In search of their major league-leading 40th win, the visiting Atlanta Braves will look to post another series win on Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds.

Since being shut out 8-0 by the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, Atlanta has combined to score 18 runs across its past two games, including an 8-3 victory over the Reds in the series opener on Friday. They are 16-2-1 in series on the season.

Spearheading the charge has been a resurgent Michael Harris II. Following an inconsistent 2025 campaign, the Braves’ center fielder is batting .308 with 13 home runs and 36 RBIs. Harris is 9-for-18 with two homers and seven runs driven in across the past four games.

“He’s just maturing as a player,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “He’s still only 25 years old. I just think you’re seeing that process happen before our eyes. He’s becoming a more mature baseball player. There’s a lot of wisdom that you gain playing in this league every day for several years like he has already. He’s just having a great year for us.”

Veteran left-hander Martin Perez (2-3, 2.70 ERA) will make his 12th appearance (eighth start) of the season for Atlanta on Saturday. The 35-year-old tossed 5 2/3 innings of one-run, five-hit ball on Sunday in a 2-1 home loss to the Washington Nationals.

In his 15th season in the majors, Perez has filled in any role asked of him by Weiss. Perez, who was designated for assignment by the club on April 12 and re-signed three days later, has a 2.89 ERA in seven starts for the Braves.

“I can’t talk about him enough,” Weiss said of Perez. “He’s performed well in a variety of roles. He’s been a great pro for us.”

In two career appearances against the Reds, Perez is 1-0, combining to throw 13 scoreless innings across a pair of starts.

Cincinnati, meanwhile, has lost back-to-back games to see its struggles in May prolonged. The Reds are 9-16 this month after finishing April nine games above .500.

Brady Singer (2-4, 6.26) will try to snap a woeful stretch on the mound as he returns to the fray for Cincinnati. Singer is 0-3 with an 8.47 ERA in four starts in May. On May 17, he allowed five runs on seven hits across four innings in a 10-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. The struggling right-hander will return to the rotation after seeing his start skipped last time through.

“It’s baseball. It’ll punch you right in the gut more times than not,” Singer said of his disappointing month. “It’s obviously tough, but there’s a lot of season left. I’m excited for the next one and the rest of the season.”

The former first round pick is 16-16 with a 4.51 ERA in 42 starts since being traded to Cincinnati by the Kansas City Royals in November 2024 for infielder Jonathan India and outfielder Joey Wiemer.

Singer has posted a 1-3 record and a 5.48 ERA in four career starts against the Braves.

The Reds will host Singer’s former team, the Royals, for three games beginning Monday before traveling to St. Louis for a three-game series with the Cardinals, a National League Central division rival.

–Field Level Media

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