A year ago, New York Mets left-hander David Peterson was in the midst of a first-half breakout that helped him earn a spot on the National League All-Star team.

Now, Peterson has been scratched from his latest start as skidding New York looks for a spark.

The Mets will aim to end their longest losing streak in more than 20 years on Sunday afternoon when they visit the Chicago Cubs in the finale of a three-game series.

The Mets announced late Saturday that right-hander Tobias Myers (0-1, 3.46 ERA) will start in place of Peterson, who reportedly is not injured. Right-hander Javier Assad (1-1, 8.10 ERA) will start for Chicago.

The Cubs handed the Mets their 10th straight loss Saturday afternoon, 4-2, after pinch-hitter Carson Kelly belted a go-ahead, three-run homer in the sixth inning.

The skid is the longest for the Mets since they dropped 11 in a row from Aug. 28-Sept. 8, 2004. New York has been outscored 60-18 during the current streak and hasn’t led at the end of an inning since the first frame of an 11-6 loss to the Athletics on April 11 — a span of 62 innings.

The Mets, who have six new starters in their everyday lineup after parting ways with Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo over the winter, are 7-14 overall. It’s the worst 21-game start for the franchise since the 1983 team opened 6-15 on its way to finishing 68-94.

“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us; you’ve got to keep going,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We haven’t been playing good baseball. That’s the bottom line.”

Peterson has been struggling since his first All-Star Game appearance. The southpaw is 0-3 with a 6.41 ERA in four starts this year and 3-5 with a 6.35 ERA in his last 16 starts dating to July 20.

Myers, who hasn’t started since Aug. 9, has pitched at least 1 1/3 innings in each of his six games this year. He has thrown at least 30 pitches four times — including in his most recent appearance Wednesday, when he allowed one run over two innings in the Mets’ 8-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kelly’s second career pinch-hit homer continued an impressive week for the Cubs, who have won four straight games.

Chicago’s streak of consecutive games with least 10 runs scored was snapped at three Saturday, but the Cubs have scored 51 runs in the last six games after scoring 59 in the first 14 games of the season.

The Cubs also have pitched well during their winning streak despite the loss of closer Daniel Palencia, who was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday due to a strained left oblique.

Jameson Taillon gave up one run over six innings Saturday in the third straight quality start for the Cubs, whose relievers have a 3.17 ERA during the winning streak. The surge began Tuesday, when Colin Rea allowed three runs over six innings against Philadelphia as a bulk reliever.

Caleb Thielbar earned the first save of the streak Saturday when he struck out two in a perfect ninth. It was just the sixth career save for the 39-year-old Thielbar, who has made 422 big league appearances dating to 2013.

“This group, we’re always prepared,” Kelly said. “We’re always looking for that opportunity. Just as a group, we’re pulling for each other at all moments.”

Assad took the loss in his most recent start last Monday, when he gave up nine runs over 4 1/3 innings as the Cubs fell to the Phillies 13-7.

Myers is 0-2 with a 4.67 ERA in five career games (three starts) against the Cubs. Assad is 1-1 with a 3.45 ERA in four games (three starts) vs. the Mets.

–Field Level Media

Roki Sasaki’s spectacular performance as a reliever during the 2025 postseason is not translating to success as a starter this season.

Sasaki (0-2, 6.23 ERA), in his second MLB season after much success in Japan, will start for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday afternoon against the Colorado Rockies in the third game of a four-game series in Denver. The teams have split the first two contests.

This will be the first time Sasaki has faced the Rockies.

After earning three saves with an 0.84 ERA in nine games during the Dodgers’ run to their second consecutive World Series championship last year, the right-hander has made it through five innings in only one of his three starts in 2026 and has struggled with his control (10 walks in 13 innings).

The 24-year-old took a 5-2 loss in his most recent start last Sunday against the Texas Rangers. He threw 94 pitches in only four innings and gave up two runs on five hits and five walks, adding six strikeouts.

“So that’s something that I talked to him about, and challenging him to, when you take the baseball, we’re trying to go five innings or more,” manager Dave Roberts said after that game. “So I think that’s kind of the next progression for him, to be consistently able to do that.

“But I do feel the growth part of it is to hang in there, make pitches when he needs. That’s important. He spread the walks out, I guess, as well as you could, to kind of limit damage. That was something I was proud of in that sense.”

And Roberts can continue to be proud of Shohei Ohtani, who extended his on-base streak to 50 games. That ties “Wee” Willie Keeler for the third-longest such streak in Dodgers’ history since 1900. Next on the list is Shawn Green, whose 53-game streak came in 2000.

Ohtani had a single in the ninth inning but had reached base on Colorado errors twice before that.

Right-hander Michael Lorenzen (1-2, 8.10 ERA) will be Colorado’s starter on Sunday.

He will look to continue the momentum the Rockies gained Saturday night with their 4-3, come-from-behind win. Troy Johnston’s two-run double in the sixth inning turned a 3-2 deficit into the winning margin. Relievers Brennan Bernardino (who got the win), Jaden Hill and Victor Vodnik protected the lead.

Vodnik earned his third save of the season.

“They have some of the best stuff in the league,” Saturday’s starter, Ryan Feltner, said about the team’s bullpen. “I think their biggest thing is coming out and attacking.”

Lorenzen will look to turn around his fortunes this season.

He has given up 32 hits, tied for the most in the National League, in 16 2/3 innings over five games, four of them starts. Lorenzen’s latest outing was Tuesday, in which he took the loss at Houston, 7-6, by giving up seven runs (two earned) and six hits in 2 2/3 innings.

In nine career games against the Dodgers, Lorenzen is 1-0 with a 4.08 ERA over 17 2/3 innings. His sole win came as a member of the Texas Rangers on July 13, 2024, allowed an earned run in seven innings in the 3-1 Rangers’ victory.

— Field Level Media

At some point this season, the Seattle Mariners will coast to a victory.

It appeared that might be the case on Saturday, when they carried a six-run lead into the ninth inning against the visiting Texas Rangers.

But nothing has been easy for these Mariners.

Closer Andres Munoz, who blew a four-run lead in a 7-6 loss Wednesday at San Diego, was forced to make an entrance in the ninth on Saturday with two outs and the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate.

Munoz struck out Brandon Nimmo for the final out in a 7-3 victory as the Mariners beat the American League West co-leaders for the first time in five meetings this season. The current three-game series will conclude Sunday afternoon in Seattle.

“It feels a lot better,” said Munoz, comparing Saturday to his previous outing. “We still have a lot of work to do. I’ve been working a lot these (last) couple days to get to this point. Obviously, we are not there yet, but it makes me feel a lot better that we are going in the right direction.”

Seattle’s George Kirby (3-2) allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings in improving to 9-1 in his career starts against Texas. Luke Raley homered as the Mariners snapped a four-game skid.

Josh Jung went deep for the Rangers, who had a two-game winning streak snapped.

Texas had its chances on Saturday, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 16 on base.

“We kept putting pressure on, had the right guys up, the hot hitters up and just couldn’t get that big hit,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “I loved the battle, loved the at-bats. We did not chase today, for the most part, against a really tough pitcher.”

The Mariners were without third baseman and leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan, who left after the third inning Friday with discomfort in his left hip.

Donovan, who had offseason surgery for a sports hernia, has missed time with hip and groin issues this season.

“It’s something that you have to closely monitor and keep watching,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “It’s a big surgery, and he did a great job of getting through it, getting through spring training, and the slow ramp-up in spring training. Now that we’re into the season, it’s just continued monitoring.”

Sunday’s series finale will feature Rangers left-hander MacKenzie Gore (2-1, 3.00 ERA) against Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (0-2, 2.16).

The two squared off April 8 in Arlington, Texas, with Gore and the Rangers winning 3-0. Gore pitched five scoreless innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts while Woo gave up one earned run (three overall) on five hits over five frames.

Gore, who suffered a 2-1 loss to the host Athletics on Tuesday in West Sacramento, Calif., is 2-0 with an 0.50 ERA in three career starts against Seattle.

Woo, who lost 4-1 Tuesday at San Diego despite pitching seven solid innings, is 2-3 with a 4.12 ERA in eight previous starts vs. the Rangers.

–Field Level Media