NEW YORK – Jeff McNeil, arms clasped behind his back, tossed his bat and shouted toward the New York Mets dugout, starting up the first base line as his go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning off Luke Weaver sailed into the second deck at Citi Field.
Twenty-five minutes later, the second baseman sprinted a half-dozen steps to his left, sprawled onto the outfield grass and with an outstretched glove angled toward the right-field corner snagged DJ LeMahieu's one-hopper. McNeil popped to his feet and threw to first for the second out of the ninth.
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“The homer was sick,” McNeil said after the Mets overcame a pair of two-run deficits to beat the New York Yankees 6-5 on Friday in the opener of this season's second Subway Series. “I love hitting homers. I don’t hit that many. But at the same time, because I hit the home run, I think that play was a little bit bigger.”
In a thrilling back-and-forth struggle on a sunny Fourth of July that included seven home runs, the Yankees wasted 2-0 and 5-3 leads and the Mets squandered a 3-2 advantage. The Mets won their third straight game after losing 14 of 17, while the Yankees lost their fifth in a row.
Both teams were in first place when their series in the Bronx began on May 16. The Mets were a big league-best 45-24 on June 12 and the Yankees 42-25, and then both plunged like skydivers. The Mets are 6-14 since and the Yankees 6-15.
With 13 pitchers on the injured list, the Mets gave 28-year-old right-hander Justin Hagenman his first major league start. Jasson Domínguez went deep leading off, ending a 32-game homerless streak, and Aaron Judge followed with his 32nd home run. Hagenman retired his next nine batters.
“All of New York here basically watching the game,” he marveled.
Domínguez misplayed Brandon Nimmo’s leadoff drive into a double starting the bottom half and Juan Soto followed with a two-run homer off Marcus Stroman.
“He’s kind of getting the momentum right back,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said about Soto's shot. “That was kind of like a setting-the-tone moment. OK, they punch, we’re going to punch back. ... It's game on.”
Soto went 1 for 10 with no extra-base hits in his Yankee Stadium return. He had three hits in this one, doubling in the third and scoring when Pete Alonso singled on a 108.3 mph scorching grounder off the glove of shortstop Anthony Volpe.
Cody Bellinger's homer tied the score in the fourth and Domínguez hit a two-run homer for a 5-3 lead in the fifth against Austin Warren. Brett Baty's sixth-inning homer against Ian Hamilton cut the margin to one.
Weaver relieved with two outs in the seventh and walked Alonso. McNeil worked the count full and figured he'd get a pitch at the bottom of the strike zone. He hit a no-doubt drive on the fourth changeup of the at-bat, his ninth home run this season.
Now 33 and a two-time All-Star, McNeil has been with the Mets organization since they drafted him a dozen years ago.
“He’s a gamer, man, and he’s always ready to go,” Mendoza said. “He’s a pretty important player for this roster.”
Weaver has allowed homers in three straight appearances. After compiling a 1.05 ERA in his first 24 games, he has a 13.50 ERA in seven outings since returning from a strained left hamstring.
“I said I’ve been feeling good. That just might be a lie now. I don’t know. It’s hard to make sense of what’s going on,” Weaver said. “At this point I’ve got two options. I can sulk and feel bad for myself or I can foundationally grind and find a way to just be flat-out better.”
Reed Garrett, who had a 15.00 ERA in his previous eight appearances, worked the eighth for a depleted Mets bullpen, getting three outs around a single. Garrett tried to avoid Mendoza when he got back to the dugout.
“I was trying to walk away so he couldn’t take me out of the game,” Garrett said.
With closer Edwin Díaz unavailable after pitching the previous two days, Mendoza let Garrett work the ninth.
Trent Grisham, pinch hitting for the slumping Volpe, flied out. LeMahieu followed with his looping one-hopper toward the hole that seemed destined to be a hit.
“He comes out of nowhere and just dives for the ball and really, really got me shocked,” said Soto, who was charging in from right field.
“It's by you, you've got to just throw your glove at it and try to kind of scoop it," McNeil said. “I knew it was a big play because I knew Judge was up fourth that inning and we don’t want him coming to the plate.”
Five pitches later, Domínguez hit a routine grounder to McNeil. Garrett screamed and pumped a fist.
“I think we’ve shown a lot over the last month of just who we are as a team,” he said. “I think if you back us into a corner, we’re going to fight our way out of it.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb