With his 21st home run of the season, Juan Soto exacted retribution on the Yankees, but it was a homegrown hero, Jeff McNeil, who put the Mets back on front for good in the bottom of the seventh.
Luke Weaver hit the 2022 NL batting champion on a full-count changeup with one on and two out. To put the Mets ahead 6-5, he connected and drove it to the right field bleachers for a game-winning two-run bomb. Despite their pitching shortage, the Mets managed to defeat the Yankees on Friday afternoon at Citi Field.
Both sides were among the league’s top teams when they last faced each other in May. The topic of conversation was Soto’s alleged discontent with living in Queens rather than the Bronx. The first part of the home-and-home season series ended in a 2-1 loss for the Mets as they began to falter.
Since then, injuries have plagued both of them; the Mets (51-38) lost their Friday starting only one day before the game began. Paul Blackburn had a shoulder impingement on Thursday, forcing the team to call up a starter from Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets were forced to use the bullpen after right-hander Justin Hagenman (48–40) held the Yankees to three runs while maxing out about 70 pitches in the fifth.
Austin Warren, a right-hander, hit Jasson Dominguez with his second home run of the game right away. A 3-3 tie was broken by a two-run shot.
With Dominguez and Aaron Judge hitting back-to-back off Hagenman to start the game and put the Mets behind early, July 4 was full of fireworks. However, Soto’s own two-run homer off former Mets right-hander Marcus Stroman in the bottom of the first inning leveled the score.
The Yankees seemed to have an answer for everything, while the Mets battled and scrapped. The Mets led in the bottom of the third on a double by Soto with one out and an RBI single by Pete Alonso, but Cody Bellinger hit a home run in the top of the fourth to tie the score at three.
Hagenman walked No. 9 hitter D.J. Lemahieu after getting the first out in the bottom of the fifth. Warren fell behind the Martian 3-1 before leaving a sinker over the plate. Last week, Warren pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings after Griffin Canning tore his Achilles. Dominguez gave the Yankees the lead once more. So far this season, the rookie left fielder has eight.
The Mets were within one run after Brett Baty hit a home run in the sixth, but Ronny Mauricio’s baserunning error robbed them the opportunity to score any more runs that inning. when making it to second safely, Mauricio was tagged off bag when Brandon Nimmo grounded into a fielder’s choice.
However, the Mets’ fortunes changed in the seventh. Infielder/outfielder McNeil, who had two of his worst seasons prior to winning the NL hitting title in 2022, is having a successful season. Instead of attempting to spray the ball to every field, he is using what the game allows him to hit with more force, particularly to the pull side.
The game’s last two outs came from McNeil, who assisted right-hander Reed Garrett in the ninth inning by diving to stop a ground ball from D.J. LeMahieu.
For a pitcher with an ERA above 15.00 over the past month, Garrett’s six outs for the save was a tremendous performance.
The Mets fans attempted to block out the jeers from the opposing fans as Soto made his way to the plate for his first at-bat. It was unsuccessful. The last laugh, however, went to Soto and the Mets.
