The Yankees dropped game two of the Subway Series at Citi Field Saturday night, 6-3, and the game told its own story pretty efficiently. Rodón couldn't hold the ball in the third inning, Vientos made the Yankees pay with a two-run double in the fifth, and Devin Williams -- who signed a three-year, $51 million deal with the Mets last winter -- jogged out of their bullpen in the ninth and closed it out against his old teammates without breaking a sweat.
Series tied 1-1. Game three tomorrow.
The Third Inning Was Where It Started
The Yankees got there first, for the record. The Mets went with Huascar Brazobán as an opener -- he was sharp for 1 1/3 scoreless innings -- before David Peterson took over, and it was during that early stretch that the Yankees did their best work. Grisham singled in the second to score Chisholm, a clean ground ball to left that gave the Yanks a 1-0 lead.
Rodón had something to protect. He didn't hold it for long.
In the third, with runners on, Rodón bounced a pitch past Wells and made things considerably worse with a throwing error while trying to cut down a runner. Two Mets scored. Yankees 1, Mets 2. Brett Baty then drove a line-drive double off Judge's glove in the fourth to score Slater, and that was effectively it for Rodón -- gone after 3 2/3 innings, the Yankees trailing by two.
(His final line: 3 2/3 IP, 3H, 3R, 2 earned, 3BB, 6K. Six strikeouts is something worth building on. Three walks and a self-inflicted wild pitch is where the night came undone.)
The One Guy Who Came Through
Goldschmidt gave the Yankees their best moment of the night. Trailing 1-3 in the fifth with Ben Rice at third and Bellinger at first, Goldy grounded a single to right that scored Rice and cut the deficit to 2-3. He finished 2-for-4 with the RBI -- the highest WPA of any Yankee on the night -- and when the rest of the lineup was going sideways around him, he was the one guy who actually delivered with runners in scoring position.
Aaron Judge was solid too. He went 2-for-4 with a walk, scored the Yankees' third run in the seventh when Benge dropped Bellinger's fly ball in right field, and looked comfortable at the plate all night. The results didn't match how he hit the ball. Chisholm went 2-for-5, was the best baserunner on the team, and drove in nothing. The Yankees finished with 9 hits and 3 runs. They put men on base and couldn't turn it into anything consistent.
Vientos Did the Damage, Peterson Did the Work
Right after Goldschmidt's RBI made it 2-3, Brent Headrick came in for the fifth and gave up the hit that ended things. Mark Vientos lined a double to left -- the ball kicked off Rosario's glove at third and skidded past Bellinger -- and two Mets scored. Mets 5, Yankees 2. Vientos finished 1-for-4 with 3 RBI: two on the double, one on a groundout in the seventh that scored Bichette and closed the scoring at 6-3. He didn't need a big stat line. He just needed the right moments, and he found them.
Peterson was the story on the other side. He came in at 1-4 and struck out eight in four innings, which is a season-high and not a number you'd expect from a guy with that record. He gave up 6 hits and 2 runs and was the best pitcher on the field Saturday. Luke Weaver added a hold in the seventh when the Yankees briefly made it 3-5 on the Benge error, but Weaver got Grisham to strike out looking and induced Volpe into a force-out. The threat was done as fast as it started.
Devin Williams, Former Yankee, Gets the Save
Williams took the mound in the ninth, retired the Yankees in order, and picked up his sixth save of the season. Efficient. Comfortable. (There's a full column somewhere in watching your former closer shut you out against your crosstown rival, but tonight isn't the night for it.)
One last note from before the first pitch: the Yankees placed Max Fried on the 15-day IL with a left elbow bone bruise, retroactive to May 14. The rotation was already stretched. Now it's stretched a little further.
Game three at Citi Field tomorrow. The Yankees are 28-18 and 3-7 in their last ten. They'd really like to take this series.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
