortunately challenged the wrong pitch in his plate appearance, letting a questionable first pitch strike call go by and using the last challenge later on a more obvious strike call. Unfortunately, he seemed to be fishing for the walk and let two close pitches go by in a clutch situation. He was called out on strikes to end the game.

It was an absolute shame because Noah Cameron turned in a brilliant performance. He was mixing his pitches well, keeping the D-Backs completely guessing nearly every plate appearance. He induced some really bad swings, like guys swinging out of their shoes, and some bad knee-buckling takes too. Cameron struck out the side in the third; he did not walk anyone until the fourth inning. He already had five strikeouts by that time.

He gave up his second walk in the sixth inning, a leadoff walk, but no damage done. He completed six full innings and gave up only three hits. He allowed zero runs, walked two guys, and struck out seven. He allowed only two batted balls above 100mph in exit velocity. He allowed zero runners to reach second base! Nate Pearson pitched two dominant innings of relief after him.

In a goofy coincidence, both teams had unassisted double plays in which the corner defender caught a line drive and tagged the base to force out the baserunner. For the Royals, it happened in a crucial situation – with no outs and runners on the corners in the ninth, Nick Loftin caught a liner from Nolan Arenado and dove to the bag to tag it with his glove to force out Ketel Marte. Going from first/third no outs to runner on first with two outs in the ninth…that was a relief (at the time). Steven Cruz struck out pinch-hitter Corbin Carroll to escape the ninth without giving up a run.

But Kimbrel couldn’t hold the tie.

Ideally, the team wouldn’t even be in a 0-0 situation like that in a bullpen game. The Royals mounted a couple scoring threats in regular time but couldn’t cross the plate. In the fourth, a walk and a single put men on first and second, but Michael Massey struck out to end the threat. In the fifth, John Rave doubled with one out. Matthew Lugo singled on a ground ball between the third baseman and shortstop, which meant Rave had to hold until the ball went through. Rave made it to third but no further. Kyle Isbel tried a squeeze bunt, but he hit it in the air and too far so that Ildemaro Vargas could slide and catch the bunt for an out. Carter Jensen walked to load the bases for Bobby Witt Jr. Witt put a fly ball into the right-center gap, but Tim Tawa caught it on the warning track for the third out.

The bullpen woes continue in a lost season. It’s hard to watch. This is nothing new.

There will be another game tomorrow despite the bullpen. The Royals and D-Backs will play at 6:40pm US Central.

The Guardians lost 6-4 to the Baltimore Orioles today

Joey Cantillo was, again, awful. He went 2 and 1/3rd and gave up four runs and five walks and hit two batters. Franco Aleman wasn’t great, either and Slade Cecconi surrendered his scheduled homer. I vote Austin Peterson gets the Cantillo starts for the rest of 2026, until such a time as Ben Lively would demonstrate his readiness.

Steven Kwan and Jo Adell had two hits and Nathaniel Lowe hit a three-run homer in the ninth. So, that’s nice to see some life.

I don’t know if this team is gonna do anything with Jose’s hand like it is, currently. But, today was the scheduled loss of this series. Let’s get these guys the next two.

MIAMI — One rough inning wasn’t going to sabotage Jonah Tong’s major league return. 

Back to the laboratory after allowing four runs in the second inning Monday, the rookie right-hander utilized a steady array of changeups and cutters for his final three frames, largely avoiding his four-seam fastball. The adjustment helped Tong finish strong. 

Tong got the win, and the Mets won for the fourth time in five games, 9-4 over the Marlins. 

This team playing for next season has started reevaluating the 23-year-old Tong, a third rookie to join Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton in the rotation. 

“Last year, I felt like a kid going out there every time, being shell-shocked,” said Tong, who started five games late in 2025. “Now, it’s more like my feet are kind of more set than they were last year and it’s just go out there and do my job.” 

Tong allowed four earned runs on four hits and one walk with a hit batsman over five innings and struck out seven. It was a welcome return to the major leagues for Tong (who had two previous stints with the club) after he pitched to a 0.84 ERA in his last four starts for Triple-A Syracuse. 

Tong’s major misstep on this day was the three-run homer he surrendered to Graham Pauley in the second inning. 

“Really pleased with the outing,” interim manager Andy Green said. “The second inning is one of those things that the only hits he gives up all day are sequenced together right there, and then the home run bites pretty hard. But to watch him be a cutthroat competitor, get back in there and go back at them for the next three innings, it was really good. 

“It’s what you want to see from him. I know he’s not going to love the line at the end of the day, with four runs coming in, but the way he pitched today is way better than that line is going to indicate.” 

Tong said he turned to his cutter and changeup (and away from his four-seamer) as the game progressed with an eye toward quicker outs. 

“It was more quality of contact and assessing that we wanted to go deeper into the game and obviously we needed to get some quicker outs,” Tong said. “It was just seeing what was in front of us.” 

A 16-hit attack carried the Mets, who were swept in three games at this ballpark Memorial Day weekend and had lost four straight here overall, including Game 162 last season, when they fell a victory short of the playoffs. 

The Mets capitalized on sloppy Miami defense to score the game’s first run. Bo Bichette hit a grounder that Javier Sanoja threw into left field while attempting to get the force at second, allowing Juan Soto to score. Bichette scored when catcher Joe Mack threw errantly to second base while attempting to nail Carson Benge stealing. 

Nick Morabito’s RBI single in the third followed a Brett Baty double and gave the Mets a 3-0 lead against Eury Pérez. 

Tong struck out the first four batters he faced before getting knocked around in the second inning. After Sanoja delivered an RBI triple, Tong walked Owen Caissie and surrendered a three-run homer to Pauley that gave the Marlins a 4-3 lead. Pauley hit a 95 mph four-seamer on the outside corner over the right field fence. 

“It wasn’t even the home run — it was more just the walk before that,” Tong said. “That kind of sucked because I can live with the hits, it’s just I can control that part with the walk. Other than that, it’s just the same thing after every pitch, and it’s really easy to just move on from that.” 

Francisco Alvarez’s RBI single in the fourth tied the game after Marcus Semien hit a leadoff double and A.J. Ewing reached on an infield single. 

Bichette’s RBI single in the fifth reclaimed the lead for the Mets. With two outs, Ewing stroked a two-run double that extended the Mets lead to 7-4. The rally started with singles by Francisco Lindor and Soto. 

Semien’s RBI double in the sixth widened the Mets lead to 8-4 before Ewing delivered his third hit of the game, an RBI single. 

“I thought we were great up and down the lineup,” Green said. 

Padres fans have already shown what they are willing to endure for a coveted giveaway. Joe Musgrove’s wizard makeover could test that restraint again.

San Diego will celebrate Harry Potter Day during Monday’s Labor Day game against the Nationals, with a limited-edition “School of Pitchcraft and Wizardry” Musgrove bobblehead anchoring the promotion.

The collectible is available only through a designated Theme Game package, not with a standard ticket.

One Musgrove bobblehead presale was marked sold for $50 before the promotion. Other Harry Potter-themed MLB collectibles have commanded more. Aaron Judge versions from the Yankees’ 2026 event were marked sold for $75 and $99.99, while a Drake Baldwin-Braves edition was offered for $99.99 with at least one sold.

Listings do not guarantee future value, but the market suggests Musgrove may quickly graduate from souvenir to resale inventory.

The Padres already know how feverish demand can become.

Their April puffer-vest giveaway, advertised for the first 40,000 fans, descended into pushing and fights after popular sizes reportedly ran out. Viral videos showed employees struggling to control the surge, while delays caused some fans to miss the beginning of the game. The Padres subsequently apologized.

Harry Potter Day uses a package-ticket system, which should make the supply easier to manage. Fans can still expect costumes, house scarves and a ballpark atmosphere designed to resemble a different kind of school.

There is also a small Southern California coincidence. A 290-foot superyacht reportedly owned by “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling recently docked at Marina del Rey with its name concealed. Rowling has not confirmed that she is in California, and there is no known connection between the vessel and the Padres’ event.

The real attraction remains in San Diego, where fans do not need an owl, wand or sorting ceremony to obtain Musgrove’s bobblehead.

They need the correct ticket package — and, considering the Padres’ recent giveaway history, an early arrival would not hurt.

Here’s how cursed the Angels remain, no matter the owners (for now): Brayan Bello started today’s game and went 5 innings with 7Ks and without allowing a run. The last time he did anything comparable to that at home this year was all the way back on May 22nd, when he shut out the Twins over 5 with 5 Ks, back when the Sox were just the worst. Now they’re good, and they proved it in the 2nd inning against Grayson Rodriguez, with a warmup solo shot from Jarren Duran:

Followed by the main event, a three-run stealth bullet from Adley:

Bring us 6 tomorrow, fellas.

The Nats suffered from familiar problems this weekend against the Dodgers, with the bullpen up to their usual tricks. However, they have a chance to bounce back and be spoilers against the Padres. The Friars are deep in the wild card hunt, but the Nats have a chance to put a dent in their playoff dreams.

Blake Butera is shaking up his lineup today. CJ Abrams is back at shortstop due to Nasim Nunez’s offensive struggles. That moves Jorbit Vivas to second base. The outfield consists of Dylan Crews, Jacob Young and James Wood with Daylen Lile at DH. Abi Ortiz will be at first base and Keibert Ruiz is behind the plate. Jake Irvin will be on the bump.

Some Padres mainstays such as Tatis, Machado, Merrill and Bogaerts are in the lineup. However, we will see a new face with 20 year old Ethan Salas starting behind the plate. Despite all these big names, Ty France has probably been the Padres best hitter this season. Nick Pivetta will be making his first big league start since April 12th.

Game Info:

Stadium: Petco Park

Time: 5:10 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

Playing the Padres is always exciting given the history between these two teams. Seeing James Wood and CJ Abrams spoil their playoff dreams would be awfully exciting. However, they will need some help from the bullpen. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

Jonah Tong earned the win in his first big league start of 2026, as the Mets bested the Marlins 9-4 in this series opener at loanDepot Park by taking advantage of some shoddy defensive work by Miami.

The Mets handed Tong a lead to work with right away, assisted heavily by the Marlins’ defense. With one out, Juan Soto lined a single up the middle that narrowly missed hitting Eury Pérez, which would have been potentially catastrophic given how hard the ball was struck. Bo Bichette then hit a grounder to second and rather than getting the sure out at first, Javier Sanoja tried to get the lead runner Soto at second, but he threw wildly and the ball went sailing into left field and all the way into foul territory, allowing Soto to score all the way from second base for the game’s first run and Bichette to reach second. Pérez then walked Carson Benge, but got Marcus Semien to fly out to right for the second out. Benge then stole second base and the Marlins made their second costly errant throw of the inning when catcher Joe Mack sailed the throw into center field, allowing Bichette to score. Benge advanced to third on the error, but Pérez managed to limit the damage to just the two runs by getting A.J. Ewing to ground out to end the inning.

Jonah Tong responded by striking out the side in the bottom of the first to send the offense right back out there and they scored for Tong again. In fact, the Mets scored in each of five of the first six innings of the game. With one out, Brett Baty scorched a double to the gap in left-center. Nick Morabito then laced a single up the middle to score Baty and extend the Mets’ lead to 3-0. The Mets would load the bases on walks to Soto and Bichette, but Pérez once again managed to limit the damage.

Tong’s only tough inning came in the bottom of the second. Things started promisingly enough when he struck out Otto López—not an easy man to strike out—for his fourth straight K. But then things unraveled for Tong rather quickly. He gave up a single to Jakob Marsee for the Marlins’ first hit and Sanoja made up for his earlier defensive miscue with a triple to plate Miami’s first run. Tong then walked Owen Caissie and Grant Pauley socked a three-run homer to put the Marlins in front. Tong stopped the bleeding there, retiring the next two batters—the latter via another strikeout—but he had coughed up the early lead the Mets had given him.

However, the Marlins’ lead was short-lived, as the Mets tied the game in the third and took the lead in the fourth, after which they didn’t look back. Marcus Semien led off the third inning with a double and then the Mets benefited from another lapse in the field by the Marlins when A.J. Ewing hit a grounder between first and second on which Griffin Conine made a nice diving stop, but Eury Pérez failed to get over to cover first base, allowing Ewing to reach safely. Ewing eventually gave the out back by getting picked off and not staying in the rundown long enough to score Semien, who had advanced to third on the play. However, now without a runner on first, the Marlins brought their infield in and Francisco Alvarez hit a sharp grounder past the drawn in infield for a game-tying single. Tong only needed six pitches to retire the Marlins in the bottom of the third and the Mets put up a crooked number in his favor in the fourth—again with some help from the Marlins’ defense. Francisco Lindor led things off by blooping a single in front of a diving Caissie. Soto then hit a screamer right at López, but the 111 mph rope ate him up and deflected off of him into center field, advancing Lindor to third. Bo Bichette then laced an opposite field single to drive in Lindor and retake the lead 5-4. It looked like Pérez was poised to avoid a big inning again, as he bounced back to get Carson Benge to ground into a fielder’s choice at second and Semien to pop out in foul territory. But then A.J. Ewing, who continues to break out of his slump, blooped a double just fair down the left field line to score both runners and extend the Mets’ lead to 7-4.

Tong delivered another 1-2-3 inning in the fourth as he settled into the game and Cade Gibson came in the game in relief of Pérez for the Marlins and provided a rare scoreless frame for Miami. All told, Pérez gave up an unsightly seven runs on ten hits in just four innings. Only five of those runs were earned, but one could certainly argue that an even greater proportion were due to defensive plays that weren’t called errors, but should have been made. Meanwhile, Tong worked around a one-out hit by pitch in the fifth to become the pitcher of record and got handshakes in the dugout for a start the final line of which looked a lot worse than it actually was. In reality, the outing amounted to one bad inning that Tong managed to battle through and still keep his team in the game, striking out seven batters while walking only one.

The Mets piled on in the sixth against Josh Ekness. With one out, Carson Benge singled to right. Marcus Semien then laced a double down the left field line to drive him in and Ewing followed with a single to score Semien and make it a 9-4 game in the Mets’ favor. Ekness threw a wild pitch to advance Ewing to second and walked Francisco Alvarez before retiring Baty and Morabito to end the inning. The Marlins threatened in the bottom of the sixth against Dedniel Núñez when López and Jakob Marsee reached via back-to-back infield singles, but Marcus Semien made an excellent play on a grounder by Sanoja to turn a 4-4-3 double play. Núñez then struck out Caissie to escape the inning unscathed.

Chris Devenski was tasked with the bottom of the seventh for the Mets and worked around a hit by pitch and wild pitch with a couple of strikeouts to keep the Marlins off the board. Meanwhile, Bradley Blalock worked two scoreless innings for the Marlins in relief. Daniel Duarte pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning for the Mets in his first outing in five days. The Mets loaded the bases in the top of the ninth with nobody out against Blalock in his third inning of relief on a walk and two choppers by Morabito and Lindor that both went for infield hits, but then Soto hit a sharp grounder to Sanoja and this time the drawn in infield was to the Marlins’ benefit, as Sanoja whipped an excellent throw home for the first out and Soto was thrown out at first for the double play. Sanoja followed that great play with another web gem when Bo Bichette followed with a grounder up the middle on which Sanoja made a leaping throw to get Bichette by a stride at first.

Austin Warren was able to bounce back from his rough outing against the Giants to pitch a scoreless ninth inning to cap off four scoreless innings of relief for the Mets’ bullpen to seal the victory. He issued a leadoff walk to Javier Sanoja, but struck out the next two batters Caissie and Pauley looking and then picked Sanoja off first base to end the game.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Bo Bichette, +26% WPA
Big Mets loser: Jonah Tong, -15% WPA
Mets pitchers: -8% WPA
Mets hitters: +58% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: A.J. Ewing’s RBI double in the fifth, +18.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Grant Pauley’s go-ahead three-run homer off Jonah Tong in the second, -22.5% WPA

The Mets racked up 16 hits to take the first game of a three-game series against the Miami Marlins, 9-4, on Monday afternoon.

Here are the key takeaways...

-- New York took advantage of some poor defense by Miami in the first inning, scoring two unearned runs. Juan Soto was able to score from first base on Bo Bichette's grounder to second, as Javier Sanoja sailed the throw into no-man's land in left field. Bichette later scored easily from third base to make it 2-0 on another throwing error, this time by catcher Joe Mack trying to get Carson Benge stealing second base.

-- Brett Baty ripped a double to center field with one out in the second inning, giving him four straight games with an extra-base hit. He then came around to score on Nick Morabito's single to extend the lead to 3-0. 

-- Jonah Tong, making his first start of the season, allowed four runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and one walk over 5.0 IP (87 pitches).

Tong struck out the side in the first inning, becoming just the third Met to do it this year (joining Freddy Peralta and Nolan McLean). Although, the second inning was the complete opposite. He struck out his fourth straight to open the frame, but then let up a single, RBI-triple, walk, and three-run HR to Graham Pauley as the Marlins took a 4-3 lead.

The 23-year-old rebounded with a 1-2-3 third inning, followed by four-batter fourth and fifth innings to be in place for the win.

--The Mets fought back in the third inning as Marcus Semien won an ABS challenge to extend his at-bat and doubled, then A.J. Ewing reached first on an infield single to give them runners on the corners. Ewing made a rookie mistake and was caught in rundown trying to steal second, although Semien stayed at third base. Francisco Alvarez then came through and drove him in to tie it up at 4-4.

The top three of the order recorded three straight singles in the fourth, as Bichette earned the RBI and put New York back up, 5-4. Ewing made up for his mistake earlier, slicing a two-out, two-run double down the left field line to push the lead to 7-4.

-- After Benge singled with one out in the sixth, Semien drove him in with an RBI-double. Ewing added on again with an RBI-single, extending the lead to 9-4.

-- New York's bullpen carried the baton after Tong's day was done: Dedniel Núñez, Chris Devenski, Daniel Duarte, and Austin Warren combined to throw four scoreless innings of relief, allowing just two hits (both against Núñez). Warren capped it off with an impressive pick off to Baty at first to end the game.

Game MVP: A.J. Ewing

The rookie recorded his first three-hit game since Aug. 7, going 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI.

Highlights 

Bad fundies by the Marlins and Juan Soto comes all the way around to score from first on the throwing error! pic.twitter.com/evRWDggEom

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

The Mets score their second run of the inning on another Marlins throwing error pic.twitter.com/ynbcnksekZ

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

Jonah Tong strikes out the first batter he faces today pic.twitter.com/LDpPm4WhPW

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

Jonah Tong gets two more Ks to strike out the side in the first! pic.twitter.com/NTIrLGYnNu

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

A fourth-straight game with an extra-base hit for Brett Baty!

It's his 20th double of the season pic.twitter.com/AIMSXKP57X

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

Nick Morabito with an RBI single and moves up to second on the throw! pic.twitter.com/ApBEo4tkt9

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

Francisco Alvarez ties the game at 4-4 with an RBI single pic.twitter.com/kqm70eaSS1

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

Bo Bichette drives in Francisco Lindor to give the Mets a 5-4 lead pic.twitter.com/l8q1DKd3UF

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

A.J. Ewing slices a double the other way to drive in a pair to give the Mets a 7-4 lead! pic.twitter.com/BeaPWioVGp

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

Marcus Semien with an RBI double as Carson Benge scores all the way from first! pic.twitter.com/hLbKKVXd8k

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

A.J. Ewing with his third hit and third RBI of the day to make it 9-4 Mets! pic.twitter.com/b5AUOTctrt

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

Austin Warren picks off Javier Sanoja to end the game! pic.twitter.com/i0Hei9rscw

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 7, 2026

Upcoming Schedule

The Mets and Marlins continue their three-game series in Miami on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. on SNY.

Sean Manaea (4-7, 4.70 ERA) takes the mound against Sandy Alcantara (13-9, 3.54 ERA).

After spending much of the past month raising questions about their offense, the Dodgers found another way to make history.

Mookie Betts completed a three-game sweep of the Nationals on Sunday by crushing a two-out, three-run homer in the eighth inning, turning a 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 victory. Will Dion retired the first two batters before Alex Call singled and Tommy Edman walked, bringing Betts to the plate.

It was an improbable repeat of the previous night.

Trailing 4-2 in the seventh Saturday, Los Angeles received a one-out walk from Alex Freeland and a two-out single from Kiké Hernández. Edman then drove Clayton Beeter’s 2-1 slider into the right field seats for the decisive blow in a 6-5 win.

According to OptaSTATS, the Dodgers became the first MLB team to hit a two-out, game-winning homer worth at least three runs while trailing in the seventh inning or later in consecutive games.

That resilience offers another reason to believe Los Angeles can complete its World Series three-peat. The Dodgers have won four straight after losing six of eight, and the streak has come with Shohei Ohtani missing four games because of left knee and right biceps discomfort.

There is an obvious qualifier.

The rallies came against the lowly Nationals, who fell to 67-78 with their fourth consecutive loss. Washington sits only one game above the Mets in the NL East cellar, and the Dodgers finished their season series against the Nationals 6-0.

Beating Washington does not erase the offensive problems that threatened the Dodgers’ hold on a first-round bye. They entered Sunday only one game ahead of Atlanta for the National League’s second seed after producing a bottom-10 OPS over the previous 30 days.

October will offer less forgiving opponents. Still, the Dodgers did not need ideal circumstances, a healthy Ohtani or more than one remaining out to reverse either game.

Washington offered limited resistance, but Betts and Edman supplied something the reigning champions can carry into the postseason: evidence that Los Angeles is never entirely out of a game.