Mets vs. Yankees Recap: A pair of comebacks and Lucas Duda defensive plays defeat the Yankees

Despite a poor outing by their starting pitcher, the Mets won.

The first of four Subway Series games had the makings of a miserable Mets loss early, but the team rallied twice and ultimately beat the Yankees 9-7. Bartolo Colon was terrible in his start—the third time that’s happened in eight starts this season—but the Mets’ lineup and bullpen were up to the challenge of erasing the deficit he created.

As has often been the case this season, the Mets scored first in the game. Eric Young Jr. singled, stole second, and moved to third on a ground out by Daniel Murphy. He came in to score when David Wright grounded out to short, which wasn’t the most exciting way to score a run but put the Mets ahead early.

Colon threw a scoreless first, but after the Mets went scoreless in the top of the second, things took a very quick turn for the worse. Brian McCann, Alfonso Soriano, and Yangervis Solarte each singled to open the inning, loading the bases with nobody out. Colon struck out Kelly Johnson, and Brian Roberts lined out to first baseman Lucas Duda, but Colon served up a grand slam to Brett Gardner, and the Mets were suddenly behind 4-1. It was a fairly deflating moment, to say the least.

To his credit, Colon at least managed to keep the game relatively close for a few innings, and the Mets were able to come back. Travis d’Arnaud hit a signature Yankee Stadium III home run in the fifth to cut the Yankees’ lead to two runs, and the Mets tied the game up in the sixth. David Wright began that inning with a single, and Curtis Granderson hit a more substantial home run to even the score.

In the bottom of the inning, however, Colon turned the tie right back into a deficit. After retiring McCann to start the inning, he gave up a ground rule double to Soriano. He scored on a single by Solarte, and Kelly Johnson tripled to bring Solarte home. Johnson was then thrown out at home plate on a ground ball off the bat of Brian Roberts, but Colon gave up a single to Gardner to put runners on the corners, and his night was over. Terry Collins brought in Carlos Torres.

Gardner then stole second base, and d’Arnaud made a throw into center field that allowed Roberts to score easily. Torres induced an out from Derek Jeter, who made contact with the ball he had hit weakly in front of home plate in fair territory, to end the inning.

The Yankees went to Alfredo Aceves for the seventh inning, a move that paid dividends for the Mets. Aceves walked d’Arnaud to lead off the inning, but after striking out Ruben Tejada, he gave up a two-run home run to Eric Young Jr. The Yankees managed to get out the inning without further damage, but the Mets were within one run of them.

Scott Rice took over for the Mets, and he predictably struck out a left-handed hitter, walked a right-handed hitter, and struck out a left-handed hitter. Unfortunately, the right-handed hitter had taken second base on a wild pitch that d’Arnaud couldn’t contain, so Rice was pulled from the game in favor of Jenrry Mejia, who struck Alfonso Soriano out swinging to end the inning.

The Mets finally took the lead again in the top of the eighth. Pinch hitting for Bobby Abreu with one out, Eric Campbell doubled—a generous determination by the official scorer—on a hard-hit ground ball to third base. Lucas Duda hit a broken-bat single to bring him home to tie the game and took second base as the Yankees threw home. That inspired the Yankees to pull the left-handed Matt Thornton from the game in favor of Preston Claiborne, who promptly served up a go-ahead two-run home run to Chris Young.

The Mets would not cough up that lead. Mejia came back out for the eighth and gave up a single, got some help from Lucas Duda on a double play, gave up another single, and struck out Brett Gardner to end his scoreless outing. According to the SNY gun, he was throwing harder in the relief outing than he had in his starts earlier this season.

After the Mets failed to score again in the ninth, Terry Collins went to Kyle Farnsworth to make things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. The veteran walked Jeter and got Jacoby Ellsbury to fly out to center field before giving a single—which would have been a double for almost any healthy baserunner—to Mark Teixeira. With runners on the corners and doom seemingly impending, Brian McCann hit a ground ball to Duda, who turned another great double play to end the game.

Love the Mets.

SB Nation GameThreads

* Amazin' Avenue GameThread
* Pinstripe Alley GameThread

Win Probability Added

(What's this?)

Big winners:Chris Young, +31.3% WPA, Eric Young Jr., +19.9% WPA, Lucas Duda, +19.7% WPA, Curtis Granderson, +14.7% WPA, Jenrry Mejia, +11.6% WPA
Big losers: Bartolo Colon, -51.7% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Chris Young’s go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth, +31.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Brett Gardner’s grand slam in the second, -34.3% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -35.0% WPA
Total batter WPA: +85.0% WPA
GWRBI!: Chris Young

Bonus RollCall!

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the final score post embiggens us all.