Missed opportunities cost Yankees in 3-2 loss to Mets

New York—The Yankees dropped game two of the Subway Series 3-2 to the Mets. Clarke Schmidt got the start for the Yankees, and Griffin Canning took the ball for the Mets.

In the top of the first inning, Schmidt retired the Mets in order and struck out the sellout Juan Soto.

Schmidt worked a 1-2-3 top of the second inning and picked up his second strikeout in as many innings. 

Paul Goldschmidt, Jasson Dominguez, and Anthony Volpe went down in order for the Yankees in the second, as neither team has a base runner through two innings. 

In the bottom of the third inning, DJ LeMahieu found the short porch in right field to start the scoring for the Yankees, his first home run since July 31st of last season, to make it a 1-0 game. A couple of batters later, Ben Rice sent a single right back up the middle, but Aaron Judge went down on strikes to strand Rice.

“It felt good, it just felt good to play in Yankee Stadium again,” DJ said. “In front of these fans, and obviously a big series. So I’m just excited to be out there. It was probably too much emotion for me, but it was good; it was fun.”

The Mets got their first two base runners of the game in the top of the fourth via a leadoff walk from Francisco Lindor and a single from Soto. Pete Alonso followed that up with an RBI single that Dominguez could have caught with a 65% catch probability. Soto then stole third because Schmidt wasn't paying close attention, which proved to be costly. Soto then came around to score on a sac fly from Mark Vientos to make it a 2-1 Mets lead. 

“I just got a little bit too passive,” Schmidt said on what he was struggling with in the fourth inning. “Kinda felt like we were trying to anticipate the adjustments rather than just continue to stay with strengths and continue to attack. So it felt like I lost that release point for the backdoor stuff to the lefties, then it blended in there throughout the at-bats, then I had to bear down there and make some big pitches, so thankful to get out of it without too much damage.”

Cody Bellinger extended his hit streak to 12 games with a no-doubt bomb 432 feet away, to make it a 2-2 game. A couple of batters later, Dominguez lined his second single of the game up the middle. The next batter, Volpe, slashed a single to right field, allowing Dominguez to go from first to third and knock Canning out of the game. Then Dominguez was gunned down at home plate on a groundball to first baseman Alonso. 

Schmidt returned for the seventh inning and gave up a leadoff single. Mark Leiter Jr. then replaced Schmidt on the mound. A couple of batters later, Tyrone Taylor hit a double in the left-center gap, but Volpe executed a perfect relay throw to gun down Luis Torrenes, who was trying to score. DJ then made a beautiful play to rob Lindor of a RBI single and keep it a 2-2 game.

Clarke Schmidt's final line: six plus innings pitched, three hits allowed, two earned runs, five walks, and five strikeouts on 88 pitches. Schmidt threw his cutter 52% of the time, the knuckle curve 20%, the sweeper 14%, the sinker 13%, and the fastball 1% of the time. Schmidt put together a third straight quality start but did not have his best command as he walked five hitters, but did a good job limiting the Mets to two runs. 

Tim Hill replaced Leiter Jr. on the mound in the top of the eighth inning. Hill picked up the first two outs of the inning and served up a double to Alonso. Fernando Cruz came in to replace Hill and picked up a huge strikeout to strand the go-ahead run at third base. 

Beli worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth inning, but it was quickly erased on a 6-4-3 double play from Goldy. Dominguez then worked a two-out walk. The next batter, Volpe, lined a double into the right field corner to put two runners in scoring position. Ecsara followed that up with a four-pitch walk to load the bases, but DJ lined out to Soto to strand the bases loaded. 

Cruz remained in the game in the top of the ninth inning and walked a batter, surrendered a single, and hit a batter to load the bases for the top of the Mets order with one out. Lindor then came through with a sac fly to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. Beli couldn't get a good throw on it because Dominguez was in his way. 

“He walked a guy, hit a guy, and gave up an infield single,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone on what he was seeing from Cruz. “He was always one pitch away from getting out of it, but at the end of the day, he gave up a run. I thought he threw the ball alright. They did a good job of not chasing in a couple of situations to leverage those walks, but I still feel like he’s throwing the ball great.”

The Mets' closer Edwin Diaz retired the Yankees in order in the bottom of the ninth inning to end this one 3-2 and set up a rubber match tomorrow on Sunday Night Baseball.

Max Fried will get the start for the Yankees tomorrow, and David Peterson will take the ball for the Mets. The first pitch will be at 7:10 p.m. ET on ESPN. 

My thoughts on the game: The Yankees' offense wasted too many opportunities today, leaving nine runners on base and going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. There was also a wasted opportunity in the fifth inning with two men on, nobody out, and Jorbivt Vivas should have laid down a bunt with the top of the order coming up, but instead he struck out and killed the rally. DJ had a great day, having two hits and hitting the ball hard all day. Schmidt fired another quality start, firing six innings of two-run ball. Beli, Dominguez, and Volpe also had nice days offensively. Unfortunately, Cruz didn't have it today and gave up the winning run in the top of the ninth inning. Tomorrow, there is still a great opportunity to win this series with Fried on the mound.