With the solar shining and boos nonetheless raining upon Juan Soto, the Yankees suffered a Subway Collection-tying, 3-2 loss to the Mets within the Bronx on Saturday afternoon.
Francisco Lindor put the ending touches on the competition between crosstown rivals, breaking a 2-2 tie within the ninth inning with a bases-loaded sac fly off Fernando Cruz. The Yankees’ reliever put himself within the jam, strolling Luis Torrens, permitting a Brett Baty single and hitting Tyrone Taylor with a pitch earlier than Lindor supplied the successful run in a back-and-forth affair.
“He’s always one pitch away from getting out of it,” Aaron Boone stated, as Cruz has racked up strikeouts together with his devastating splitter this season. Nevertheless, the supervisor famous that the Mets did a “good job of not chasing.”
Cody Bellinger, in the meantime, caught Lindor’s sac fly. After the sport, he stated he and Jasson Domínguez chatted concerning the play after coming semi-close to converging on it. Looking back, Bellinger felt Domínguez had the higher throwing lane to dwelling plate.
“I heard it late and was like, ‘OK, I’m just gonna catch the ball,’” Bellinger defined. “So we had a good conversation, and it’s gonna be good for the future.”
The Yankees had an opportunity within the backside of the ninth, however Edwin Díaz struck out pinch-hitter Austin Wells, induced a line out from Ben Rice and fanned Aaron Choose, ending the sport and cementing an 0-for-5 day for the pinstripers’ captain.
“I just tried to go with my best stuff against him,” Díaz stated. “I know he’s a really good hitter, so I was trying to make pitches against him. If I miss my location, I can get hit. I was trying to make sure I was throwing my slider down in the zone, and when I went out and threw my fastball, I threw it up.”
The Yankees began the scoring on Saturday, as DJ LeMahieu hit his first dwelling run since July 31 of final yr within the third inning. The brief porch solo shot off Griffin Canning got here within the second baseman’s second begin of the season and first recreation at Yankee Stadium this yr.
As LeMahieu rounded the bases, the sometimes unemotional infielder emphatically pumped his fist.
“It just felt good to play Yankee Stadium again in front of these fans, and obviously a big series,” LeMahieu stated. “So just excited to be out there. I didn’t think it was too much emotion, but maybe for me. But it was good. It was fun.”
The Mets pieced collectively a response within the fourth although, as Clarke Schmidt labored after beforehand denying the Queens membership a baserunner.
Lindor led issues off with a stroll, whereas Soto singled for his first hit of the sequence. Pete Alonso then knocked an RBI single to tie issues up.
“I just got a little too passive,” Schmidt stated. “It kind of felt like we were trying to anticipate the adjustments rather than just continuing to stay with the strengths and continuing to attack. So I felt like I lost that release point a little bit for the backdoor stuff to the lefties, and then it kind of blended in throughout the ABs, and I had to bear down there and make some big pitches. So thankful to get out of it with not too much damage.”
Schmidt totaled six innings, three hits, two earned runs, 5 walks, 5 strikeouts and 88 pitches, whereas Canning logged 5.1 frames, seven hits, two earned runs, one stroll, 4 strikeouts and 92 pitches.
The Yankees knotted issues again up within the sixth towards Canning, as Bellinger bombed his sixth homer of the yr 432 toes to right-center. Nevertheless, the Yankees additionally wasted an opportunity to tack on throughout that inning after Domínguez and Anthony Volpe every singled with one out.
From there, a smooth J.C. Escarra grounder led to Domínguez being thrown out on the plate. Umpire’s interference, self-called by dwelling plate ump James Jean, then erased a double steal from Volpe and Escarra earlier than LeMahieu ended the inning by grounding right into a drive out.
“I don’t know if it was consequential or not,” Boone stated. “We had two outs, and we still didn’t drive them in there. Obviously, you don’t want that to happen. Felt like we had the bases stolen regardless. So one of those things that comes up.”
The Yankees additionally had runners on first and second with no person out within the fifth and the bases loaded with two away within the eighth however failed to attain then as nicely. They didn’t capitalize within the fifth after a Jorbit Vivas strikeout, a Rice lineout to left, and a Choose dribbler.
After the sport, Boone stated he “definitely” thought of having Vivas, a rookie, bunt, however he felt the Mets have been enjoying towards it aggressively and that the Yankees lacked velocity on the bases with Escarra and LeMahieu working.
Some sharp protection from the Yankees did hold the sport tied within the seventh, as Bellinger, Volpe and Escarra turned a Taylor double right into a perfectly-executed relay and an out on the plate. LeMahieu then ended the inning with a slick, backhanded, sliding play on a Lindor groundout.
Alas, the protection couldn’t make up for the 9 runners the Yankees stranded. Additionally they went 0-for-6 with males in scoring place.
With Yankee Stadium’s common season Subway Collection finale looming on Sunday, the Bombers will flip to their new ace, Max Fried.
The southpaw was the crew’s first and most vital splash following Soto’s defection to the Mets, as he agreed to an eight-year, $218 million deal two days later. The Yankees have definitely gotten their cash’s price to this point, as Fried has a 1.11 ERA over his first 9 begins with the membership.
The Mets can even throw a lefty, as David Peterson is in line for the finale. He has a 3.05 ERA this season.
Initially Printed: Could 17, 2025 at 4:17 PM EDT
