You have to go back to May 7 to find the last time the Mets were a .500 team. For those inquiring minds, that’s 50 days, or just over seven weeks, ago. The Mets defeated the Cardinals 7-5 at Busch Stadium that day, with José Butto—remember him?—earning the victory. The sunset in New York was not yet 8:00pm (7:58pm, to be exact). NYC public school children still had a ways to go before summer vacation (which began earlier today).
With an 12-2 victory over the Yankees at Citi Field on Wednesday night, the Mets clawed their way back up to .500. It marked the second time in three years that the Mets swept their crosstown counterparts at Citi Field, after not accomplishing the feat in any season between 2014 and 2021. The Mets now have a 39-39 record, remaining 1.5 games back in the NL Wild Card race after the Padres picked up their third straight win to keep pace. Although, with the Diamondbacks loss, the Mets have, at least for the time being, leapfrogged every team ahead of them in the race, needing to just eclipse San Diego to climb into the final NL playoff spot.
Wednesday’s game kicked off in similar fashion to Tuesday’s contest, with the Mets in early trouble. After Mark Vientos robbed Anthony Volpe of a potential leadoff double with a stellar diving play—Pete Alonso also extended himself to save Vientos’ throw and retire Volpe—Sean Manaea walked the next three batters to load the bases. In doing so, he became the first Mets starter ever to walk the bases loaded in the first inning in back-to-back starts. Whereas he surrendered a run his last time out, he was able to get the slumping Alex Verdugo to ground into a double play this time around, which helped him erase the Yankees’ threat. The Mets would go on to load the bases in the bottom of the frame, but they too would not score.
Neither team would plate a run in the second, and Manaea would go on to record his lone 1-2-3 inning in the third. The Mets finally broke through against Luis Gil in the third and grabbed a lead that they would never relinquish. After Francisco Lindor led off with a double—his second two-bagger in two at-bats—Brandon Nimmo walked, which set up a J.D. Martinez run-scoring bloop single. After Pete Alonso grounded into a double play, Francisco Alvarez homered to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.
Manaea got into trouble again in the fourth, surrendering a leadoff hit to Aaron Judge and issuing his second walk to ex-Met J.D. Davis. The left-hander once again skirted trouble by getting a double play from Alex Verdugo. He worked around a two-out walk in the fifth to complete his five shutout frames. Manaea ended up throwing 41 of his 77 pitches (53%) for strikes, and while he issued five walks against just three strikeouts, he only surrendered two hits.
The Mets added four runs in the fifth, separated by an 87 minute rain delay. Both Nimmo and Pete Alonso worked out walks against Gil, who was lifted from the game in favor of Caleb Ferguson following the Alonso free pass. Alvarez then drove in his third run of the game with a double that sailed over Soto’s head and careened off the right field wall. That proved to be the final batter who would complete an at-bat before the skies opened up, bringing severe weather and forcing the groundscrew to bring out the tarp.
When play resumed after an hour and a half, Yoendrys Gómez took the hill for the Bronx Bombers and immediately walked Tyrone Taylor to load the bases for Mark Vientos, who promptly drew a walk to force in the fifth run of the game. Jeff McNeil then lobbed a fly ball into right, which carried deep enough to bring Alvarez home. Harrison Bader kept the party going, driving an opposite field double that brought home Taylor. Lindor would fly out to end the frame, but the Mets finished the frame with a seven-run lead.
As they did on Tuesday, the Yankees chipped away against the Mets’ bullpen. As he did on Tuesday, Judge homered, this time launching a majestic two-run shot off Danny Young in the sixth inning. Judge’s 30th homer of the year left the bat at 112.7 mph and landed over the Great Wall of Flushing and into the left field seats. Adam Ottavino eventually came in to close out the inning, skating around a Vientos error to avoid further damage.
The Mets got those two runs back, plus one more, in the bottom half of the frame against Gómez. After the Yankees’ right-hander quickly retired the first two batters in the inning, Alonso worked a ten-pitch at-bat, eventually reaching on a hit by pitch. Alvarez followed that up with a single to extend the frame, and Tyrone Taylor brought down the house with a three-run homer to give the Mets an eight-run lead. Harrison Bader added a solo homer—his second in two nights—off Gómez in the seventh to make it a nine-run lead for New York. The Mets plated another in the eighth on a Vientos run-scoring single.
Adrian Houser closed out the final three innings to earn a save despite pitching with a relatively cushy lead. The Mets will look to make it four wins in a row and climb above .500 for the first time since May 2 as they get set to face Astros to Citi Field this weekend. Houston come to Queens as winners of seven straight and have also found themselves back at .500 following their recent torrid stretch. José Quintana will take the mound for New York on Friday night opposite Ronel Blanco.
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:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25508242/chart_1_.png "Mets 12, Yankees 2—Mets pummel Yankees before, after rain to complete Subway Series sweep (1)")
What’s WPA?
Big Mets winner: Francisco Alvarez, 24.9% WPA
Big Mets loser: Pete Alonso, -11.8% WPA
Mets pitchers: 22.9% WPA
Mets hitters: 27.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Alvarez homer in the third inning, 16.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: J.D. Davis walk in the fourth inning, -6.2% WPA
