LEADING OFF: 41-year-old Hill faces 40-year-old Wainwright

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St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright walks off the field after being removed during the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A look at what's happening around the majors Monday:

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OLD TIMERS' DAY

Mets 41-year-old left-hander Rich Hill is set to face Cardinals 40-year-old righty Adam Wainwright in a showdown of veterans who still got it. Hill (6-6, 3.82) has allowed three earned runs over 17 innings in his previous three starts, and Wainwright (15-7, 2.98) pitched into the ninth inning against the Dodgers in a 5-4 win his last time out.

They have a way to go chasing the record for oldest matchup. The Angels’ Don Sutton and Indians’ Phil Niekro were a combined 90 years, 135 days old when they pitched against each other on Jun 8, 1987.

BARREL-HAPPY BLUE JAYS

Toronto rolls into a home series against AL East-leading Tampa Bay after scoring 22 runs Sunday and 44 runs over three games during a weekend set against the last-place Orioles.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernández each hit a grand slam and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. slugged his 44th homer in a 22-6 win Sunday as the club finished two runs shy of a franchise record set in 1978. Guerrero’s drive tied him with the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead.

“The last three days, I’ve been in the game for 35 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said.

Rays lefty Ryan Yarbrough (8-4, 4.90) gets the unenviable task of trying to slow the Jays, who are battling with the Red Sox, Yankees, Mariners and A’s for two AL wild cards. Rookie right-hander Alek Manoah (5-2, 3.71) is set to pitch for Toronto.

SHORT VISIT

The Twins will interrupt a six-game homestand in Minnesota to travel to New York for a makeup game at Yankee Stadium. The teams were rained out Aug. 22 in the finale of a four-game set in the Bronx, creating a scheduling headache that has the Twins traveling to the East Coast for a day wedged between three-game home sets against Kansas City and Cleveland.

ANOTHER BLOW

San Diego is monitoring left-hander Blake Snell after he left a game Sunday against the Dodgers after 11 pitches with a left adductor strain.

Snell retired his first two batters on popups to left field. He was facing Trea Turner when he suddenly left the mound with a 2-1 count, having thrown 11 pitches. The left-hander limped slightly as he walked off with the groin injury.

The 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner is 7-6 with a 4.22 ERA. He set a franchise record with 13 consecutive hitless innings across his last two starts.

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