Yankees 2, Mets 12: Gil falters again, bats slumber in Subway Series loss

06/27/2024 12:21 AM

Gil's struggles continued as a lengthy rain delay interrupted an awful night for the Yankees, who lost their fourth consecutive series.

Wednesday night's Subway Series matchup against the Mets was nothing but deeply tedious for the Yankees. They were crushed 12-2, enduring another tough outing from Luis Gil, a rain delay, and their sixth loss in their past seven games en route to a two-game sweep at the hands of their crosstown rivals. They've now also dropped four series in a row.

The game began with missed opportunities for both teams. For the second-straight day, the Yankees loaded the bases in the top of the first, this time on the strength of one-out walks by Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and J.D. Davis. And, for the second day in a row, they came up empty. The culprit this time was a double play off the bat of Alex Verdugo that let Mets starter Sean Manaea off the hook.

The Mets loaded the bases themselves in the bottom half of the inning after Luis Gil allowed a leadoff double, a hit-by-pitch, and a walk. The rookie right-hander worked out of trouble as well, inducing a foul out to end the threat.

Any hopes of getting Gil some support after he escaped that jam went by the wayside. A leadoff single by DJ LeMahieu was quickly erased when Jose Trevino hit into the Yanks' second twin killing in as many frames.

The Mets, however, opened the scoring in the third, as Gil really began to labor. Lindor laced another leadoff double and Brandon Nimmo worked his way on with an eight-pitch walk before J.D. Martinez inside-outed a bloop single to right, scoring his shortstop. With two on and no out, the Yankees finally found themselves on the right side of a well-timed double play, with Pete Alonso rolling over a slider and setting up a tailor-made 6-4-3.

Despite the gift from Alonso, Gil was unable to work out of the inning. Francisco Alvarez walloped an opposite-field two-run shot that staked the Mets to a three-run lead.

The Yanks fought back in the top of the fourth, as a leadoff single from Judge and a walk to Davis set up a two-on, no-out opportunity for Verdugo. The Yankees' left fielder grounded into his second double play of the evening (that's 80 on the year for the Yankees if you're counting along), snuffing out yet another potential rally. Manaea put seven runners during his five-inning outing, allowing two hits and five walks, but the Bombers never dented home plate against the southpaw.

One of the leading narratives of the game involved a Yankee who was kept out of the starting lineup. Gleyber Torres' disappointing season hit a nadir on Tuesday during an 0-for-4 performance that included a key defensive miscue and a lack of hustle on a groundout, which Torres and Aaron Boone attributed (at least in part) to a groin issue. Torres was held out of the starting lineup tonight for just the fourth time this season, leading to the below image that the Yankees' booth compared to a Norman Rockwell painting.

The Mets began to pull away in the fifth. Walks to Nimmo and Alonso chased Gil from the game. The rookie obviously wasn't as awful as he was during his nightmare outing against the Orioles, but it was a struggle for him to even make to the fifth inning, needing 87 pitches to record 13 outs. He only generated six swings and misses, with just a pair of strikeouts to his name, and he allowed five runs on four hits, four walks, and two hit-by-pitches. With an offday coming up on Monday, it wouldn't be unreasonable for the Yanks to consider skipping Gil's next start to give him a breather in his first full, healthy season after Tommy John surgery.

New pitcher Caleb Ferguson offered no help for Gil, either, immediately allowing an RBI double to Alvarez.

Before the Mets could capitalize further, the skies opened up in Flushing, putting the game into a lengthy rain delay.

When the game resumed at 10:10pm ET, Yoendrys Gómez took over on the mound for the Yanks. Although the righty provided quality long relief for Carlos Rodón on Friday against Atlanta, he didn't have the magic this time around.

Gómez walked the first batter he faced, loading the bases for the red-hot Mark Vientos. The Mets' third baseman walked as well, stretching the lead to five. Jeff McNeil followed with a sac fly before Harrison Bader smacked an RBI double off the right-field wall, making it a 7-0 affair. Gómez finally put the inning to rest by retiring Lindor, ending the nightmarish fifth an hour and a half after it began.

The Yankees' captain answered the Mets' onslaught quickly, following up a Juan Soto walk with a 400-foot homer to get his team on the board.

Remarkably, Judge now has 30 bombs in 82 games this year — the same number of long balls he had during his legendary 62-homer campaign in 2022. As an added bonus, he tied a Yankees icon on the franchise's all-time list, drawing even with Bernie Williams in seventh place at 287 career home runs.

Back in this miserable ballgame though, the Mets added three more off Gómez in the sixth on a Tyrone Taylor dinger that scored Alonso and Alvarez. Bader added another homer the next inning and Vientos stretched it to 12-2 in the eighth with an RBI single off Tim Hill. That's where the score stayed, rounding out one of the most dispiriting losses of the Yankees' season. Outside of Judge, the offense tallied just four hits in the entire ballgame.

They'll head north of the border tomorrow to start a four-game set against a struggling Blue Jays squad. Carlos Rodón will take the pill for the Yankees in game one, looking to bounce back from his worst outing of the season, an 11-hit, 8-run drubbing at the hands of the Braves. José Berríos is lined up to start for Toronto. The right-hander is also coming off a subpar performance after allowing five runs in five innings against the Guardians last Saturday, though he's putting together a strong season with a 3.43 ERA in 97 innings. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07pm ET.

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