Starling Marte's walk-off hit gives Mets sweep of Yanks
The Mets' Starling Marte celebrates with teammates after his walk-off single against the Yankees at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Buck Showalter decided to use the eighth inning of the second game of the Subway Series to try a little experiment:
David Peterson, high-leverage reliever.
Five pitches later — four balls to Anthony Rizzo and a two-run homer by Gleyber Torres — and the Yankees had tied a riveting contest at Citi Field.
Peterson’s blown save in his fifth career relief appearance canceled out seven shutout innings from Max Scherzer that included a pair of dramatic showdowns in RBI situations with Aaron Judge, both of which ended with inning-ending strikeouts.
In the end, the Mets recovered to sweep the two-game series with a walk-off 3-2 victory on Starling Marte’s one-out single to left in the ninth.
Eduardo Escobar, who had struck out in his first three at-bats, led off the ninth with a first-pitch double off Wandy Peralta and moved to third on a sacrifice by Tomas Nido.
Brandon Nimmo singled off the glove of Peralta, but Escobar had to hold at third base.
Marte – who had also struck out in his first three at-bats -- sent the Mets fans in the sellout crowd of 43,693 home happy with a clean line single over the leaping try of drawn-in shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
The first pitch of the game and the last pitch were thrown by players on their birthdays (Scherzer, 38, and Peralta, 31).
The Yankees went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, making them 0-for-15 in those situations in the series.
“It’s one of those games – you’re playing a really good team,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “A really good baseball game broke out and we were on the short side of it. But we’re unfazed. We know where we’re going and that’s our focus.”
After the game, the Yankees acquired lefthanded-hitting outfielder Andrew Benintendi from Kansas City, which visits Yankee Stadium for a four-game series starting Thursday, in exchange for three pitching prospects.
How’s this for Subway Series drama? Scherzer vs. Judge, seventh inning, a two-run Mets lead, two men on base, the sellout crowd getting its money’s worth.
Judge had already fanned twice against Scherzer on down-and-away sliders.
Scherzer helped create the drama by walking DJ LeMahieu on five pitches to bring up Judge.
Pitch 1: slider for a called strike. Pitch 2: slider for a swinging strike. Pitch 3: slider for a ball. Pitch 4: 97-mile per hour fastball, fouled straight back, Judge on it.
Pitch 5: slider, 85 mph, waved at and missed for strike three.
On Scherzer’s pitch No. 99. Judge went 0-for-5 with three Ks.
“Max was . . . wow,” Showalter said.
With Edwin Diaz and Adam Ottavino unavailable after combining for the final three innings in Tuesday’s 6-3 Mets victory, when Showalter pulled Scherzer to start the eighth he went to the lefty Peterson with Rizzo and Matt Carpenter sandwiching Torres in the order.
“Just kind of where we were in our bullpen,” Showalter said. “It’s a good learning experience for him.”
Yankees starter Domingo German allowed two runs in 4 2⁄3 innings.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead when Pete Alonso homered just over the orange line and off the railing in left leading off the second. Alonso’s 26th home run was his 132nd as a Met. That tied him for seventh place in franchise history with Michael Conforto.
Scherzer retired the first six Yankees with ease before Hicks led off the third with a bloop single to right-center. LeMahieu singled two outs later to set up the first heavyweight Scherzer vs. Judge showdown of the night.
Scherzer got the better of the Yankees’ AL MVP candidate, striking out Judge on 2-and-2 with an 86-mile per hour slider.
Francisco Lindor gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the third with a two-out, RBI single to right that scored Nido, who led off the inning with a double to the left-centerfield wall.
The Yankees lead the regular-season series, 76-60. The teams square off again on Aug. 22-23 in the Bronx.
How did Showalter enjoy his first Subway Series? Probably about as much as jubilant Mets fans did leaving the ballpark as [for now] kings of New York.
“It’s very important to our fans, which makes it important to us,” he said. “We like them to think good things about their time here and their team. It’s their team and some of them had a long stake in it for a number of years. Anytime – especially with the traffic they’re going to have to fight now – I want them to think good things and not be afraid to turn the radio on.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
