The Yankees defeated the Mets 6-2 in the first game of this weekend’s Subway Series in the Bronx. In the third, the Yankees dropped a four spot on Tylor Megill, whose struggles in the month of May continue, and they never looked back.
Each team got at least a man on in the first, but both pitchers were able to work out of the jam. Amidst a predictable chorus of boos at Yankee Stadium, Juan Soto walked in his first plate appearance against his former club. He would go on to walk three times in the game. However, he was stranded at first base. Tylor Megill stranded two Yankees on the base paths thanks to two strikeouts in the bottom of the inning. Both starters twirled a 1-2-3 second inning, but the third inning is when things completely came undone for Megill.
Jorbit Vivas led off the inning with a single. Megill then got the dangerous Trent Grisham to ground out, but he then walked Aaron Judge to put two runners on. Walks would end up being Megill’s undoing. Cody Bellinger followed with a slow roller to third that he was able to beat out for an infield hit to load the bases. Paul Goldschmidt then got an infield hit of his own—a bouncer up the middle that Lindor ranged to his left to grab before it could get to the outfield, but instead of putting it in his pocket like he should have done, Lindor attempted a spin throw to first base, which bounced off Pete Alonso’s glove into no-man’s land, allowing two runs to score instead of one. Megill then walked Jasson Domínguez and Anthony Volpe hit a sacrifice fly to plate yet another run. Megill then walked the seven and eight hitters back-to-back to force in another run and suddenly the Yankees had a 4-0 lead.
With Megill unable to put the inning to bed, his night ended early after just 2 2⁄3 innings. Max Kranick came in the game for mop-up duty and finally stopped the bleeding, getting Jorbit Vivas to pop out to end the inning. The Mets scratched a run back in the top of the fourth on a Soto walk and a pair of singles by Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo. But unlike Megill, Carlos Rodón was able to prevent the big inning, though his pitch count ballooned such that he only lasted five innings. Kranick stayed in the game for two more innings, but the Yankees added a couple of runs off him in the fourth. With one out, Aaron Judge singled and Cody Bellinger followed with a double into the right field corner. With the infield in, Paul Goldschmidt hit a sharp grounder just past a diving Mark Vientos to plate Judge and extend the Yankees’ lead to 5-1. Domíngez then contributed an RBI groundout to score Bellinger and plate the Yankees’ sixth run.
Both teams’ bullpens kept the opposition off the board in the middle innings. Jonathan Loásiga and Mark Leiter Jr. each contributed a scoreless inning for the Yankees and José Buttó pitched two hitless innings for the Mets. Beleaguered displaced Yankees closer Devin Williams pitched the eighth inning and faced Pete Alonso for the first time since the fateful postseason home run last season and exorcised a personal demon by striking out Alonso. In fact, Williams struck out the side in the eighth.
Dedniel Núñez continued his campaign to try to stay in the big leagues with a scoreless eighth, but with two out and two on, Cody Bellinger hit a high fly ball to right that seemed destined to be a Yankee Stadium wall-scraper, but Juan Soto caught it right up against the right field wall as he was serenaded by the bleacher creatures. The Mets were able to mount enough of a rally off Yerry De los Santos in the ninth to necessitate the Yankees bringing in their closer Luke Weaver to get the last out, but the comeback effort fell short. With one out, Francisco Alvarez walked and then Brett Baty struck out in a pinch hitting appearance for Luisangel Acuña. Also pinch hitting, Jeff McNeil then walked as well to bring up Francisco Lindor, who slashed a double down the left field line to score Alvarez. With Juan Soto coming up, the Yankees brought in Weaver. It could have been a storybook moment, but Soto flew out to center field in rather anticlimactic fashion to end the game.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Brandon Nimmo, +6.2% WPA
Big Mets loser: Tylor Megill, -25.4% WPA
Mets pitchers: -28.9% WPA
Mets hitters: -21.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brandon Nimmo’s RBI single in the fourth, +7.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Paul Goldschmidt’s infield hit in the third on which Francisco Lindor made a throwing error to plate the first two runs of the game, -16.7% WPA