When the Yankees aren't going well, an Interleague Citi Series with the Mets tends to not help.
Remember: It's not a "Subway Series" unless it's a World Series. Nobody ever called regular-season games between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers a "Subway Series." That was reserved for October contests between either of those teams and the Yankees.
At first, it looked pretty good for the Yankees: Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run off Max Scherzer. But then it fell apart: Luis Severino had nothing, giving up 6 runs in less than 5 innings.
And yet, he outlasted the future Hall-of-Famer Scherzer. Anthony Rizzo led off the top of the 4th with a single, and DJ LeMahieu hit a home run. Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled. Billy McKinney grounded out. Kyle Higashioka singled. Anthony Volpe doubled IKF home. Jake Bauers singled Higgy and Volpe home. Scherzer had blown a 5-1 lead, and it was 6-5 Yankees. Buck Showalter, the former Yankee manager now messing up a 2nd New York team, took Scherzer out.
The Mets tied the game in the bottom of the 5th, and Aaron Boone took Severino out, and brought in Ron Marinaccio. He was followed by Jimmy Cordero, Tommy Kahnle, Wandy Peralta, Clay Holmes and Michael King. Between them, these 6 relievers pitched 4 1/3rd innings, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks, but no runs.
McKinney led off the top of the 6th by beating out an infield single, and advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch. Higashioka struck out. Volpe sent a drive to right field that looked like it would be caught, so McKinney had to hold up. But Met center fielder Brandon Nimmo, who had homered earlier, "pulled a Luis Castillo," and dropped the ball. That shut those orange-shirted "7 Line Army" dopes in center field up. So McKinney could only get to 3rd, while Volpe ended up on 2nd. Josh Donaldson hit a sacrifice fly to score McKinney.
The key moment came in the bottom of the 8th. Aaron Boone made the mistake of bringing Peralta in. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially
the leadoff variety. Peralta walked Mark Canha. Then he gave up a single to Nimmo. He got Francisco Alvarez to ground to short, forcing Nimmo out at 2nd. But he hit Jeff McNeil with a pitch, loading the bases with 1 out.
Boone brought Holmes on, to face the man who, at least in terms of pre-acquisition hype, should have been the Mets' best hitter: Francisco Lindor. And next up was Starling Marte. Holmes was a little wild, going to 3-and-2 on each of them. But he found enough guts and enough control to strike them both out, and leave the bases loaded. King finished the Mets off in the bottom of the 9th.
Yankees 7, Mets 6. The right result against The Other Team. WP: Marinaccio (3-3, and he deserved it, because 2 of his losses are due to the extra-inning "ghost runner" rule). SV: King (4). LP: Josh Walker (0-1).
The brief series concludes tonight, as we are once again doing the "two games in Flushing, two in The Bronx" thing, although, this time, not all four in a row. It's ace vs. ace, both former Houston Astro Pennant winners: Gerrit Cole vs. Justin Verlander.