It was perhaps a closer game than many anticipated, but the Mets still fell to the Yankees in the Subway Series finale, ending their winning streak at four games.
The Mets fell to the Yankees 6-4 in this Subway Series finale at Citi Field, snapping both the Mets’ four-game winning streak and the Yankees’ six-game losing streak. That said, it was a much closer game than many would have anticipated at the outset, given the Mets were cobbling together a bullpen game against the Yankees’ best starter.
Chris Devenski did an excellent job as the Mets’ opener, pitching two scoreless innings to begin the game. Neither team scored until the third when Austin Wells greeted Zach Pop rudely in his Mets debut by parking one into the seats to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Much like Devenski, Carlos Mendoza tried to eke two innings out of Pop also, but that did not go as well. Giancarlo Stanton led off the fourth with a double into the left field corner and Cody Bellinger singled to advance him to third. Anthony Volpe then grounded into a force out at second to score Stanton and double the Yankees’ lead to 2-0. DJ LeMahieu then singled and Volpe went first to third. Carlos Mendoza then removed Pop from the game in favor of his bulk guy Brandon Waddell and Austin Wells contributed another RBI groundout to score Volpe and extend the Yankees’ lead to 3-0. Waddell stopped the bleeding there, but after Paul Goldschmidt doubled to lead off the fifth and Waddell got Grisham to ground out, the Mets opted to pitch to Aaron Judge with first base open and paid for it; Judge hit a towering two-run homer to stake Max Fried to a 5-0 lead.
After a long first inning in which the Mets couldn’t get on the scoreboard but made Fried work, Fried went into cruise control mode after that, coasting his way through the next few frames. But the Mets finally broke through against Fried in the fifth and the rally started with the bottom of the order. After Tyrone Taylor flew out for the first out, Jeff McNeil and Hayden Senger hit back-to-back singles to turn the lineup over. Starling Marte then hit a single to deep center field over Trent Grisham’s head to load the bases. Marte’s hit should have been a double and a run, but Grisham deked everyone into thinking he had it tracked and McNeil only advanced to third because he had gone back to second base to tag up. Francisco Lindor then delivered with a single up the middle to plate two runs and get the Mets on the board. Neither Juan Soto nor Pete Alonso could keep the rally going, but suddenly the Mets found themselves back in the game.
They inched even closer in the following inning. With Fried’s pitch count nearing 100, Aaron Boone opted to send him back out for the sixth, but only to face the lefty Brandon Nimmo, who Fried promptly hit with a pitch. That ended Fried’s afternoon after 5+ innings and he made way for Jonathan Loáisiga, who gave up back-to-back singles to Ronny Mauricio and Brett Baty, pinch hitting for Mark Vientos and Tyrone Taylor, respectively. With the bases loaded, Jeff McNeil hit a dribbler in front of the mound past Loáisiga, who continued running to first base to cover, but was unable to corral the throw from Goldschmidt that went slightly behind him. Nimmo scored on the play to bring the Mets within two and everybody was safe. Hayden Senger then grounded into a double play, but that did plate another run to reduce the Yankees’ lead to 5-4. A diving catch by Aaron Judge in right field on a shallow fly ball by Starling Marte finally quashed the rally, but the Yankees’ bullpen found itself with a narrow lead to protect.
The Yankees added an insurance run off Huascar Brazobán in the seventh thanks in part to a defensive miscue by Pete Alonso at first base. Goldschmidt led off the inning with a single up the middle. Trent Grisham then hit a hot shot down the first base line that was playable, but it took an awkward hop and went over Alonso’s glove and down the line. The play was scored a hit that advanced Goldschmidt to third. Aaron Judge then hit a deep fly ball to left-center that nearly everyone watching thought was gone, but it was simply a sacrifice fly instead, scoring Goldschmidt and giving the Yankees a little extra cushion. Brazobán navigated through the rest of the inning without further damage.
Cody Bellinger then made a brilliant play in the bottom of the seventh that very well may have saved the game for the Yankees. Mark Leiter Jr. hit Francisco Lindor with a pitch to lead off the inning. Then Juan Soto hit a sinking liner to left on which Bellinger made a brilliant shoestring catch and then in one fluid motion, unleashed an accurate throw all the way to first base to double off Lindor and snuff out the budding rally. The Mets challenged the play, but both the catch and the out at first base were upheld. Pete Alonso then walked to bring the tying run to bat once again, but Tim Hill came in the game for the Yankees to face Brandon Nimmo and got Nimmo to ground out to second to end the threat.
Rico Garcia pitched two scoreless innings in his Mets debut, but the Mets were unable to take advantage of his performance and stage a comeback. The Mets hit into another hard double play in the bottom of the eighth when Ronny Mauricio led off the inning with a single and the Brett Baty hit a sharp bouncer to first that Goldschmidt snagged and slapped a tag on Mauricio, who was frozen between first and second, for the double play. The Mets went down 1-2-3 against Devin Williams in the ninth, but Williams got some help from the home plate umpire, as Luis Torrens was called out on strikes to lead off the inning and strikes two and three were not particularly close. Carlos Mendoza got ejected for arguing with the umpire as a result, but that did not light a fire under the Mets; Starling Marte grounded out and then Francisco Lindor struck out swinging to end the game.
The Mets get a much needed off day tomorrow before heading to Baltimore for a three-game series against the Orioles.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Fangraphs
Big Mets winner: Ronny Mauricio, +15.4% WPA
Big Mets loser: Zach Pop, -24.2% WPA
Mets pitchers: -27.4% WPA
Mets hitters: -22.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jeff McNeil’s infield single in the bottom of the sixth, +14.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Austin Wells’ solo home run off Zach Pop in the third, -12.2% WPA