Mets cut payroll $11.6M in weeks

Out of playoff race, New York ships out four players.

The New York Mets saved $3 million by trading infielder Neil Walker to the Milwaukee Brewers and have cut payroll by more than $11.6 million in recent weeks.

As part of Saturday’s trade, the Mets agreed to pay the Brewers $1.699 million on Sept. 30. Walker was owed $4.699 million of his $17.2 million salary at the time of the deal.

New York saved $3.765 million when it dealt outfielder Jay Bruce to Cleveland on Wednesday.

In deals late last month, the Mets cut payroll by $2.6 million when they traded first baseman Lucas Duda to Tampa Bay on July 27 and $2.26 million when they sent reliever Addison Reed to Boston four days later.

New York began the season with a $156.8 million payroll. But the Mets are 53-62 and out of playoff contention.

Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton’s 43rd home run Monday night broke Gary Sheffield’s franchise record for home runs in a single season, set in 1996. Stanton has homered in five straight games, another team record.

Dodgers: Los Angeles took 2 of 3 from San Diego in the weekend series. The Dodgers are 16-0-3 in their last 19 series and haven’t lost one since June 5-7 to Washington.

Diamondbacks: The three-game weekend series against the Cubs drew 123,110, the most for a three-game set at Chase Field since 132,925 for a series against San Francisco from Sept. 23-25, 2011. Many were Cubs fans.

Red Sox: Rafael Devers became only the second left-handed hitter to homer off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman in his eight-year career when the rookie hit a 103 mph fastball for a tying homer in the ninth inning Sunday night. The only other left-handed hitter to homer off Chapman was Luke Scott for Baltimore in 2011.

Giants: Fans in Washington loudly booed Hunter Strickland when he emerged from the bullpen in both games of Sunday’s doubleheader. The reliever hit Nationals star Bryce Harper with a pitch on May 29, leading to a bench-clearing brawl and suspensions for both.