Mets' Taijuan Walker takes no-hitter into sixth inning in thorough rout of Yankees

Amazin’ what a day of rest can do.

Fresh off a wet postponement Friday night — an unexpected respite amid a stretch of 18 games in 17 days, with no scheduled days off — the Mets put together one of their more well-rounded efforts in recent weeks, an 8-3 win over the Yankees on Saturday.

Brandon Nimmo (3-for-6) and Jeurys Familia (1 1/3 perfect innings) had successful appearances in their first game back from the injured list. Dominic Smith collected three hits and three RBIs, Francisco Lindor two hits and two walks. And Taijuan Walker took a no-hitter into the sixth, finishing 5 2/3 innings with two runs allowed.

"That rainout did help, because that would’ve been a grinder, for sure," Nimmo said, noting that the team got home from Atlanta at 4 a.m. Friday. "That’s one where you don’t have a ton of sleep, don’t have a ton of energy and you just gotta try to find it somewhere.

"This allowed the guys to get back, get a good night’s rest and come ready to go today. And it showed in the way we played."

That was more than enough for the Mets (42-36) to pick up their second win in six games in the past week. The Yankees (41-40) have lost six of seven. They played in front of a crowd of 40,047, the largest at a New York baseball game since the pandemic began.

The Mets broke through against lefthander Jordan Montgomery for three runs in 4 1/3 innings. All of them scored in the fifth inning, when five consecutive batters reached base and Smith and James McCann had RBI singles.

They blew it open with five runs in the sixth. Smith (two-run double) and Kevin Pillar (two-run single) had the big blows.

The Mets are 33-6 when scoring at least four runs. Eight runs registered as a bona fide outburst for a team that began the day averaging 3.57, 29th among 30 teams.

The top third of the batting order — Nimmo, Lindor, Smith — went 8-for-15 with six runs and four RBIs.

It was a particularly impressive effort from Nimmo, who missed one-third of the season with an injured left hand. He said he can be an offensive catalyst "just by being me," but he didn’t expect it to come this quickly.

"I did surprise myself a little bit," Nimmo said. "But I was really, really glad to be able to help, be able to get on base and be able to create some traffic for the guys. And the guys came through with some big hits. It was a very good surprise."

Manager Luis Rojas added: "He did today what we expect him to do."

And Smith: "A huge bat that we missed. It was great to have him back out there. We saw what we were missing the last couple of months when he’s been out."

Walker walked two, struck out five and worked around a high pitch count throughout his outing, so he had virtually no chance at finishing the game even if the Yankees remained hitless.

Aaron Judge relieved that tension with a 387-foot homer to rightfield to end the shutout bid along with the no-hitter. Giancarlo Stanton also singled, ending Walker’s day at 106 pitches, and scored when Miguel Castro allowed all three of his batters to reach base.

With a 2.44 ERA, Walker was tied with the Padres’ Yu Darvish for ninth in the National League at the time his line was completed. Marcus Stroman, who pitches Sunday, was 11th at 2.45.

Both are candidates to join Jacob deGrom as All-Stars. Starting position players were revealed Thursday — the Mets had none — and reserves and pitchers will be named Sunday.

"He’s a guy that deserves to be in the All-Star Game," Rojas said when asked about Walker specifically. "He’s been outstanding. He’s been like another ace for us."

Walker said he is "definitely anxious" to find out his All-Star fate.

"It definitely would be special for me," he said, "and everybody who has helped me get to this point."