The Yankees used a dropped pop up to beat the Mets Tuesday night. No, it wasn’t Luis Castillo dropping the ball. This time, it was star first baseman Pete Alonso.
In a 2-2 game in the bottom of the 7th, Yankee rookie Oswaldo Cabrera led off with a single. The Yankees then did the unthinkable and used Isiah Kiner-Falefa to sacrifice bunt Cabrera to second.
Jose Trevino came on to pinch hit and hit a pop up down the right field line. Alonso ranged out, spun around, and missed the ball as it tucked inside of the right field foul line.
With first and third, Andrew Benintendi stepped up and continued his hot hitting with an opposite field RBI single to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. That was followed up by a 2-out Aaron Judge RBI single to make it 4-2.
Judge also walloped his major league leading 48th home run earlier in the game a gargantuan 453 feet.
It wouldn’t be the Subway Series without drama, though. In the top of the 9th, the Mets put together a threat against Yankee reliever Clarke Schmidt. With two outs, pinch-hitter Tyler Naquin walked, Brandon Nimmo hit an infield single, then Starling Marte grinded out a walk.
The Yankees turned to the bullpen and asked Wandy Peralta to get the final out with the bases loaded. Up stepped Francisco Lindor with a chance to once again play the hero for the Mets. He lined a ball foul down the left field line that left the stadium in silence.
Peralta finally got Lindor to reach out and lift a fly ball to center field for the final out and completion of the 2-game sweep for the Yankees.
A point that should not go overlooked: in the top of the 5th, the Mets had runners on second and third, and two outs. Starling Marte hit a single to Cabrera in right. The rookie, who has played sterling defense since being called up a week ago, added to the list. In one motion, he came up and threw a one hop strike to home plate to cut down a would-be run and keep the game at 2-1 at the time.
The night prior in Game One of the series, the Yankees faced a daunting task of having to hit against Mets ace Max Scherzer. He dominated the Yankees the last time the teams squared off, but this game was a tad different.
The Yankees struck first on a sac fly in the first inning. When the Mets tried to appeal a runner having left early on the tag from third, Anthony Rizzo tried to stop the Mets from doing so by breaking from first and being tagged out.
The ball was thrown into center field on the play, but when Rizzo made a move to try for third, the umpires told him the ball was not in play and he had to return to third.
On his way back, Lindor and Rizzo exchanged words in a little bit of a heated exchange. Tempers nearly flared, but ultimately nothing came of it.
After looking positively silly against Scherzer, Aaron Judge got some revenge and flew his 47th home run of the season over the right field wall to make it 2-0.
After a Benintendi double to bring in the third run of the game, the Yankees dropped a pop up of their own. Yankees fans were probably thinking, “here we go again” as the next batter Daniel Vogelbach hit a 2-run home run to make it 3-2.
The Yankees would add one more run on another Benintendi RBI hit and hold on to win 4-2.
The Yankees have won 3 in a row after the Mets series, and all 3 have been thanks to the offensive emergence of Andrew Benintendi. Including the big hits against the Mets, he had a 2-run go ahead home run against the Blue Jays on Sunday- a welcomed sight, as the Yankees are now finally seeing the fruit of that trade.
As for the Mets, this is just a mini-slide on their quest for win no. 80. They only hold a 2-game lead over the Atlanta Braves, as of Wednesday, August 23. Thus, the NL East race should be a nailbiter coming down to the wire.
This year’s 4 games between the Yankees and Mets were entertaining ones, to say the least this season. Could there be more on the way? The Big Apple can only hope.
