Mets demolish Yankees on wild weather night to sweep two-game Subway Series
The skies opened in the bottom of the fifth. Seconds after Francisco Alvarez’s RBI double, there was no drizzle but a zero-to-100 downpour that led to an 87-minute deluge delay.
It was appropriate on a night the Mets brought the thunder, and the Yankees were soaked.
The Subway Series reinforced what had been true a few days ago: The Mets are rolling, and the Yankees have been derailed.
Carlos Mendoza’s group kept on chugging in a 12-2 destruction of Aaron Boone’s club on Wednesday, completing a two-game sweep in front of a sellout crowd of 43,004 at Citi Field that left both teams heading in opposite directions.
The Mets (39-39) have won 15 of 19 and moved to .500 for the first time since they were 18-18 on May 7.
“I’m not going to lie: Where we were a few weeks ago, to be in this position now is important,” Mendoza said of a club that was 11 games under .500 on May 28. “Knowing we’ve got work to do and we’ve got a long way to go.”
The Yankees (52-30), who lost just three of their first 22 series this year, have dropped four straight series and eight of 10 games.
“It sucks. You don’t like getting your teeth kicked in,” Boone said after his team was swept for the first time. “It’s been a crappy two weeks for us, but it’s part of it. We know it’s coming — adversity is going to hit you.”
The Mets own an increasingly relentless offense that is punishing opposing pitching staffs.
A lineup that suddenly has no weakness, both imposing at the top and lengthy at the bottom, has averaged 8.1 runs in its past nine games.
The Mets blasted seven home runs in two days against the Yankees.
Each night seems to bring a different set of heroes: Alvarez homered and drove in three; Tyrone Taylor’s three-run homer turned a contest into a crushing; and Harrison Bader, well, poured it on with a seventh-inning solo shot.
The Yankees’ lineup issues have been laid bare, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto unable to prop up a group that is lacking even a third option, much less a bottom of the order.
Non-Judge and -Soto hitters went a combined 8-for-55 (.145) with eight walks and no extra-base hits in the two games.
The lineup has become an issue, and suddenly the rotation has, too.
“Had a light shined on some things, and we need to get better at things, and we need to get it going,” Boone said after first Gerrit Cole and then Luis Gil were knocked around, “but full confidence that we will.”
Gil’s ERA has spiked a full run, from 2.03 to 3.15, in two outings.
After his dud against the Orioles last week, the rookie again struggled with his control in allowing five runs on four hits and four walks in 4 ¹/₃ innings.
Boone believed Gil was struggling mechanically, the club hoping it is not seeing the first signs of the 26-year-old tiring.
“I feel very healthy,” Gil, whose innings are a concern in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “I feel very strong.”
Gil succumbed to the Mets’ bats in the third.
J.D. Martinez poked a single into right field to drive in Francisco Lindor.
Two batters later, Alvarez cracked a two-run shot to right field and raised his arm rounding first, jump-starting what became a rain-interrupted party in Queens.
The Mets did not need much more from the offense, but got plenty on the other side of the delay.
In the fifth, the Mets scored on a bases-loaded walk to Mark Vientos and a sac fly from Jeff McNeil before Bader lined an RBI double.
After Judge blasted a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to bring the Yankees within 7-2, the Mets answered with a two-out rally against Yoendrys Gomez in the bottom of the inning, Taylor’s laser to left draining any possible remaining drama.
A few big innings was more than enough to sink the Yankees, who finished with six hits.
Sean Manaea navigated through danger for five scoreless innings (two hits, five walks). Adrian Houser tossed the final three innings for his first career save.
“[Reaching .500 is] not the mission, but it does feel good that we are on the right track,” Lindor said. “We’ve got to continue to climb the mountain.”
