BRONX, NY – The New York Yankees slammed the door shut on the Subway Series, exploding for six runs in the eighth inning – capped by Cody Bellinger’s ninth career grand slam – to defeat the New York Mets 8-2 Sunday night at Yankee Stadium.
Facing reliever Ryne Stanek with the game tied at two, Jasson Dominguez led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk and advanced to third on a one-out double from Austin Wells. Jorbit Vivas worked an 11-pitch battle before hitting a grounder to first base, but Pete Alonso’s throw to the plate missed wide and allowed the go-ahead run to score.
Paul Goldschmidt added on with an RBI single up the middle, and Trent Grisham walked to load the bases. After Aaron Judge went down swinging, Bellinger pounced on the first pitch he saw; the lefty slugger crushed Genesis Cabrera’s four-seamer deep to right, over the head of Juan Soto, and into the night.
“I thought it was very fun,” said Bellinger, who went 3-for-3 with two walks and six RBI in the final game of his first Subway Series.
The Yankees (27-19) took two out of three games against the Mets (29-18) and secured a monumental series victory in Soto’s highly anticipated return to the Bronx.
“It’s fun,” Yankee manager Aaron Boone said after the game, describing the playoff-like environment during the series. “It’s fun playing at Yankee Stadium when it feels like it matters a lot. As far as managing or playing, nothing really changes – it’s just that the atmosphere makes it a little more exciting.”
Soto and Judge didn’t necessarily put on the heavyweight battle that fans anticipated. Soto, who went hitless with a pair of strikeouts on Sunday, finished the series going 1-for-10 with four walks, two runs scored, and three strikeouts. The Yankee captain, who doubled in Sunday’s contest, went 3-for-12 with three walks, three runs scored, and five strikeouts.
Neither superstar recorded a single RBI across the three-game set.
Goldschmidt led off the home half of the first with a lazy chopper to third base, but reached safely on a misplay from Mark Vientos. The Mets immediately paid for the error, as Judge and Bellinger ripped back-to-back doubles off left-hander David Peterson that gave the Yankees an early 2-0 advantage.
Vientos knocked an infield single to start off the second and advanced to scoring position after Brandon Nimmo worked a walk. Lefty starter Max Fried struck out the next two batters before facing Jeff McNeil, who drilled an RBI single to center field that cut the Yankee lead in half.
Soto dug into the batter’s box for a third time in the fifth inning with two away and McNeil at third base. Fried got exactly what he wanted – a swinging third strike that sent down Soto for the second straight time – but not before hurling a wild pitch that plated the tying run.
Save for the one pitch that got away, Fried continued to dominate in a Yankee uniform. The 31-year-old southpaw tossed six innings of two-run ball with three hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts. Through ten starts, his 1.29 ERA is the best in baseball.
“It was definitely exciting,” Fried said after the game, reflecting on his first Subway Series. “It was intense. Both teams going at it, giving everything they had.”
Anthony Volpe had two chances to play the hometown hero but couldn’t capitalize on either. The shortstop stepped up to the plate with the game tied, two outs, and the bases loaded in the fifth inning – and again in the seventh. He bit on a first-pitch breaking ball in his first attempt and grounded out to short. Two innings later, he swung and missed at what would have been ball four, stranding a grand total of six baserunners.
Righty reliever Devin Williams continued his recent stretch of dominance with a 1-2-3 eighth inning, punctuated with a swinging strikeout of Vientos. Sidearming southpaw Tim Hill retired the side in the ninth to finish the job.
