Boos for Soto, cheers for Goldy and Beli, as Yankees handle Mets in the Bronx

New York—The Yankees defeated the Mets 6-2 as the snake Juan Soto made his return to the Bronx. Carlos Rodon got the start for the Yankees, and Tylor Megill took the ball for the Mets.

In the top of the first inning, Soto was welcomed back to the Bronx with a good old-fashioned Bronx cheer. As the boos and the “f—ck Jaun Soto” chants poured in, Soto did what he does best and walked. With Soto on second base, Oswald Peraza made a beautiful diving play to rob Pete Alonso of a base hit and a potential RBI and help Rodon work a scoreless inning. 

In the bottom of the first inning, the bleacher creatures let Soto hear it on his way out to right field. Trent Grisham worked a leadoff walk. A couple of batters later, Cody Bellinger picked up a single in the right-center gap to extend his hit streak to 11 straight. But Jasson Domiguez went down on strikes looking, to strand Beli and Grisham. 

“Yeah, I’m feeling good with my mechanics and everything,” Beli said. “Ultimately, just continuing to swing at the right pitches, having a good plan, and just preparing every day to help this team win.”

Rodon picked up his first two strikeouts of the ballgame in the top of the second inning and retired the Mets in order. 

Jorbit Vivas led off the bottom of the third inning with a line drive single to right field. The next batter, Grisham, picked up a productive groundout to move Vivas up to second base. The captain, Aaron Judge, followed that up with a walk, then Beli legged out an infield single to load the bases. The next batter, Paul Goldschmidt, legged out a broken bat RBI infield single, and a second run came across to score on a throwing error from Francisco Lindor to make it a 2-0 Yankees lead.

“I got pretty lucky, he broke my bat and I was able to find a hole,” Goldy said on what was working for the Yankees in the third against Megill. “Just some really good at-bats, I felt like we were having good at-bats against him the whole day. He made some pitches on us early, and just stuck with him, we had some walks there, some hits, and just quality at-bats.”

Dominguez then battled back down 1-2 in the count to work a walk to reload the bases. Anthony Volpe drove in another run with a sac fly to make it a 3-0  game. Austin Wells followed that up with a walk to reload the bases, and Peraza worked a RBI walk to knock Megill out of the game and make it a 4-0 game as the Yankees batted around in the third inning. 

Soto worked his second walk of the game to lead off the top of the fourth inning. A couple of batters later, Mark Veintos picked up the Mets' first hit of the game with a single up the middle. The next batter, Brandon Nimmo, delivered an RBI single to make it a 4-1 game. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Judge lined a one-out single to left field, then Beli ropped a double into the right field corner. The next batter, Goldy Knocks, picked up his second RBI single of the night to make it 5-1. Another run came across to score on a fielder's choice from Dominguez to make it a 6-1 Yankees lead. 

Goldy made an unbelievable over-the-shoulder catch to rob Tyrone Taylor of a base hit and record the first out of the fifth inning. Rodon walked Soto for the third time, then struck out Alonso for a second time on Rodon's 102nd pitch of the game. 

“I was just running as fast as I could,” Goldy said on his over-the-shoulder catch. “That was pretty fun, and as soon as it was hit, I was like, I could have a chance to make a great play  and didn't want it to drop in there, I was just thankful to be able to get there.”

In the top of the sixth inning, Jonathan Loaisiga, who was activated from the IL earlier today, replaced Rodon on the mound. Loaisiga worked around a one-out double to work a scoreless inning in his first outing in over a year in the big leagues. 

“Exciting,” Loaisiga said on his return from the IL. “But like I said before, I have to thank god. This opportunity means a lot to me, and you know, to be back and seeing game action.”

Carlos Rodon's final line: five innings pitched, two hits allowed, one earned run, four walks, and five strikeouts on 102 pitches. Rodon threw his fastball 48% of the time, the slider 25%, the changeup 15%, the sinker 9%, and the curveball 4% of the time. Rodon didn't have his best command tonight, as he walked four batters, but he was still able to get through five solid innings of one-run ball to lower his ERA to 3.17 on the season. 

“They had a good understanding of the strike zone,” Rodon said. “They weren't offering at some sliders, I had to be in the zone. They put together some really good swings, and we made some good defensive plays. Yeah, they just really drove the pitch count up and put together some good at-bats, but we got out of there with a win.”

Mark Lieter Jr. replaced Loaisiga on the mound in the top of the seventh inning. Leiter worked around a one-out double, picked up a strikeout, and retired the sellout Soto for the first time tonight. 

In the top of the eighth inning, Devin Williams came into pitch, replacing Leiter Jr., and struck out the Mets in order. 

Yerry De Los Santos replaced Williams in the top of the ninth inning and served up a two-out RBI double to Lindor to make it 6-2. Luke Weaver came into the game replacing De Los Santos and got Soto to fly out for the final out of the game. 

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow. Clarke Schmidt will get the start for the Yankees, and Griffin Canning for the Mets. The first pitch will be at 1:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Great win tonight! This was one of the Yankees' most highly anticipated regular-season matchups in years, so I was very happy they showed up in a big way. Goldy Knocks had another big game as he had two more hits and RBIs tonight to put his average up to .349 with a .909 OPS, as he has been the bargain pick up of the offseason. Judge also had two more hits tonight to raise his average to .414 with a 1.275 OPS. Beli also stayed hot with three more hits tonight as his average is rounding into form now up to .242 with a .711 OPS after a brutal first month of the season. Williams also looked the best he has as a Yankee tonight as he struck out the side in the eighth. He truly turned a corner after that big outing against the Padres last week. Very fun win tonight, considering three of the plan B options after not signing Soto in the offseason, Beli, Goldy, and Williams all played key roles in tonight's win. It's on to tomorrow, as the Yankees look to win the series.