Former Yankees help Mets beat old team in Subway Series Game 2
NEW YORK — The Mets have made it a trend in recent years to sign players after they’ve made names for themselves in the Bronx. They currently have five former Yankees on the roster, plus manager Carlos Mendoza, who spent 13 years with the team across town in various capacities, including as Aaron Boone’s bench coach. So when the Mets used four of those former players to beat the Yankees 6-3 on Saturday night at Citi Field, it wasn’t so much the revenge of the pinstripes as much as it was revenge against the pinstripes Saturday night at Citi Field.
The Subway Series is tied 1-1. Boone keyed in on one of his former players, specifically, in the fifth inning, Juan Soto, but it was the player behind him he should have been more concerned about. With one on and one out in the fifth inning and the Mets up by one run, the Yankees replaced right-hander Jake Bird with left-hander Brent Headrick to face Soto, with Mark Vientos right behind him.
The Yankees clearly wanted the matchup against the left-handed Soto, but Vientos has historically hit left-handed pitching hard. Headrick threw sinker after sinker, trying to get Soto to ground into a double play, but the Yankee-turned-Met drew a walk instead. History then repeated itself when Vientos took an 0-1 splitter and drove it into the left-field corner to score two runners, giving the Mets some much-needed separation on the scoreboard.
It was a moral victory of sorts, coming one night after the team’s best starting pitcher, right-hander Clay Holmes, suffered a fractured fibula in the loss. The Mets (19-26) are battered, bruised and broken — literally and figuratively — right now, desperate to gain ground in the standings before it’s too late. Wins like this sure don’t hurt that cause.
The first two runs came in the third when they capitalized on a wild pitch by left-hander Carlos Rodon, and pulled the Mets ahead of their crosstown rivals, 2-1. Rodon struck out the 8-9 hitters to turn the lineup over, with catcher Luis Torrens battling him for 10 pitches before striking out for out No. 2.