Edwin Díaz struck out Aaron Judge to save the New York Mets’ 3-2 win over the New York Yankees on Saturday afternoon. Each team has won a game in the “Subway Series” during MLB’s rivalry weekend, with the decisive game getting a national spotlight on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”
The Yankees opened the scoring in the third inning, with DJ LeMahieu hitting his first home run of the season off Griffin Canning. The right-hander pitched another strong game in his first season with the Mets. Canning has hurled six consecutive outings allowing two or fewer runs. The two runs against the Yankees are tied for the second-most he’s allowed all year.
Pete Alonso tied the score at 1-1 for the Mets in the fourth after Clarke Schmidt walked Francisco Lindor and gave up a single to Juan Soto to open the inning. Soto then stole third base and Mark Vientos drove him in with a sacrifice fly to put the Mets on top, 2-1.
Canning lost the chance for his sixth win of the season when he hung a slider to Cody Bellinger down the middle of the strike zone. Bellinger blasted that over the bullpen in right-center field for a 2-2 tie.
The Mets took a 3-2 in the top of the ninth, which began with Luis Torrens drawing a walk against Fernando Cruz. With Luisangel Acuña pinch-running, he advanced to third on a single by Brett Baty and Tyrone Taylor getting hit by a pitch. Lindor followed with a shallow fly ball to left-center field, but it was deep enough for the speedy Acuña to tag up and score the go-ahead run.
Díaz closed out the game with a 1-2-3 inning, striking out pinch-hitter Austin Wells, getting Ben Rice to line out and then getting Judge to swing and miss at a high inside fastball on a 3-2 count.
“I was just trying to go after him. I know he’s a great hitter, but I’ve got really good stuff,” Díaz told SNY’s Steve Gelbs afterward.
The Mets closer added later that he was all right if he missed with his fastball high, hoping Judge would chase it. Judge went 0 for 5 on Saturday with three strikeouts, but is still batting .402/.488/.753 for the season.
With the loss, the Yankees dropped to 26-19, but still hold a 4.5-game lead over the Boston Red Sox atop the AL East. The Mets improved to 26-17 and maintained a two-game lead in the NL East, pending the Philadelphia Phillies’ matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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