Baseball on Sundays really is the best, right? This Sunday brought us a full slate of MLB games. We had a heavy dose of day games and the series finale between the Cubs and Nationals as our final game of the weekend. The Yankees offense exploded in Sunday's game; not only did they run away with the series finale against division rival Rays, but they ran away with first place in the American League East, as well. The Brewers avoided a sweep with an extra-innings victory over the Braves, while the Red Sox also avoided a sweep with a win over the Astros and snapped Houston's 10-game win streak in the process. All that and more in our daily roundup. Elsewhere, Hyun-Jin Ryu kept rolling, and the Mets hit their latest low point.

We have everything you need to know about Sunday's MLB action below.

Select games can be streamed regionally via fuboTV (Try for free). For more on what channel each game is on, click here.

Baseball scores for Sunday

Harper heating up?

Phillies masher Bryce Harper has been in a bit of a slump in recent weeks, but lately he's shown signs of breaking out of it. On Saturday against the Rockies he had his first multi-hit game since May 7 and hit his first home run since May 7 (that Saturday homer traveled 466 feet). 

Harper's Phillies went for the sweep on Sunday, and the $330 million left came through with a decisive homer in the sixth: 

That's Harper's ninth blast of the season, and he's now batting .235/.371/.476. No, the batting average isn't optimal, but Harper's patience and power allow him to be quite productive without a high average. As well, he's looked much better in the field thus far in 2019. With Harper, you're always going to have wide performance swings and hot leavened by cold. Right now, though, he's looking hot. 

Yanks take series from Rays

The Yankees on Sunday edged back into first place with their rubber-match win over the Rays in the Bronx. Entering the sixth inning, the two teams were knotted up at 5-5, but then the hosts busted out for seven runs (on four hits and five walks) in the frame and put the game out of reach: 

In the end, the Yankees put 13 runs on the board, which made for their second-highest tally of the 2019 season. They did it with this lineup: 

The Yankees' injury issues have been amply chronicled, and they're slowly getting healthy. Still, the reality is that they've barged back into first place without a number of key contributors -- Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton (and Luis Severino) among them. 

In addition to slowly getting healthier, Aaron Boone's club is about to play seven straight against the Orioles and Royals, so there's an opportunity to not only cling to but also expand their current lead in the AL East. 

Ryu extends scoreless innings streak

Dodgers lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu thrived yet again, as he twirled seven shutout innings against the Reds. In doing so, Ryu extended his current scoreless innings streak to 31. He hasn't been scored on since his May 1 start against the Giants. The all-time record of course belongs to fellow Dodger Orel Hershiser, who in 1988 threw 59 straight scoreless innings. Ryu is more than halfway to Hershiser's record. 

Of course, Ryu's overall 2019 numbers may be even more impressive: 

player headshot
Hyun-Jin Ryu
TOR • SP • #99
2019
ERA1.52
IP59 1/3
BB4
K59
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Yes, that's correct: He's got 59 strikeouts against just four walks. That comes to a K/BB ratio of 14.75, and if that holds up across a qualifying number of innings, then it'll be the all-time single-season record. Health will always be a concern for the 32-year-old lefty, but he's well on his way to a career year (and then some) in 2019. 

Mets hit bottom

Is the end near for Mets manager Mickey Callaway? On Sunday, his squad suffered the ultimate indignity: being swept by the 2019 Marlins. Miami came into this series on pace for 122 losses and having won only one series this season. The Mets were shutout in the final two games of the series, and on Sunday Sandy Alcantara -- who came in with a 5.11 ERA and 28 strikeouts against 23 walks did this to them: 

player headshot
Sandy Alcantara
MIA • SP • #22
vs. NYM, 5/20/19
IP9
H2
R0
SO8
BB1
Pitches89
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Yep, that's a "Maddux" from Alcantara. That's also dominance from a pitcher who's not accustomed to it. 

With that loss, the Mets find themselves at 20-25 -- which scales to a 90-loss season -- with a run differential of minus-23. All of that is despite the Mets' having played one of the weakest schedules in MLB to date. As for Callaway, he's almost certainly on the hot seat. After an active offseason, the Mets were bent on contention this season under first-year GM Brodie Van Wagenen, but that's failed to materialize. Callaway wasn't Van Wagenen's hire, and now Callaway is 97-110 in one full season and change as Mets manager. The most recent Robinson Cano hustle controversy -- understandable or not -- was also an untimely bad look for Callaway's team. 

Speaking of which, here's this from Mike Puma of the New York Post following Sunday's listless defeat: 

 Van Wagenen, who was with the team for the first five games of the road trip, left town before the series finale. He is expected to speak with Callaway on Monday, before the Mets open a four-game series against the Nationals at Citi Field.

That certainly sounds ominous. As Puma notes, if Callaway does get the ax soon, then bench coach Jim Riggleman will likely be named as his interim replacement. 

Sox avoid sweep, snap Houston win streak

The Astros saw their 10-game win streak snapped and took an "L" on Sunday for the first time since May 7. The Red Sox, meantime, avoided the sweep and nudged their May record back up to 11-5. Chris Sale struggled with his control (five walks in 5 1/3 innings), but he did manage to strike out at least 10 batters for the fifth time in his last six starts. 

For Boston, Michael Chavis homered (he now has eight blasts and 14 walks in 108 plate appearances), and Mookie Betts racked up three hits. As well, three Red Sox relievers combined for 3 2/3 hitless innings. 

Quick hits