It was a matchup of two of the game’s premier aces and two former World Series-winning teammates.
Right-handers Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander dueled one another in the second game of the Subway Series on Wednesday night at Citi Field, but in the end neither pitcher factored into the decision. Neither pitcher factored into the fireworks of a wild rivalry matchup that featured bad defense, failed comebacks, a shift violation and a straight steal of home by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
The Mets walked it off in the 10th inning with an RBI double from Brandon Nimmo. The Yankees went to the bullpen to get left-hander Nick Ramirez to counter the left-handed Nimmo, but he sent a double to the right field wall to give the Mets a 4-3 win in front of a sellout crowd of 44,121, the fifth-largest regular-season crowd in Citi Field history.
The loss was charged to right-hander Albert Abreu (2-2), who started the inning. Right-hander Dominic Leone (1-2) picked up his first win for the Mets.
Verlander and Cole each gave up one earned run and the game was tied until the seventh inning. The Mets practically handed the Yankees the tie-breaking run when the defense unraveled in the top of the seventh, in part because they were trying to keep Kiner-Falefa from stealing a bag.
With two on and one out, the shortstop grounded into a double play but a bad throw by second baseman Jeff McNeil and bad footwork by Mark Vientos at first base allowed Josh Donaldson to score and Kiner-Falefa to reach. He then stole second and catcher Francisco Alvarez overthrew the bag allowing him to get to third, and he came home in what proved to be the most electric moment of the night.
The swipe gave the Yankees (39-30) a 3-1 lead, but the Mets (32-36) came back to tie it in the bottom of the inning, taking two off Jimmy Cordero and forcing the Bronx Bombers to go to the bullpen for Ron Marinaccio.
Cordero hit Nimmo with the bases loaded to bring the Mets within one. Starling Marte tied it with an RBI single to left. However, Nimmo didn’t see Joey Cora holding up Vientos at third and was thrown out trying to get back to second to end the inning.
After making it through only three innings his last time out in Atlanta, Verlander held the Yankees scoreless for five innings before allowing the tying run in the sixth. He may have a new nemesis in Yankees leadoff man Jake Bauers, who forced him to throw 24 of his 107 pitches to him.
It wasn’t the most efficient outing for Verlander, who got himself into some bad counts, which drove up his pitch count. However, his six innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts and no walks was a marked improvement over his last start.
Cole was perfect through four. Francisco Lindor led off the fifth with a double and Tommy Pham doubled him home with two outs. In the end, his line was similar to that of Verlander’s: one run on four hits, no walks and eight strikeouts.
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