NEW YORK — One ugly inning and several misplays from the Yankees was all the Mets needed to control the rest of the game and hand the Bronx Bombers their seventh straight loss.
The Yankees compiled two official errors that really should’ve included one more, as the Mets took the opener of the Subway Series, 10-3, on Friday night at Citi Field.
Gary Sanchez set the Yankees’ poor defensive tone right away in the first inning. With two outs and Jonathan Villar on second, representing the tying run, Javy Baez lined a single to left field. The speedy Villar turned on his jets as third-base coach Gary DiSarcina waved him home. Joey Gallo, whose powerful arm is not one to test, threw a bullet to Sanchez that beat Villar by a good deal.
Instead of blocking the plate, Sanchez stepped to the side and essentially gave Villar a lane to slide into the plate. Sanchez, standing up, tagged Villar’s helmet after his foot crossed home plate. Despite the perfect throw from Gallo, Villar was safe following Sanchez’s non-tag.
But that was only the beginning.
The Mets (71-71) again exploited the Yankees’ mediocrity in the third inning, jumping on left-hander Jordan Montgomery for five runs in the frame. The southpaw walked Pete Alonso with the bases loaded, then Baez, with the bases still loaded, sent a routine ground ball to third base. Gio Urshela, instead of going for the double play by throwing to second, misfired a throw home just wide of Sanchez’s reach. Francisco Lindor scored easily, and everybody was safe.
The Mets have struggled to capitalize on opposing team’s mistakes this season, but that third inning was an exception. The Mets kept tacking on after Baez; Kevin Pillar launched a deep sacrifice fly to left field and James McCann joined the hit parade with an RBI double to cap the club’s five-run inning.
YES Network broadcaster Michael Kay aptly summed up the Yankees’ (78-63) terrible tumble. “In a word — embarrassing,” he said.
At least most of the 37,288 fans at a rocking Citi Field on Friday night loved what they saw from the home team. The Mets offense erupted for 11 hits on the night, a day after they could only muster four against a lousy Marlins team. The Mets played cleaner baseball than the Yankees all night, beginning with their rookie starter.
Right-hander Tylor Megill registered a career-high 10 strikeouts across seven strong innings, the deepest he has gone into a game in his fresh career. He limited the Yankees to two runs on four hits, including a solo shot to Gallo in the second inning. After the home run, Megill settled in to retire 11 of his next 12 batters.
When the Yankees did have their best chance to do damage against Megill, his third time through the order in the sixth, they wasted DJ LeMahieu’s leadoff walk by grounding into the 131st double play of their season — tying them with the Nationals for the most in MLB.
And their defensive stumbles continued. For good measure, Gleyber Torres committed a throwing error in the seventh inning that led to another Mets run.
With both the NL East third-place Mets and AL East third-place Yankees making their final pushes to creep into the playoffs, it was easy to see on Friday night which crosstown rival wants it more.
