Your Sunday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
Following a loss in game one of the Subway Series, the Mets rebounded with a hard-fought win in the second game of the series. Griffin Canning surrendered solo homers to D.J. LeMahieu and Cody Bellinger, but he and the bullpen otherwise held the Yankees off the board, and the game was tied at two apiece heading into the ninth. Francisco Lindor brought home the go-ahead run on a one out, bases loaded sacrifice fly, and while they weren’t able to extend their lead beyond that, it proved to be more than enough for Edwin Díaz, who struck out two (including Aaron Judge to end the game) in of his most impressive outings of the season. Following the 3-2 victory, the Mets will now look to clinch a series win on Sunday Night Baseball tonight.
Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, NY Post, Daily News, Newsday, North Jersey
Edwin Díaz’s growing confidence is playing a big role in his recent string of solid outings.
In order to make space for the recently acquired José Castillo on the active roster, the Mets optioned Dedniel Núñez to Syracuse prior to yesterday’s game.
Kodai Senga spoke about his injury-plagued 2024 season and how the lessons he learned during that time will help him moving forward.
Ronny Mauricio has officially been reinstated following his rehab, with the Mets optioning him to Syracuse where he will play until there is a need with the major league team.
Paul Blackburn will make another rehab appearance before the Mets have to make a roster decision.
Pete Alonso gave a classic quote on the possibility of matching up against their crosstown rivals in October: “That’d probably be the best postseason matchup ever because you don’t have to go on the road. … You don’t have to deal with the great wall of traffic going out of JFK. You don’t have to wait on the tarmac. … Any chance we can avoid the Van Wyck, that’d be great.”
Around the National League East
The Phillies got off to an early lead against the Pirates and never surrendered it, as Zack Wheeler tossed six scoreless innings to help Philadelphia secured the 5-2 win.
The Good Phight debates whether the Phillies are a legitimate World Series contender in a competitive National League.
Phillies pitching prospect Mick Abel will make his major league debut today in a spot start. “It’s awesome,” Abel said. “I’m super excited. I’ve talked to a lot of people, I’m expecting all of the nerves in the world, but it’s the game, it’s a different place. But to make it here, it’s pretty special.”
The Braves had a commanding 6-2 lead after six innings against the Red Sox, but then the bullpen fell apart, surrendering five runs in the final three innings. The collapse was culminated by a walk-off home run by Rafael Devers to give Atlanta a crushing 7-6 loss.
Congratulations are in order for the Washington Nationals, who have confirmed their status as the least embarrassing baseball team in the Washington metropolitan area. They scored six runs against Kyle Gibson and the Orioles in the first inning yesterday en route to a 10-6 victory—their second straight against Baltimore.
There was one scary moment in the game for Washington though when outfielder Jacob Young went down on the warning track after slamming into the outfield wall trying to make a play on a fly ball, but x-rays on his shoulder were negative.
The Nationals released catcher Andrew Knizner, who they signed to a minor league deal in the offseason and had an opt-out in his contract this weekend.
Sandy Alcántara reached triple digits with his velocity in yesterday’s start, but he surrendered four runs to the Rays in the fifth inning, and that was enough to doom the Marlins to a 4-0 loss.
Around Major League Baseball
Following a horrendous start to the season, the Orioles became the third team to fire their manager thus far this season, replacing former manager of the year Brandon Hyde with third base coach Tony Mansolino.
Jake Rill of MLB.com covered Orioles’ players reactions to the news.
Shohei Ohtani tossed fifty pitches in a bullpen session as he continues to work his way back to the mound.
Following a difficult start to the season, the Giants are moving Jordan Hicks back to the bullpen.
The Twins’ winning streak has reached 13 games—Minnesota’s longest in 34 years.
This Date in Mets History
On this date a decade ago, Matt Harvey pitched eight scoreless innings and John Mayberry Jr. hit a walk-off single in a 2-1 victory over the Cardinals in 14 innings.