The New York Mets will play a division leader for the third consecutive series when they host the Atlanta Braves for a three-game set starting Monday night.

After rallying to beat the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday and snap a three-game skid, the Mets seek back-to-back victories for the first time since July 8-9 against Kansas City.

Zac Thornton (1-1, 1.93 ERA), a promising left-handed rookie, makes his fifth start and is coming off his first victory in the big leagues. Last Tuesday, he threw six shutout innings in Milwaukee, limiting the NL Central leader to just three hits and a walk as the Mets beat the Brewers 4-0.

The 24-year-old has thrown 18 straight scoreless innings over his last three starts.

Offensively, Tyrone Taylor has enjoyed a strong July, doing so even with limited plate appearances. The Mets outfielder, 32, returned to the team in late June after missing a month due to a right hip flexor strain. Since July 4, he’s hit five home runs in 27 at-bats, including a go-ahead, three-run shot in the sixth inning against the Dodgers that put the Mets up for good in their 8-3 win Sunday.

Over his last 14 games, Taylor is hitting .370 (10-for-27) with nine RBIs. He’s also performed well against lefties this season, batting .292 (19-for-65) with four homers and 11 RBIs.

The Braves, the NL East pacesetters, will start Martin Perez (6-6, 3.38). The left-hander has lost three of his last four starts and only thrown five full innings once in that span. He went four in his most recent start on Wednesday against San Diego. Coming off 16 days’ rest, he allowed only one hit and struck out three while not allowing a run. However, he issued four walks in the no-decision.

Atlanta has won seven of its 10 games coming out of the All-Star break, including Sunday, when it beat the host Baltimore Orioles 3-2 in 11 innings. The Braves survived a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the 10th inning before Austin Riley hit an RBI double in the ensuing frame.

“I talk about gritty wins,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “That’s another gritty win. We’ve had several of those recently.”

Drake Baldwin is following up his NL Rookie of the Year campaign last season with a better one this year. The All-Star catcher already has 20 homers, one more than last year, while improving his slugging and on-base percentages.

However, he has not fared well against the Mets or at Citi Field. He’s hit just .217 (10-for-46) against them in 14 games with two home runs and nine RBIs. In Queens, he was just 2-for-15 (.133) in five games last season.

While Atlanta is looking to make the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons, the Mets are last in the NL East, 18.5 games back and already looking to next year. That means they will probably be sellers ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

After New York hosts Atlanta, the Miami Marlins will come to town for a four-game series, so there will be no scheduled off days this week. Among the trade candidates are several relievers, but Mets interim manager Andy Green said while they will “be conservative to some degree,” he will still use trade candidates if they are sound.

“We’re here today,” he said. “We play to win a baseball game. We’ll do the same tomorrow.”

–Field Level Media

The Athletics’ season has been in a free fall in recent weeks and there is likely no recovering from the latest blow.

The Athletics could learn Monday that All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers requires season-ending knee surgery before they later take the field against the Boston Red Sox at West Sacramento, Calif.

Langeliers reportedly sustained a torn meniscus in his right knee during Friday’s game against the Minnesota Twins and was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday.

“We’re looking at the situation and making sure that he gets the best advice, the best care and, hopefully, the quickest recovery,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said after Sunday’s 11-8 road loss to the Twins.

Langeliers started for the American League in the recent All-Star Game and leads AL catchers in homers (23) and hits (99). This is the fourth straight season in which he has smacked more than 20 homers.

His loss comes at a time in which the A’s have lost 23 of their past 29 games. The Athletics were at .500 on June 19 but now sit 17 games below the mark entering the four-game set against the lava-hot Red Sox.

Boston has won 17 of its last 19 games after Sunday’s 6-1 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.

The once-floundering team is now in the thick of the AL wild-card chase. The Red Sox are in second place in a race in which only one team below them — the third-place Cleveland Guardians — are above .500.

Jarren Duran helped fuel Sunday’s victory with three singles, two RBIs and one steal.

“I think we’re just settling into ourselves,” Duran told reporters. “Early on, we were still trying to find our identity. I feel like we’re just now coming into what we knew we could be. It’s showing and the boys have bought in since Day One.

“It’s just baseball and we were going through that grind and we’re starting to roll and it’s awesome to see.”

Jahmai Jones contributed a pinch-hit, two-run double as Boston scored at least five runs for the eighth time during an 8-2 homestand.

“We had some really good performances across the board,” Jones said. “I felt like it was a really good team day.”

Boston sends left-hander Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.31 ERA) to the mound in the opener.

Tolle, 23, received a no-decision against the Baltimore Orioles on July 20 when he gave up four runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 6-5 A’s win.

Tolle went 0-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two appearances (one start) against the A’s last season.

He served up a homer to Nick Kurtz, who just returned to the A’s lineup on Saturday after a right thumb injury.

On Sunday, in his second game, All-Star first baseman Kurtz drilled a three-run homer against the Twins. He had been in a 0-for-25 funk before the blast, which was his 21st of the season.

Right-hander Jack Perkins (2-5, 6.75) will start for the Athletics for the eighth time this season.

He took a no-decision against the host Arizona Diamondbacks last Tuesday when he gave up three runs and five hits over five innings.

In his previous two turns, Perkins gave up a combined 10 runs and nine hits — including four homers — in just 6 2/3 innings. He lost both outings.

Perkins, 26, has never faced the Red Sox.

–Field Level Media

Despite being on the wrong end of a 12-3 thumping on Sunday afternoon in Chicago, Houston Astros manager Joe Espada was upbeat before his team boarded a plane for a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels that begins Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.

After all, it was good week for the Astros, who won five in row before Sunday’s loss to the American League Central-leading White Sox to get back into the AL West and wild-card playoff hunt.

“It’s been really good,” Espada said. “Swept the Marlins. Come here and win a series (against the) first-place team in the Central. We have some momentum. Just because we lost this game doesn’t mean we’re going to stop. We go to LA, three-game series, have an off day, and then a big one against the Rangers.”

Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena, who homered twice Sunday, has played a big role in the turnaround, batting .500 (13-for-26) with five homers, eight RBIs and 10 runs scored in the last six games.

“He’s locked in,” Espada said. “Really pleased he’s swinging the bat the way he is right now.”

Houston, which had lost four in a row before its win streak, enters Monday’s contest just two games behind first-place Texas in the West, and two games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the final AL wild-card spot.

Next up is a three-game series with the Angels before heading home for the three-game showdown with the Rangers in their final matchup of the season.

Tatsuya Imai (6-4, 5.59 ERA) will start the series opener for Houston and will be opposed by fellow rookie right-hander Walbert Urena (6-7, 2.78).

The Astros have won six of Imai’s last seven starts, including a 5-3 victory over Miami on Tuesday when he allowed one run on four hits over six innings while striking out eight.

It will mark the second time Imai has faced the Angels. He struggled in his major league debut on March 29 against the Halos in Houston, allowing four runs on three hits and four walks in just 2 2/3 innings in a contest the Astros went on to win 9-7.

Urena is 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA in three career appearances (one start) against Houston. He has allowed just two earned runs over 15 2/3 innings in his last three starts with 14 strikeouts. He helped pitch the Angels to a 5-1 victory over St. Louis in his last start on Tuesday, allowing one run on six hits in six innings with five strikeouts.

Los Angeles is 4-3 in its last seven games and comes in off a 4-3 victory at San Francisco on Sunday. Mike Trout had his first four-hit game since 2021 and Jorge Soler and Jo Adell each homered for the Angels. Jose Soriano picked up his ninth win, allowing one unearned run on three hits over five innings.

Los Angeles, 22 games under .500, figures to be busy before the Aug. 3 trade deadline with Soler, shortstop Zach Neto and starters Reid Detmers and Soriano among the players drawing strong interest.

Soler, the American League home run leader in 2019 with Kansas City and the World Series MVP in 2021 with Atlanta, hit his 12th homer of the season and first since June 24 to help the Angels snap a three-game losing streak.

“I’ve been traded a lot of times, so I’m not worried about that,” Soler told the Orange County Register after the game.

–Field Level Media