Even in a lopsided victory, the Philadelphia Phillies’ inconsistent ways continued Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the New York Mets, consistency has been their biggest problem.

The Phillies and the Mets will each look to earn a series win Sunday afternoon, when Philadelphia hosts New York in the finale of a three-game series between the National League East rivals.

Alan Rangel (0-2, 4.19 ERA) is slated to start for the Phillies against fellow rookie right-hander Nolan McLean (6-6, 3.52).

Trea Turner had three hits, including a homer, and scored three runs Saturday as the Phillies cruised to a 6-1 win.

The six runs were the most for the Phillies since July 4, when they beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-1. Philadelphia has scored more than four runs just five times in 13 games this month, during which it’s gone 7-6 while never winning or losing more than two straight contests.

The Phillies could have had an even bigger afternoon Saturday, when J.T. Realmuto was stranded at third in the second inning, and Edmundo Sosa and Brandon Marsh were left at the corners in the fourth. But Philadelphia put the game away by scoring twice apiece in the fifth and sixth.

The Phillies remain a half-game behind the Chicago Cubs in the race for the top NL wild-card spot and three games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins, who are in a virtual tie for the last NL playoff berth.

“Had a couple innings there — (those) type of innings that make you nervous,” interim Phillies manager Don Mattingly said. “You look at those and you feel like sometimes they’re going to come back to haunt you. Today, it didn’t. Obviously, we were able to keep pushing.”

The Mets’ woes on both sides of the ball continued Saturday, when they had as many hits (three) as errors. Only one of the errors — catcher Francisco Alvarez’s errant pickoff throw trying to nab Kyle Schwarber at first in the fifth — led to a run, but the all-around sloppiness symbolized New York’s disappointing season.

New York, which is in last place in the NL East and on pace for its worst season since 2003 (66-95, .410), ranks 28th in the majors with a .682 OPS while committing 69 errors, second-most behind the Washington Nationals (76).

The Mets ranked sixth in the big leagues last season with a .753 OPS and committed 79 errors, after which president of baseball operations David Stearns emphasized run prevention during an overhaul that shuffled Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo out of town.

But New York has scored one run or fewer 22 times this season after doing so just a major league-low 21 times last season.

“You have to take the mentality that you’re going to score, that you’re going to make plays, that you’re going to defend the field,” interim Mets manager Andy Green said. “I think a little bit of a mentality shift is a positive thing in that setting.”

Rangel was tagged with the loss in his most recent start July 8, when he gave up three runs over 3 1/3 innings as the Phillies were routed by the host Cincinnati Reds, 11-5.

McLean took the defeat on July 10 after allowing a pair of unearned runs as the Mets fell to the visiting Boston Red Sox, 6-2.

Rangel lost his lone appearance against the Mets on June 27, when he surrendered four runs over four innings in the Phillies’ 6-2 road loss. McLean is 1-1 with an 0.68 ERA in two career starts a year ago against Philadelphia.

–Field Level Media

The Los Angeles Dodgers returned from the All-Star break on Friday and earned a win on a night when stars Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were quiet at the plate against the New York Yankees.

Instead, the Dodgers relied on dominant pitching and a clutch hit in the late innings of a 2-1 victory.

The teams will continue their three-game series at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, though bad weather is forecast. Heavy rain is projected for the New York area for most of Saturday, and if the game gets rained out, the teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday.

The Dodgers are 31-17 on the road this season and own 18 one-run victories after opening the series with the one-run victory Friday on Max Muncy’s go-ahead, two-run homer off Gerrit Cole with no outs in the seventh inning.

Muncy’s homer was among five hits for the Dodgers, who struck out 10 times. Ohtani, Freeman and Betts were a combined 0-for-11, though Betts drew a walk before Muncy homered.

“It was good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Any time you can find a way to win a game when Gerrit Cole is pitching is a good thing.”

The Yankees were held to one run or less for the 16th time this season, and for the seventh time since losing Aaron Judge to a fractured right rib.

New York allowed Muncy’s homer after Yankees manager Aaron Boone elected to keep Cole in after a mound visit.

The Yankees finished with six hits, including a double by Ben Rice, who is batting .412 during a nine-game hitting streak. Rice’s double nearly tied the game in the eighth, but Trent Grisham was thrown out at the plate on a throw by Betts.

“It’s just baseball,” Grisham said. “Sometimes you score 10, sometimes you score one.”

Left-hander Ryan Weathers (3-7, 4.15 ERA) will start for the Yankees on Saturday after allowing one run on six hits in 5 1/3 innings during a no-decision in his team’s 5-3 victory over Washington on July 10.

Weathers is 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA in his past three outings. He is 0-3 with a 5.46 ERA in seven career appearances (six starts) against the Dodgers, though he has held Betts to one hit in 12 at-bats and Ohtani to 1-for-8. Weathers has struggled against Freeman, as the first baseman is 5-for-10 against him.

Right-hander Emmet Sheehan (4-6, 4.81 ERA) will start for Los Angeles on Saturday and is 1-5 in his past nine starts since May 14. This will be his first career appearance against the Yankees.

Sheehan last pitched on Sunday, when he allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits in 5 1/3 innings during a no-decision in the Dodgers’ 5-3 loss to Arizona.

–Field Level Media

The All-Star break didn’t hinder the bats of the Washington Nationals as they scored more than three touchdowns’ worth of runs in their first game after the resumption of play on Friday.

The Nationals dismantled the Athletics 23-4 in the opening contest of a three-game set and will look for another offensive explosion on Saturday night at West Sacramento, Calif.

The scoring output equals the second-most in Nationals franchise history, which dates to 1969, when the team was the Montreal Expos. That record came in Washington’s 25-4 walloping of the New York Mets on July 31, 2018.

Washington was loaded with heroes on Friday while piling up 21 hits — including four homers — and going 13-for-17 with runners in scoring position.

The most unlikely star was Andres Chaparro, who entered the contest with seven RBIs. He recorded a career-best eight on Friday while smacking two homers during a 4-for-5 night.

The only players in franchise history with more RBIs in a game are Anthony Rendon (2017) and Mark Reynolds (2018), both of whom had 10.

“Everybody on the team knows how hard I work,” Chaparro said through an interpreter. “Every day I come in and put in the work and try to contribute to the team, and it feels special to get these kinds of results.”

Washington scored in double digits for the 14th time this season. Daylen Lile homered and drove in four runs and Curtis Mead was 4-for-6 with four runs, three RBIs and three doubles as the Nationals halted a three-game losing streak.

“If we stick together and keep playing like this, the second half is going to be special,” Chapparo said.

The A’s have lost 10 straight games and have been outscored 47-6 in their past four contests.

Staggering into the All-Star break was bad enough, but manager Mark Kotsay knew his squad laid an egg on Friday.

“There’s not much to explain; we played very badly at baseball in every sense of the word, and the fans let us know,” Kotsay said, alluding to choruses of boos. “I expect a lot from this group. Let’s see how they respond (Saturday).”

Tyler Soderstrom hit a two-run homer and Shea Langeliers hit a solo shot for the A’s.

Infielder Tommy White, 23, doubled in the eighth inning of his major league debut. He played first base as the club struggles without injured slugger Nick Kurtz (right thumb).

“He’s shown a lot of growth and improvement in his defense,” Kotsay said of White. “This is a runway here with Kurtz on the IL for him to help us win some games.”

Right-hander J.T Ginn (7-6, 3.67 ERA) will start for the Athletics on Saturday and make his bid at slowing the Nationals.

Ginn, 27, lost his two starts immediately before the All-Star break. He endured his worst start of the season against the Chicago White Sox last Sunday when he gave up eight runs and six hits over 4 1/3 innings in a 9-1 A’s loss.

Ginn has never faced the Nationals.

Washington will start right-hander Zack Littell (7-6, 4.90 ERA) in the middle game of the series. He is tied for second in the majors with 23 homers allowed in just 90 innings.

Littell, 30, pitched four innings of relief against the New York Yankees on July 10 in his most recent appearance. He gave up one run and five hits in a 5-3 loss, in which he didn’t take a decision.

Littell will make his 13th start and 20th appearance of the season. He is 0-1 with a 3.94 ERA in 10 career appearances (one start) against the A’s.

–Field Level Media