It was another electric atmosphere at Yankee Stadium. A day after the Yankees faithful rained boos and expletives at Juan Soto, the crowd was treated to a hard-fought, nail-biter on Saturday.
Despite allowing two home runs, the Mets scraped together enough offense to beat the Yankees, 3-2, and even the Subway Series. There were mesmerizing defensive plays and clutch hits, but the cherry on top was the matchup between Edwin Diaz and Aaron Judge with two outs in the ninth and the game on the line.
Diaz would come out the victor, striking out Judge on a 3-2 heater up in the zone to preserve the one-run victory.
“Big league game, big league matchup. Every pitch was intense, every play,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the win. “One-run game and then you get the matchup of Diaz-Judgey. That’s what you pay for.”
While Diaz’s personal victory over Judge capped the win, it was the little things that helped the Mets take the middle game of this weekend’s series. Saturday’s starter Griffin Canning continued his stellar pitching, allowing two runs (both solo shots) in 5.1 innings.
“It was awesome. Fun to compete in,” Canning said of the atmosphere. “Awesome, awesome energy in the stadium and a fun lineup to compete against.”
Canning was followed by 3.2 scoreless innings from the Mets’ bullpen trio of Huascar Brazoban, Reed Garrett and Diaz. That allowed the Mets offense, which finished the game 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base, to scratch across the go-ahead run in the ninth.
That run was driven in by de facto captain Francisco Lindor. Against tough Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz, Luis Torrens drew a one-out walk and was lifted for pinch-runner Luisangel Acuña. Bertt Baty’s infield single and Tyrone Taylor‘s hit-by-pitch gave Lindor an opportunity to give the Mets the lead. After getting ahead 3-0 in the count, Lindor didn’t try to do too much, and lifted a sacrifice fly to allow the speedy Acuñato score.
“No one is trying to be the hero,” Lindor said of the team’s offensive mindset. “Just play the game.”
Lindor said his approach in that ninth-inning at-bat was to get a good pitch to hit and not put too much pressure on himself. As the shortstop said, “If I don’t get a good pitch to hit, then it’s Soto’s turn.”
Once he got to 3-1, Lindor wanted something to get in the air, and that’s what he did.
FRANCISCO LINDOR BRINGS HOME LUISANGEL ACUÑA WITH A SAC FLY!
METS LEAD IN THE 9TH! pic.twitter.com/bQxdWcB697
— SNY (@SNYtv) May 17, 2025
“Today was a good team win,” he said. “Good defense, good pitching. To beat a team like that, you have to do a lot of things the right way… Brazoban coming in with people on base, Garrett executing, Canning and then you have Diaz coming in looking really good. Torrens starting the game, [Francisco Alvarez] closing the game. Baty had like five great plays. And then just passing the baton in the offense. They have a really good pitching staff and have to take it one at-bat at a time.”
And what about the Subway Series so far?
“The atmosphere here has been fantastic. Whether it’s their fans or our fans, they’ve brought the energy,” Lindor said. “It’s been good. It’s the loudest it’s been of any of the Subway Series that I’ve played.”
Pete Alonso, who tied the game with an RBI single in the fourth, said the Citi Field crowd during last year’s NLDS against the Phillies — when Lindor hit the grand slam — was the loudest atmosphere he’s been a part of. But the 2025 Subway Series ranks “top three” for him.
The Mets’ slugger was asked how the team — especially Soto — has been able to handle the hostile environment.
“To be honest, it’s persistence and sticking to the gameplan and trust,” he said. “Trust in the guy in front of you and behind you. When it’s your turn in the box or whenever the ball is hit to you, you trust your preparedness. Every single guy trusts themselves and their teammates. That’s huge, especially in the later innings. There’s no second-guessing. Everyone has that connectedness and trust within each other.
“For us, the job at hand is to win the game….This team, this core, we’ve experienced a bunch of hostile environments. Especially with the playoffs and every time we play a couple of the in-division rivals, the Dodgers, it’s those super high-energy series. We are battle-tested in these types of environments. We’re excited for another exciting game tomorrow. It’s a great matchup and that’s a great team over there. That’s the beautiful part of the Subway Series, no matter what side you’re on, it’s that electric environment. It’s really fun baseball.”
The Mets will look to take the rubber game of the first Subway Series this season on Sunday. They’ll look to keep that “team” mentality as they go against arguably the best pitcher in baseball right now, Max Fried.
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