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One down, ten more?
To reach that ambitious matchup total, the Yankees and Mets would play their three remaining regular season games and then push a Subway World Series to the limit. who says no
On Tuesday night, a sellout crowd of 42,364 at Citi Field was entertained in the first inning alone with a home run derby of sorts between the teams. The Yankees hit two and the Mets matched them but doubled their runs.
The rest became a struggle, with the Mets playing off their early lead to a 6-3 win. The win was the Mets’ fifth in seven Subway Series games in the past two seasons.
Starling Marte and Eduardo Escobar — two key offseason additions — provided thunder for the Mets with explosions against Jordan Montgomery. Taijuan Walker got an acceptable start for the Mets, but the bullpen was better as Adam Ottavino and Edwin Diaz combined for three scoreless innings. Diaz recorded the final four outs for the save and entered the eighth to beat pinch-hitter Joey Gallo with a runner for first.
The Yankees, who put Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list before the game with a left Achilles tendonitis, finished the game 0-6 with runners in goal position.
The Mets had a second straight solid offense after struggling to get runs in five games surrounding the All-Star break. It came as the team considered adding more offensive firepower to the lineup after being traded for Daniel Vogelbach last week.
Walker’s night began with back-to-back homers allowing Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo in the first inning, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Judge’s homer was his MLB-best 38th of the season, and his 82nd RBI briefly put Pete Alonso ahead.
But the Mets leapfrogged Montgomery late in the inning to go 4-2 ahead. After Marte’s homer just inside the foul pole in left field, Francisco Lindor and Alonso hit back-to-back doubles, the latter driving in one run. Escobar hit a two-run homer with two outs to cap the inning.
Marte’s one-two before the third gave the Mets an unearned run against Montgomery to give them a 5-2 lead. Subsequent batter, Lindor, hacked a grounder that Josh Donaldson threw away – he tossed Lindor in the helmet, who ran first – and allowed Marte to score. Lindor never got past second place – he was thrown between second and third to finish the inning after the throw into the infield following Escobar’s flyout briefly missed the cutoff.
Get the latest live and local coverage from The New York Post as the Yankees and Mets battle it out in Game 1 of the 2022 Subway series.
The left Montgomery lasted just 2 ¹/₃ innings and allowed five runs, four earned, on five hits with three strikeouts. The outing was Montgomery’s shortest season.
Walker escaped potential disaster after loading the bases with an out in the fourth. DJ LeMahieu brought in a run with an RBI groundout before Judge went on four pitches to reload bases. Rizzo followed with a deep center drive that Brandon Nimmo grabbed for the final out.
Despite being shaky early on, Walker managed nine straight starts and lasted at least six innings, a career best. In total, he allowed seven hits and one walk and was eliminated after 101 pitches. The two allowed home runs equaled his total in his previous eight starts combined.
Jeff McNeil’s RBI single in the eighth game against Albert Abreu gave the Mets an insurance run. Lindor and Alonso started one after the other to start the rally. Alonso ended the 3v3 with a walk.
