A winter of pent-up aggression in the Bronx was taken out in one fell swoop, as the Yankees took down the Mets 6-2 in Friday night’s Subway Series opener, and Juan Soto’s first game back at Yankee Stadium since jumping across town to Queens.
Soto went 0-for-2 with three walks, a run scored, and a stolen base. He also made the final out of the game with a flyout to center with two men on in an attempted Mets (28-17) rally to provide the cherry on top of a night in which the Yankees attempted to prove they did not need the superstar right fielder.
While an avalanche of boos rained down on the 26-year-old, $765 million man during his first at-bat of the night in the top of the first, Soto playfull tipped his batting helmet to the fans. He was walked by Yankees starter Carlos Rodon.
“I think so,” Soto said when asked if this was the worst he had ever been booed. “They were really loud.”
When asked about tipping his helmet to the crowd, he said, “I just did it. The guys loved it.”
As he took his place in right field in the bottom of the first, the bleacher creatures in right field proceeded to turn their backs to him in hopes of making this defiant statement, which came off as something in a college basketball game rather than anything else.
“I didn’t realize that,” Soto said. “I was just listening to the boos. I tried not to have any eye contact. Just listened to the boos.”
The Yankees (26-18) scored four runs in the third inning off Mets starter Tylor Megill, whose major league struggles outside of April continue. Paul Goldschmidt drove in two with a single before Anthony Volpe added another on a sacrifice fly, and Oswald Peraza drew a walk with the bases loaded.
Megill lasted just 2.2 innings, yielding four hits and four walks with five strikeouts.
After Brandon Nimmo got the Mets on the board in the top of the fourth with an RBI single, Goldschmidt picked up his third RBI of the night with another single. Jasson Dominguez plated the Yankees’ sixth and final run by beating out a double play, which scored Cody Bellinger from third.
Rodon allowed just one run on two hits with five strikeouts and four walks. Five Yankees relievers, including season-debutant Jonathan Loaisiga after being activated off the IL just hours earlier, yielded three Mets hits across the final four innings of the night. Francisco Lindor provided a consolation run with a double in the top of the ninth before Soto flew out to end the game.
