The Mets survived grand theft Wednesday night to save face in the Citi Field segment of this year’s Subway Series.
Stunned and maybe embarrassed after Isiah Kiner-Falefa stole home against them, the Mets reloaded and got to celebrate a walk-off victory.
Brandon Nimmo delivered the dagger with an RBI double against Nick Ramirez in the 10th inning that gave the Mets a 4-3 victory over the Yankees.
The Mets won for only the second time in 11 games.
Dominic Leone pitched a scoreless 10th for the Mets before Nimmo, who had a key misplay that contributed to the team’s loss the previous night, delivered in the bottom of the inning with a shot to the right-field fence that scored automatic runner Eduardo Escobar.
The Mets could have faded into the night trailing 3-1 in the seventh, but loaded the bases before scoring twice.
Even so, it was an inning of missed opportunity as Nimmo was thrown out retreating to second base after Starling Marte’s RBI single tied it 3-3.
Nimmo was hit by a pitch from Jimmy Cordero to bring in the Mets’ first run in the inning.
Kiner-Falefa turned a meandering pitching battle into a jump-the-turnstiles moment that shocked the sellout crowd when he stole home to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
Kiner-Falefa started halfway down the line from third and broke as Brooks Raley began his delivery.
Raley never had a chance, with his pitch eluding Francisco Alvarez’s glove.
Jeff Brigham’s mistake was walking Josh Donaldson (who entered batting .143) to begin the seventh.
Brigham plunked Anthony Rizzo and struck out DJ LeMahieu before the Yankees pushed across the go-ahead run on Kiner-Falefa’s fielder’s choice and throwing error on Jeff McNeil.
Before stealing home, Kiner-Falefa swiped second and reached third on Alvarez’s throwing error.
Justin Verlander had endurance with his fastball, clocking 96 mph with his 100th pitch of the night.
Three pitches later, Jake Bauers delivered an RBI single that tied it 1-1, setting up a Verlander-Giancarlo Stanton showdown.
Verlander threw three straight balls before Stanton, given the green light, hit a 118-mph one-hopper to third base that Eduardo Escobar gloved and turned into an inning-ending double play.
Jose Trevino’s leadoff double started the tying rally.
Verlander continued his trend of alternating bad and good starts.
In this one he allowed one earned run on three hits and struck out six over six innings, a rebound from his start in Atlanta last Thursday.
In that game he was knocked out after three innings (with five runs allowed) and watched as the Mets bullpen sputtered late in a 13-10 loss in 10 innings.
The Mets co-ace was no stranger to the Yankees, after facing them with the Astros — including in the postseason last year — and extensively during his Tigers tenure.
In his 23 starts against the Yankees before Wednesday he was 9-7 with a 3.44 ERA with 138 strikeouts and 43 walks.
Gerrit Cole teased the Mets in the sixth by allowing successive singles to Mark Vientos and Nimmo to start the inning before retiring three straight batters to escape.
The right-hander was sharp for a third straight start, allowing one earned run on four hits with eight strikeouts over six innings, departing after 96 pitches.
Cole retired 12 straight batters to start the game before Francisco Lindor crushed a leadoff double in the fifth.
Alvarez’s ensuing drive to the warning track in right got Lindor to third before Cole struck out Brett Baty.
But Tommy Pham followed with his latest key hit, a double to right, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.
Over his last 11 games entering play, Pham was 11-for-34 (.324) with a 1.179 OPS.
The early pace was a contrast to the previous night, when the teams scored fast and furious, with home runs by Stanton and Nimmo setting the tone in the first inning.
In the third, Verlander surrendered a leadoff double to Billy McKinney, who got as far as third base with two outs before Bauers was retired to end the inning.