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Starling Marte singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the New York Mets beat the crosstown Yankees 3-2 on Wednesday night for a two-game sweep of their Subway Series.
Max Scherzer was marvelous on his 38th birthday, striking out Aaron Judge three times to help the Mets take a 2-0 lead into the eighth. Gleyber Torres tied it with a two-run homer off inexperienced reliever David Peterson, normally a starter.
Pete Alonso homered early off Domingo Germán, and Francisco Lindor had an RBI single for the Mets before a sellout crowd at Citi Field.
Making his Subway Series debut, Scherzer permitted five hits over seven innings and struck out six — including Judge in two big situations.
Eduardo Escobar doubled on the first pitch from Wandy Peralta (2-3), who entered in the ninth on his 31st birthday. Escobar advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Tomás Nido, who doubled and scored earlier.
Escobar held at third when Brandon Nimmo reached on an infield single that a lunging Peralta was unable to corral cleanly. Marte then ripped a line drive into left field over a drawn-in infield to give the Mets their ninth walk-off win against the Yankees.
Seth Lugo (2-2) struck out three in 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win.
The Mets extended their NL East lead to three games over Atlanta with their seventh victory in the last nine meetings against the Yankees. This series marked only the second time the city rivals were both in first place when they squared off — the other came in April 2015.
With the Mets’ win on this night, the Empire State Building in Manhattan was set to be lit in blue and orange all night.
The teams will play two more times this season in late August at Yankee Stadium.
Scuffling through an extended stretch for the first time all year, the AL East-leading Yankees finished a 2-5 road trip coming out of the All-Star break. They’ve dropped 10 of their last 15 games.
Judge, who leads the majors with 38 home runs, fanned three times on sliders from Scherzer. The first came with two on to end the third, and the last with runners at the corners to finish the seventh.
With chanting fans of both teams on their feet in the crowd of 43,693 and sensing the big moment, Judge fouled off the only fastball he saw — a 97 mph heater that was Scherzer’s hardest pitch of the night.
Then he whiffed on an 86 mph slider down and away, the 99th and final pitch from Scherzer. The three-time Cy Young Award winner walked coolly off the mound before emphatically slapping high-fives with teammates in the dugout.
Scherzer also pitched out of trouble in the fifth, when DJ LeMahieu lined out to shortstop with two on, and sixth, when a frustrated Josh Donaldson slammed down his helmet after grounding out to the pitcher on a slider with runners at the corners.
N.Y. Mets 3, N.Y. Yankees 2
Top image: New York Mets’ Pete Alonso (20) celebrates with Starling Marte after Marte hit an RBI single during the ninth inning of the team’s baseball game against the New York Yankees on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, in New York. The Mets won 3-2. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
