Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo picked a great role model in Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramírez.

Perdomo has repaid Ramírez for his friendship by powering the Diamondbacks to a pair of wins in their three-game series in Cleveland, strengthening their hold on a National League wild-card spot.

Arizona’s Merrill Kelly (8-8, 4.86 ERA) will be on the mound Sunday against Guardians counterpart Gavin Williams (10-6, 3.71 ERA).

Rain is expected throughout the afternoon in Northeast Ohio, making a postponement possible. The teams have three mutual off days on Sept. 10, 17 and 21.

Perdomo is 6-for-10 with a homer, four RBIs and two runs in the series, but said his favorite part of the weekend has been catching up with fellow Dominican Republic product Ramírez.

“This is a guy I love and he’s my brother, we always keep in touch,” Perdomo said. “He’s one of my biggest mentors I have in baseball. I always enjoy my time playing against him, so to get a ‘W’ against him means more than anything.”

A seven-time All-Star, Ramirez took an interest in Perdomo early in his career, developing a close bond despite being seven years older at age 33. Both have often said they value their close friendship.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, who began his managerial career in Cleveland’s farm system and keeps close track of the Guardians, is a fan of both players.

“Jose has taken Geraldo under his wing and I think that’s great,” Lovullo said. “That’s a good man to look up to and call a friend.”

Ramírez still is rounding into form after missing five weeks with a broken left hamate bone that required surgery. He is 0-for-6 with three walks against Arizona and 7-for-37 in nine games since being activated off the injured list.

While the Diamondbacks are surging with 14 wins in their last 19 games, Cleveland is playing its worst ball of the season with a 2-8 mark since July 22. Arizona has outscored its hosts 16-9 in the two contests.

The Guardians have fallen out of first place in the American League Central and into a tie for the final wild-card spot with the Minnesota Twins. Instead of being a buyer at the trade deadline, thrifty Cleveland could wind up going in the other direction.

“We’re going through it right now,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “We’re really in it. But we’re going to keep working hard and come out of it. That’s what we do here, and we’ve done it time and time again.”

Williams is working on a franchise-record string of four straight games with 11-plus strikeouts and one or fewer walks.

Over his last four starts, the hulking righty has amassed 45 strikeouts and just two walks over 27 innings. His record during the span is 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA, as five of the 15 hits allowed have been home runs.

Williams’ lone appearance against the Diamondbacks was a road victory on Aug. 18, 2025, as he tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings.

Kelly has only pitched against Cleveland once in his eight-year career, throwing seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts for the Texas Rangers in a home win on Aug. 24, 2025.

The 37-year-old was outstanding in July, posting a 3-0 record and 1.95 ERA over five starts. Kelly equally was as bad in June, losing all five of his outings while giving up 23 earned runs in 28 1/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

A 12-game losing streak bookending the All-Star Break threatened to undo all the progress the Miami Marlins made getting back into the wild-card race throughout June and the first week of July.

Fortunately, the Marlins still had more time to reverse the course of their season.

Miami will look to continue their timely surge Sunday afternoon when they visit the New York Mets in the finale of a four-game series between the National League East foes.

Sandy Alcantara (11-6, 3.82 ERA) is slated to start for the Marlins against fellow right-hander Robert Stock, who will make his season debut after being promoted from Triple-A Syracuse.

The Marlins remained hot Saturday as Tyler Phillips earned the win by tossing five efficient innings in a 6-2 victory.

The win was the fifth in the last six games for the Marlins dating back to Monday night, when they snapped the 12-game skid with an 8-7 walk-off win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The hot week makes it more likely the Marlins will either stand pat or add at the trade deadline, which arrives Monday at 6 p.m. ET. Miami resides 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies in the race for the last NL wild-card spot.

“I think everyone wanted to be that person that had the big hit or made the big pitch,” Phillips said of the Marlins, whose losing streak was preceded by a 26-8 stretch from June 1 through July 9. “It just wasn’t working out for us in that moment. Finally got that one out of the way against a good team in Philly and from there you just continue to build and continue to trust the process.”

While the Marlins recovered from their 12-game losing streak, the sight of Stock on the mound Sunday will be a reminder that the Mets’ season was derailed by their 12-game skid from April 8-21.

At 47-65, the Mets are on pace for 94 losses — their most since 2003, which was also the last time they finished last in the NL East.

Stock will start in the rotation spot that could have been occupied by Clay Holmes, who is ready to return from a broken right leg suffered May 15. But with Holmes a candidate to be traded, the Mets asked him to make one more rehab start instead for Double-A Brooklyn.

“I get both sides,” Holmes said. “I know there are other factors.”

Alcantara earned the win Tuesday after tossing seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 victory over the Phillies. He has allowed one run or fewer in four of his last seven starts.

Alcantara is 6-5 with a 2.96 ERA in 18 starts against the Mets.

Stock made his most recent start for Syracuse on July 25, when he gave up one run with six strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings. The 36-year-old made two relief appearances for the Boston Red Sox last season — his first big league action since 2021, when he was 0-2 with an 8.00 ERA in three starts between the Mets and Chicago Cubs.

Stock threw two scoreless innings of relief in his lone appearance against the Marlins on Sept. 16, 2020, when he was pitching for the Red Sox.

–Field Level Media

Last July, a few weeks before the MLB trade deadline, the Tampa Bay Rays shipped the 37th overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft to the Baltimore Orioles for reliever Bryan Baker.

With the benefit of hindsight, it looks like the Rays pulled off a coup.

The Rays will finish a typically successful homestand of nine games Sunday afternoon when they host the American League Central-leading Chicago White Sox in St. Petersburg, Fla. Tampa Bay enters the finale with a 6-2 record on the homestand, with Baker responsible for saving five of the six victories.

Baker (1-0, 1.45 ERA) has transformed an average and unspectacular six-year career into an All-Star campaign in 2026, slamming the door on the opposition as the AL East frontrunner’s closer.

He arrived in Florida with three saves and eight blown saves in the first 174 games (two starts) of his career. But this season, the 31-year-old from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., has blossomed into one of baseball’s top relievers. He leads the majors with 31 saves including 20 consecutive, the third-longest streak in club history.

“It all comes back to going with the game plan these guys have for us — they do such a great job,” Baker said of the Rays’ coaching staff.

In the series’ middle game on Saturday, the Rays found success on the mound as Drew Rasmussen struck out 10 over six scoreless innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. Relievers finished the game by allowing one hit and striking out six more batters.

Baker got the save with a very quick, six-pitch ninth inning in a game that zipped along in two hours, 14 minutes.

The pitching performance was better than in the series opener, won 6-1 by the White Sox on the strength of four home runs.

On Saturday, the Rays improved to 41-17 at home and 29-3 in the dome when scoring first.

Despite scoring just two runs through two games in the series, Tampa Bay moved to 20 games above .500.

The White Sox saw their three-game winning streak end, keeping the race in the Central tight with Cleveland and Minnesota. Their lead remained at three games after the Guardians and Twins, tied for second in the division, both lost.

Manager Will Venable’s squad was blanked 1-0 for just the second time on the season — the Toronto Blue Jays did it two weeks ago — and only produced five singles and one at-bat with runners in scoring position.

Losing pitcher Noah Schultz, who tossed five innings behind opener Jordan Hicks, said no blame should have been handed to Chicago’s offense, which is third in homers and second in runs scored in the American League.

“The offense has been so good all year. Games like this happen. It’s baseball. You play 162 for a reason,” the 6-foot-10 left-hander said.

Chicago will send out another left-hander in Sunday’s rubber game when Anthony Kay (7-5, 4.25) makes his 21st start and 23rd appearance.

Kay went 1-2 with a 3.80 ERA in five July starts with wildness (10 walks and five hit batters in 23 2/3 innings) being his primary problem, especially considering he allowed just 17 hits.

Kay has no record and a 3.86 ERA in eight outings, two as a starter, against Tampa Bay.

Griffin Jax (6-8, 3.74) will make his 34th career appearance – his most against any club – when he faces the White Sox on Sunday, though it will be just his fourth start against them.

The right-hander is 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA against the White Sox.

Jax has rotated wins and losses in six consecutive outings. He dropped a hard-luck 4-1 decision to Texas on Tuesday, allowing one earned run, while fanning 10 over 5 2/3 innings.

–Field Level Media