New York Yankees 6 – New York Mets (10 innings)
After the first “sell” by the Yankees in more than a quarter century, the Yankees began the Subway Series in Queens.
In the first inning against Logan Verrett, the Yankees got early excitement. Brett Gardner hit a fly ball to deep center field where center fielder Justin Ruggiano could not come down with it. As Gardner sprinted around the bases, the Yankees left fielder tried to score on the opening play but a relay home caught him to deny the Yankees the most exciting start to a game this year.
CC Sabathia pitched a perfect first inning but Wilmer Flores put the first run of the game on the board when he led off the second inning with a solo home run. The game remained 1-0 until the fourth inning. Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double and after a walk of Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann flew out to right to advance Ellsbury to third. With one out, Verrett threw a wild pitch that allowed Ellsbury to score and tie the game.
The top of the order came through in the fifth inning. Rob Refsnyder led off the fifth inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice by CC Sabathia. Brett Gardner hit a double down the right field line to score the go-ahead run and Jacoby Ellsbury brought home Gardner with a single to shallow left center field.
After a one-out pinch hit single by Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto brought home the Mets’ second run of the game on a double. In the sixth inning, Wilmer Flores reached on an infield single and Travis d’Arnaud added a single of his own. With one out, Matt Reynolds hit a three-run home run to put the Mets back ahead by two. CC Sabathia managed to get one out but a walk of pinch-hitting pitcher Steven Matz ended his night. Richard Bleier faced two batters but Nick Goody got the last out to end the inning despite the damage done.
In 5 2/3 innings, CC Sabathia allowed five runs on eight hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless seventh inning and the Mets retained the two-run lead until the eighth inning. Against lefty Jerry Blevins, Brett Gardner led off with a walk. After a strikeout of Ellsbury, Addison Reed came on to face Mark Teixeira and got the first out before Brian McCann got on base with a single. Ronald Torreyes came on as a pinch runner and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. This came up huge as Didi Gregorius battled in an eight-pitch at-bat to drop a single into left center field for two runs to tie the game, 5-5.
Adam Warren pitched two hitless innings of relief to bring the game into extra innings. In the 10th inning, Seth Lugo walked Jacoby Ellsbury and a single by Mark Teixeira put two on with no outs. Pinch-hitter Ben Gamel attempted to sacrifice Ellsbury and Teixeira into scoring position but a throw to third for the lead out was too late, loading the bases with no outs. Didi Gregorius struck out but Starlin Castro hit a fly ball to right that scored the go-ahead run.
With Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman dealt away, Dellin Betances was tasked with the closing duties. James Loney led off the bottom half of the 10th with a double and advanced on a ground ball back to Betances. Alejandro De Aza walked but a ground out to Betances did not score the tying run and a strikeout of Curtis Granderson ended tonight’s game with a Yankees win.
Win – Adam Warren (4-2)
Loss – Seth Lugo (0-1)
Save – Dellin Betances (1)
Notables
Yankees
*Didi Gregorius – 1 for 5, 2 RBI (45)
*Brett Gardner – 2 for 4, 2 R, BB, 2B, 3B, RBI (32)
Mets
*Matt Reynolds – 2 for 4, R, 2B, Three-run home run (2) in the 6th, 3 RBI (9)
*Wilmer Flores – 2 for 4, 2 R, BB, Solo home run (11) in the 2nd, RBI (29)
Current Yankees Record: 53-52
