In his previous start against Miami at Citi Field, Jacob deGrom tied a modern Major League record by striking out the first eight hitters he faced. On Sunday afternoon at Turner Field, deGrom only struck out the first four Braves hitters but fired four perfect innings, allowed two runs and three hits over six innings to lead the Mets to a 10-2 win and a sweep of the weekend series.

If you’re ever asked what’s so special about September baseball, you can tell ’em to go watch the little game the Royals and Tigers played Sunday afternoon.

Coming back from a 10-week layoff after sustaining a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Masahiro Tanaka permitted just one run over 5 1/3 innings, almost bashfully doffing his cap to a standing ovation as the Yankees defeated the Blue Jays, 5-2, on Sunday at Yankee Stadium. Brian McCann went deep twice, Brett Gardner hit the 15,000th homer in franchise history and Derek Jeter went 2-for-4 with an RBI double.

As Derek Jeter embarks on his final week of baseball — and final four games at Yankee Stadium — manager Joe Girardi said Sunday that he expects to play the Yankees’ captain in every game until the season’s conclusion, an easy decision considering his recent performance.

The mistake, Carlos Gomez said after a loss that severely hampered the Brewers’ bid for the postseason, was not leaving second base. It was stopping on the way to third.

On Sunday afternoon, Corey Kluber was at it again, slicing his way through the Twins’ lineup in an overpowering 7-2 victory at Target Field. With 14 strikeouts, Cleveland’s Cy Young Award candidate helped guide the Tribe to a series win over the Twins to wrap up a three-city swing through Detroit, Houston and Minnesota with a 5-5 ledger.

The two runs the Braves tallied in the fifth inning were not enough to overcome the damage Ervin Santana incurred as the Mets completed a three-game sweep with a 10-2 victory on Sunday. With their eighth loss in the past nine games, the Braves dropped to 4-14 in September and were officially eliminated from the postseason picture.

The postseason is just over a week away, and even though they’ve secured a spot in the postseason, the Nationals haven’t let up on their opponents. Washington earned a 2-1 win over the Marlins on Sunday to sweep them in four games and end their 11-game road trip with a 9-2 mark.

Brett Gardner connected for the 15,000th home run in Yankees franchise history on Sunday afternoon, launching a solo shot to right field off Drew Hutchison in New York’s 5-2 victory over the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.

Vance Worley went eight strong innings and Russell Martin drove in the game’s only run as the Bucs reduced their magic number to three with a 1-0 win over the Brewers on Sunday at PNC Park.

Making it to the end of the season healthy is becoming a real challenge for the Marlins. The latest major injury occurred in the seventh inning of Sunday afternoon’s 2-1 loss to the Nationals when center fielder Marcell Ozuna went down with a right ankle injury.

Altuve’s RBI double in a three-run fifth inning of Sunday’s 8-3 win over the Mariners was his 219th hit this season. With the double, Altuve passed Rod Carew for most hits in a season by a second baseman since 1936. Charlie Gehringer of the Tigers had 227 hits that year.

Rangers infielder Jurickson Profar has more soreness in his right shoulder. He was examined by a doctor in Los Angeles and will meet with Dr. Keith Meister in Texas.

Anibal Sanchez threw a 45-pitch simulated game — three innings of 15 pitches each — but it was a real scenario that Tigers officials were judging as the recovering right-hander got up and sat down.

Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy on Sunday morning dispelled the theory that he signaled for the second plunking of Pirates slugger Andrew McCutchen in Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Bucs.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Hyun-Jin Ryu pitching in a game during the final week of the regular season, but his recovery will have to hurry.

Now that the Braves have been essentially eliminated from the playoffs, they might not wait until the conclusion of this season to make what would be their most significant organizational change in nearly a quarter of a century.