Subway Series Weekend Concludes With a Belli Blast
The first edition of this year’s Subway Series between the visiting New York Mets ended with fireworks.
The two fan bases display no animosity toward one another, but the players are typically great friends, especially former Yankee and $765 million man Juan Soto.
Yankees fans in right field turned their backs to Soto as he jogged out to right field during Friday night’s game, essentially showing their disapproval of his offseason decision to join the cross-town rival.
A fan holds a sign at Yankee Stadium during a first-inning at-bat against the New York Yankees by New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (not pictured). John Jones-Imagn Images
As for Friday’s game, the Yankees scored all six runs in the 6-2 win in the third and fourth innings. In the bottom of the third inning, Paul Goldschmidt's RBI single and a bad hop out of Mets’ first baseman Pete Alonso’s glove gave the Yankees an early 2-0 lead, and shortstop Anthony Volpe followed with an RBI sac fly.
Later in the third, Mets’ starting pitcher Tylor Megill walked Oswald Peraza with the bases loaded to gift the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Goldshmidt added a second RBI single in the following inning, continuing his hot hitting start to the 2025 season.
Carlos Rodon threw five innings of one-run ball for the Yankees, and manager Aaron Boone utilized six pitchers, including Jonathan Loaisiga, who made his season debut.
The Yankees’ offense mustered just two runs in Saturday’s 3-2 loss, but one of the runs was courtesy of DJ LeMahieu, who deposited a solo home run over the F.W. Webb advertisement in the right field corner.
Cody Bellinger hit his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot to tie the game at two in the bottom of the sixth, but the Mets took a one-run lead in the top of the ninth on an RBI sac fly by shortstop Francisco Lindor. Aaron Judge struck out swinging against Mets’ closer Edwin Diaz to shut the door on a potential Yankees’ rally.
Starter Clarke Schmidt allowed two earned runs in six innings and struck out five, but he’s shown a tendency to throw 10 pitches in one inning and 25-30 in the next. He’s still looking to find that put-away pitch to keep his pitch count low the third time around the order.
The story of Sunday’s game was a six-run eighth inning by the Yankees. Cody Bellinger extended his hit streak to 13 games by going 3-for-3 with two walks and the biggest hit of the series, a towering grand slam into the short porch to extend the Yankees’ 4-2 lead to 8-2.
New York Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger (35) hits a grand slam home run in the eighth inning against the New York Mets at Yankee Stadium. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
The capacity crowd at Yankee Stadium erupted as Bellinger’s grand salami sailed over Soto’s head and into the arms of a young Yankees fan with a memory for life. Bellinger’s grand slam was his ninth since 2017, tying him with Aaron Judge for the most grand slams hit in Major League Baseball since that season.
The Yankees’ eighth inning rally started on an errant throw by Alonso to home plate. The Mets’ first baseman had a bad grip on the ball after fielding a grounder off the bat of Jorbit Vivas. Alonso was trying to nab the go-ahead run, Jasson Dominguez, and it was all downhill from there for the Mets.
Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried allowed just two earned runs in six innings and struck out six. His filthiest pitch of the game was a 3-2 curveball that caught the bottom of the zone to strike out Soto for the second out of the third inning.
Fried has repeatedly shown that he’s diligent in pitch sequencing with catcher Austin Wells and is unaffected by who is at the plate. He only focuses on what he can control in the moment.
Fried is the definition of an ace and stepped up in a big way for the deciding game of the Subway Series.
Up Next
The Yankees will enjoy an off day on Monday before starting their next series at Yankee Stadium against the underachieving Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
Image Credit: New York Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu (26) forces out New York Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) at second base and throws to first to complete a double play on a ball hit by Mets designated hitter Mark Vientos (not pictured) during the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium. Brad Penner-Imagn Images
More to come!