Erica Wheeler and Nneka Ogwumike helped the Los Angeles Sparks continue their recent surge and survive the first game without Kelsey Plum.

The Sparks hope to see another productive showing from the duo when they visit the league-worst Connecticut Sun on Saturday night in Hartford, Conn.

The Sparks (4-3) have scored at least 90 points in five straight games (4-1) after Wheeler and Ogwumike combined for 41 points in Friday’s 92-87 win at Washington.

Wheeler scored 14 of her season-high 21 points in the fourth quarter after totaling 33 points in the first six games.

Ogwumike returned from missing last weekend’s win over Las Vegas with a hand injury and totaled 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Plum will miss her second straight game after injuring her ankle in practice Tuesday. She will be re-evaluated again on Tuesday.

Aside from Wheeler and Ogwumike, the Sparks are hoping to see more productive showings from Cameron Brink and Dearica Hamby. Brink tied her season high with 16 points while Hamby contributed 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

“Everybody’s got to do a little bit more,” Los Angeles coach Lynne Roberts said. “The toughness to win on the road without K.P (Plum), I’m incredibly proud of this group.”

Connecticut (1-8) is playing the first of two games in Hartford during its final season before moving to Houston. The Sun also will host the Dallas Wings in Hartford on July 2.

Five of Connecticut’s losses have been by double digits, including the past three, which were decided by a combined 55 points.

Aneesah Morrow has led the team in scoring in the past two games. She scored 13 points Wednesday when the Sun took a 71-61 loss at Portland.

“This has been a long road trip, I think we’re the only team that’s played nine games now this season,” Morrow said after Wednesday’s loss. “There’s a lot of adversity that we all hit as a team (and) individually throughout this whole process.”

Brittney Griner has missed the past four games with a rib injury and six games overall but was not on the injury report for Saturday’s game.

The Sun also will get Leila Lacan back from international commitments. Lacan averaged 10.4 points last season and will take the roster spot of Hailey Van Lith, who was waived Thursday.

–Field Level Media

The last-place New York Mets are in no position to be picky about how they win games — no matter how chaotic, exhausting and impossible to replicate those victories might be.

The Mets will look to extend their winning streak to three games on Saturday afternoon when they host the Miami Marlins in the middle contest of a three-game series.

Christian Scott (0-0, 3.20 ERA) is slated to start for New York against fellow right-hander Tyler Phillips (0-0, 1.07).

MJ Melendez hit his first walk-off homer Friday night, when his two-run shot in the 10th inning lifted the Mets to a 9-7 victory.

The win was the second straight following a five-game losing streak for New York, which had to go to even greater lengths Friday than it did in Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

The Mets, who didn’t score more than four runs in any of their previous seven games, went ahead 4-0 in the first inning Friday after A.J. Ewing and Brett Baty each had two-run singles.

New York led 6-2 when Opening Day starter Freddy Peralta exited after throwing 94 pitches in 4 1/3 innings. The Mets ended up using seven pitchers — one more than Wednesday — when Huascar Brazoban was deployed as an opener.

Melendez, who began Friday batting .111 with one extra-base hit in 45 at-bats this month, entered as a pinch hitter in the seventh and lofted a sacrifice fly. He delivered the surprise game-winning homer after Juan Soto flew out to center leading off the 10th.

“At the big-league level, you take the wins however they come, especially with how hard it’s been for us,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Tonight we had to use pretty much everyone that was available. Is that sustainable? Of course not. But at this level, man, whatever it takes.”

The defeat was the third straight for Miami.

Despite the loss, Miami showed encouraging signs for its struggling offense. The Marlins scored more than four runs Friday for just the second time in its last 10 games.

The Marlins finished with 12 hits Friday, their most since a 15-hit outburst in a 10-5, 10-inning win over the Tampa Bay Rays on May 16. Kyle Stowers had three hits while Owen Caissie, Xavier Edwards and Jakob Marsee collected two apiece.

“To get down early and fight back, it’s a good sign,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “We just weren’t able to finish it.”

Scott and Phillips will oppose each other for the second straight start. Neither pitcher factored into the decision despite authoring scoreless outings last Sunday, when the Marlins completed a three-game sweep of the Mets with a 4-0 victory.

Phillips gave up two hits over 3 2/3 innings in his first start of the season. He is 0-0 with an 0.00 ERA in six games (one start) against the Mets.

Scott, who has yet to win in 15 big league starts dating to 2024, allowed four hits over 5 2/3 innings last Sunday. He is 0-2 with a 4.61 ERA in three career starts against the Marlins.

–Field Level Media

The Indiana Fever and host Portland Fire will look to rebound after streak-breaking losses when they meet for the second time this season on Saturday.

The Fever (4-3) had a three-game winning streak halted in a 90-88 loss at Golden State on Thursday, when the Valkyries hounded Caitlin Clark into her least effective game of the season.

The Fire were blown out 86-66 by Atlanta on Friday to end their three-game win streak. Portland committed 28 turnovers and was outscored 27-13 in the fourth quarter.

“It’s impossible to win a game with 28 turnovers,” Fire coach Alex Sarama said. “It’s how we respond and learn from it. I actually felt like a lot of them were unforced errors. I think part of it is asking players to be in different roles coming to an expansion team.”

Sarah Ashlee Barker had 14 points off the bench when the Fire played without forward Bridget Carleton (back soreness).

The loss kept Portland (5-4) from posting the best start by an expansion team in league history. The Minnesota Lynx (1999), Orlando Miracle (1999) and Detroit Shock (1998) also opened with 5-4 records.

Clark missed the Fever’s 90-73 home victory over the Fire on May 20 with a back injury and she was listed as probable for Saturday’s game.

She is coming off a rough night. Clark scored a season-low 16 points against the Valkyries and was 3-for-12 from the field, a season low in makes. She had six assists, also her fewest in a game in 2026, but added a season-high three steals.

Clark hit a 3-pointer with just under four minutes remaining and Aliyah Boston made a jumper on the next possession for an 82-81 lead on Thursday. Clark had turnovers on consecutive possessions in the final 92 seconds and missed a 3-pointer with 40.9 seconds left that would have tied the game at 87-87.

“She gets guarded a certain way all the time — 94 feet, lots of physicality,” Fever coach Stephanie White said of Clark. “You’re not going to give her any easy looks. She had a lot of tough, contested shots. They are an excellent defensive team.”

Boston had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, but she played only 22 minutes after picking up two early fouls. She did not score while playing only 5:53 in the first half.

“It’s super hard to try to figure out and understand how the refs are calling it,” Boston said. “It’s super hard to get charged fouls when I don’t think anyone is in (legal) guarding position. Shout out to the Valks. They did a great job selling it and the refs bought it.”

–Field Level Media