Yankees Hot Corner – Yankees take two in Subway Series

The New York Yankees and New York Mets met for the first of two series over the weekend, with the Yankees coming away with the series victory.  It was a story of good pitching and clutch home runs for both teams, and pretty much every starting pitcher for the Mets and Yankees was excellent.

Game one came down to one mistake made by Jacob deGrom.  After the Mets took an early 1-0 lead (which is a big one for their standards) the Yankees came scrapping back with a run late and Brett Gardner caught a pitch right down the middle from deGrom for a two run homer.  DeGrom left the game pitching 7.2 innings of three-run ball with little help from his offense, an unfortunate theme for the ace.  Gardner’s home run ultimately was the game winner, with Aaron Judge blasting a solo shot to put it away for the Yankees.

Masahiro Tanaka was his usual self, giving up a home run on the first pitch of the game to Brandon Nimmo then settling down to pitch five solid innings.  The Mets worked the count all game and got Tanaka out in the 6th (we’ll get to that in a little bit) but the Yankees bullpen was excellent as usual and shut down the anemic Mets offense.  Tanaka left the game after running home on a sac fly from Aaron Judge.  He landed awkwardly as he hit home plate and limped off the field and into the clubhouse.  The Yankees later put him on the 10 day DL.  There will surely be an article on that.

Game two was another example of why the Mets have struggled this season.  They took an early 3-0 lead on Domingo German after an Asdrubal Cabrera home run, Brandon Nimmo triple and Todd Frazier home run.  German was able to settle down after the first few innings and pitch a solid six innings with nine strikeouts.  Steven Matz was strong in the beginning, but a Gleyber Torres home run in the third seemed to take Matz off his game.

Matz made his mistake on a hanging breaking ball to Miguel Andujar, who blasted a two run home run to tie the game at three.  The Yankees bullpen stepped up once again to limit any damage, and Aaron Judge was able to crush a curveball off Anthony Swarzak in the 8th to give the Yankees the 4-3 lead.  That lead would hold as David Robertson worked out of trouble and Aroldis Chapman closed the door on the Mets to secure the series win.

Game three was a masterful performance by Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman.  The Mets, who receive little run support to begin with, were able to keep the Yankees’ bats at bay all game long.  Lugo pitched six STRONG innings and Gsellman made sure that the Yankees were not to win, shutting the door on them after Jose Reyes left it wide open with an unprecedented gaffe.  Reyes was on the receiving end of a trademark double play when he didn’t step on second base and threw the ball away at first, leaving Miguel Andujar and Aaron Judge safe.  The Mets would not let that mistake ruin their night, as Gsellman worked out of the jam and won the third game for the Mets.

This Subway Series was a battle between great starting pitchers, and ultimately the Yankees got the best of the Mets due to timely hits.  Pretty much the entire series hung in the balance of a few home runs, as Frazier won it for the Mets with the long ball, as did Gardner and Judge.  It’ll be interesting to see if the Mets can find their mojo for their series in July.  If not, it’ll be another series win for the Yankees.