Three picks over the weekend, two winners.

Friday it was Los Angeles ML (-134) at the Mets, and Roki Sasaki delivered his best start in months, seven innings, one run allowed on three hits, nine strikeouts, his first win in nine starts since May 23. Kyle Tucker snapped a personal home run drought dating back to June 27 with a two-run shot off A.J. Minter in the eighth that put it away. Luis Robert Jr. and Francisco Alvarez went deep for New York, and Juan Soto was lifted for a pinch hitter in the sixth with left calf soreness, but it wasn’t enough. The final was 4-2, Tanner Scott closing it out for his 16th save.

We took the L on Saturday as the White Sox dropped one to Houston. Hunter Brown was the story, seven shutout innings on just two hits and no walks in his seventh start back from an 11-week stint on the injured list with a shoulder strain, improving to 5-0 with a 2.27 ERA in his career against Chicago. Isaac Paredes drove in three, a bases-loaded single in the sixth and an insurance knock in the eighth, and an error by Braden Montgomery let a third Houston run score in that same sixth inning. Sean Burke struck out 10 for the White Sox but couldn't escape that sixth-inning jam, and Colson Montgomery's ninth-inning single was all Chicago could scrape together in a 4-1 final. Josh Hader closed it out for his 12th save.

Sunday brought our second win of the weekend and it needed extra innings to get there. The Braves led 2-0 into the eighth before the Orioles tied it, part of it coming on a Pete Alonso homer and a two-out throwing error by Ozzie Albies that led to the tying run. Austin Riley’s go-ahead double in the 11th off Andrew Kittredge held up, and Atlanta escaped with a 3-2 win to take the series.

Two for three on the weekend.

On to tonight’s three plays.

Nationals Park, Washington, DC - TV: Sportsnet, Nationals.TV, TVA Sports

This one comes with a story attached. Max Scherzer returns from the injured list to make his seventh start of the year, and he’s doing it on his 42nd birthday against the franchise where he made his name. Scherzer went 92-47 with a 2.80 ERA for Washington from 2015 to 2021, winning two Cy Young Awards and the 2019 World Series before leaving in a trade. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since June 10, sidelined first by back spasms and then by a thumb issue that required cortisone injections, but he cleared a rehab outing at Triple-A Buffalo this week, five hitless innings with seven strikeouts, and the Blue Jays will bring him back tonight, though manager John Schneider has suggested his pitch count could be limited. He’s been rough when healthy this year, 1-4 with a 10.23 ERA over 22 2/3 innings.

Washington's original starter, Andrew Alvarez, was scratched, and the Nationals are turning to Eddy Yean instead. Yean has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen for Washington this year, two appearances and four scoreless innings since his July 5 call-up, with a 3.35 ERA at Triple-A Rochester before that. This will mark his first career major league start.

This is the first meeting of the season between these two teams.

Washington sits at 54-52, Toronto at 48-58.

Citi Field, New York, NY - TV: SNY, BravesVision

Atlanta rolls into Queens fresh off that extra-innings win in Baltimore, sitting at 62-43 and first in the NL East. Martin Perez takes the ball for the Braves at 6-6 with a 3.38 ERA and 65 strikeouts. New York is in a much different spot, 44-62 and last in the division, a season-worst 18 games under .500 as the club braces for what could be a significant sell-off before the August 3 trade deadline. Zac Thornton goes for the Mets, and he’s been one of the rare good stories on this roster, 1-1 with an outstanding 1.93 ERA and 17 strikeouts in his young career.

Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA - TV: NBCS Bay Area, Brewers.TV

Milwaukee arrives on the back of one of the best individual performances of the season anywhere in baseball. Jacob Misiorowski struck out the first seven batters he faced Sunday against Colorado, a franchise record, and finished with 12 strikeouts through 12 of the first 13 hitters he saw, allowing only a two-out, opposite-field homer in the fifth on a 101.9 mph fastball. He improved to 11-4 with an MLB-best 1.58 ERA and now leads the majors in strikeouts. The Brewers won 11-2 to take that series and sit at 65-39, first in the NL Central. Brandon Sproat takes the ball tonight at 3-5 with a 5.09 ERA.

San Francisco enters at 44-61 after dropping the finale of its own series Sunday, a 4-3 loss to the Angels in which Mike Trout collected his first four-hit game in more than five years. The Giants are also thin in the bullpen right now, with Randy Rodriguez and Rowan Wick both out for the season, though third baseman Matt Chapman could be back in the lineup for this series after missing all of July. Tyler Mahle goes for San Francisco tonight at 2-9 with a 5.31 ERA.