NEW YORK — New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway has been using some variation of the term “sync up” so often lately Jaylon Ferguson Jersey , he sounds like an early 1990s music critic discussing Milli Vanilli. At least on Monday the Mets will face another out-of-sorts team whose fortunes are sinking faster than those of an exposed one-album wonder.

Two squads enduring a miserable June will meet when the Mets host the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game series at Citi Field. Seth Lugo (2-2, 2.85 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for New York against Jameson Taillon (4-6, 4.03 ERA) in a battle of right-handers.

Both teams suffered the final loss of a three-game sweep Sunday, when the Mets gave up seven solo homers in falling to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-7, in 11 innings and the host Pirates dropped a 3-0 decision to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The losses ensured the Mets (31-44) and Pirates (36-41) will enter Monday with the worst June records in the National League. New York is 4-17 since the calendar flipped while Pittsburgh is 7-14.

The nosedives have all but ended once-robust playoff hopes. The Mets, who opened the season 11-1, are 12 1/2 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East and 10 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the race for the second wild card.

The Mets opened June in a historic offensive slump in which they scored just 20 runs in 12 games from June 1-15. New York has scored 47 runs in its last eight games but has lost three games in which it scored at least seven runs.

“We just can’t sync up exactly what we’re trying to do every day,” Callaway said Sunday. He also used the sync up expression following Thursday’s 6-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

“If we swing the bats, we give up seven homers,” Callaway said Sunday. “If we pitch and swing the bats good Quinnen Williams Jersey , our defense isn’t quite there. It’s kind of been the whole season — we’re not syncing up all the components that we need to sync up to win some ballgames. We did that early in the season.”

The Pirates are uttering the same laments. Through 43 games, Pittsburgh led the NL Central with a 26-17 record and ranked fifth in the majors in runs scored (216).

Since then, though, the Pirates have gone an NL-worst 10-24 while scoring just 123 runs, the fewest in the NL and the fourth-fewest in the majors.

“At the beginning of the season, pitching was clicking, hitting was clicking,” Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams told reporters after he took the loss Sunday, when he allowed three runs over six innings. “We’re starting to get apart from each other and we’re hitting a skid at the same time.”

Lugo will be looking to snap a two-start slump Monday. He didn’t factor into the decision last Wednesday, when he gave up six runs (three earned) over three innings as the Mets fell to the Rockies, 10-8.

Lugo has given up 11 runs (eight earned) over eight innings in his last two starts after tossing 13 straight scoreless innings in three games (two starts) from May 31-June 10.

Taillon took the loss last Tuesday http://www.cowboyscheapauthenticstore.com/trysten-hill-jersey-cheap , when he allowed three runs over five innings as the Pirates fell to the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2. He has alternated wins with losses in four June starts.

Lugo has never faced the Pirates. Taillon is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two career starts against the Mets. He made both starts consecutively to open his big league career in 2016 and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the second start on June 14.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Just a year ago, the Browns were winless. They were aimless. They looked hopeless.Disgusted with their laughable team, some Cleveland fans spent the holidays planning a tongue-in-cheek parade around FirstEnergy Stadium to celebrate a probable 0-16 season. Coach Hue Jackson promised to jump into Lake Erie.Those gloomy days are long gone. The Browns have turned it around.“It’s been a long time coming,” wide receiver Rashad Higgins said. “We were due for a winning team.”Overdue.With their 26-18 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, the Browns (7-7-1) completed the biggest turnaround in franchise history. Cleveland’s seven-game improvement — and it could be eight with a win this week in Baltimore — since last season tops the six-game jumps the team made in 1976 and 2007.It’s been a remarkable swing for a franchise that has had just two winning seasons since its 1999 expansion reboot. And it’s a stunning rise for a team that endured a late-October coaching change, and if not for a play here and there, would be preparing for the playoffs.In an unpredictable season across the NFL, Cleveland’s one-year comeback may be the biggest shocker of all.As the final seconds bled from the clock on Sunday and the Browns clinched their best home record in 11 years at 5-2-1, rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield took the snap and dropped to a knee before urging the sellout crowd to scream louder than it had all day.After shaking hands with a few Cincinnati players, Mayfield Jachai Polite Jersey , who had been serenaded with chants of “Ba-ker! Ba-ker!” throughout much of the second half, then sprinted toward the locker room.In a way, Mayfield’s departure after the home finale felt more like an arrival. The Browns are back, and Mayfield intends to keep them around.“I relate to Cleveland,” said Mayfield, who threw three touchdown passes and improved to 6-6 as a starter. “The work ethic, the stuff that you have to earn it around here, that is what the Browns are all about. It is going to be a good relationship for a long time.”To interim coach Gregg Williams, Cleveland’s surge this season isn’t a surprise. Williams, who has led the Browns to a 5-2 record since taking over for Jackson, has always felt the team had enough talent to win and is finally putting it together.“I don’t ever walk into any game thinking that we can’t win Chuma Edoga Jersey , and I thought that last year,” said Williams, whose candidacy for the full-time job after the season improves with every victory. “I thought we played extremely well enough in many of those games to win games, and that is how close and tough the league is. It comes down to anywhere from three to four to four to five plays a game.“Now, we are making more of those plays. The more you make, the easier it is to buy in to understanding of this is how we play as a team. A team wins the game, not individuals.”Williams has always put team goals first, and while there are several factors that have led to Cleveland’s turnaround, he believes an emphasis on accountability has transformed the Browns.“We have been able to help them understand that you have to do your job and you have to block out the outside distractions,” he said. “You have to focus and rally together and play for each other. They have done a very good job of not only just doing their job but supporting each other. People see that in team execution over individual execution.”Williams will likely go into Sunday’s game against the Ravens (9-6) uncertain of his future. Long before the Browns rattled off five wins in six games, general manager John Dorsey said Williams will be one of the candidates he interviews when the season ends.Dorsey may never have considered that Williams would emerge as possibly the best coach going forward.Williams has not publicly campaigned for the job Trevon Wesco Jersey , and he wasn’t about to start Monday. He declined to say if he was hoping to get a guarantee like the one Baltimore gave John Harbaugh last week.“We are on to the Ravens,” he said.Williams’ short-term goal is to have his team ready to take on Baltimore’s league-leading defense, and to possibly spoil the Ravens’ playoff hopes. If Cleveland beats Baltimore, the Pittsburgh Steelers could take the division with a win over Cincinnati.“We will treat this like it is our playoff game,” Williams said. “We will treat it that way because that is how intense the game is going to be. It will be fun.”NOTES: Rookie CB Denzel Ward remains in concussion protocol after suffering his second head injury in three weeks on Sunday. Williams said Ward “was much better” when he left the stadium but doesn’t know if he’ll face the Ravens. … At 3-1-1, the Browns have clinched their first winning season inside the AFC North since it was formed in 2002.