The reeling New York Mets’ struggles have breathed life into the National League wild-card race, and contenders San Francisco and Arizona will try to take advantage when they meet in a three-game series beginning Monday in Phoenix.
The Giants (75-74) sit 1 1/2 games behind the Mets (77-73) for the third wild-card position entering the penultimate week of the regular season. The Diamondbacks (75-75) are another half-game back, just ahead of Cincinnati (74-75).
“We just keep chugging along,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said after the D-backs beat Minnesota 6-4 on Sunday to win the rubber game of a three-game series.
“The mentality is every single day brings a new adventure to us, and we’re just going to ride it the best way we know how. And that’s play hard, have great expectations to do it right, win a baseball game and move on to the next day.”
Arizona right-hander Zac Gallen (11-14, 4.84 ERA) will make his second start in six days against San Francisco.
The Giants, who took two out of three against Arizona at home a week ago, will give rookie right-hander Kai-Wei Teng (2-4, 7.54) his sixth start of 2025.
“To be where we are today is kind of disappointing,” San Francisco manager Bob Melvin said after the Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday but lost the final two games of a three-game home series.
“They (D-backs) are a good team. We are going to have to play well to beat them. There are several teams in this thing. We are trying to focus on ourselves. Not look behind and not look too far forward.”
The Giants will be without starting first baseman Dominic Smith, who suffered a strained right hamstring while stretching to take a throw on Friday. He was replaced on the roster by Jerar Encarnacion.
The D-backs could be without infielder/outfielder Blaze Alexander, who was removed from Sunday’s victory after being hit by a pitch in the left elbow in the fourth inning. He is considered day-to-day with an elbow contusion.
Diamondbacks catcher James McCann had a season-high four RBIs on Sunday, including a three-run homer in the fourth that put the D-backs ahead to stay at 4-2 lead.
“This is the best part of the year,” McCann said. “When you start in spring training, you talk about this time of the year. You want to have an opportunity in the middle of September to make a push for the playoffs. That’s what we’re in right now.
“This is what you grind six months of the season for.”
Gallen had a hiccup in the Giants’ 5-3 victory last Tuesday at Oracle Park, when he gave up five runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. He walked the first two batters he faced before Willy Adames hit a three-run homer for a 3-0 lead that San Francisco never relinquished.
Patrick Bailey also homered off Gallen, who has given up a career-high 28 homers (second in the NL).
That outing ended Gallen’s seven-game stretch since the July 31 trade deadline in which he was 4-1 with six quality starts. He had not allowed more than three runs in any of those seven outings. He is 7-6 with a 3.94 ERA in 18 starts against the Giants.
Teng, 6-foot-4 and 241 pounds, went a season-long 5 1/3 innings in an 8-2 victory over host Colorado on Sept. 1. He gave up four runs on three hits and five walks in a 4-3 loss at St. Louis his last time out.
–Field Level Media
