Are the Mets back?
Jeff McNeil came up with the late game heroics on July 4 as the Mets beat the Yankees. Plus, the spirit of 2024 appears to be alive and well with the 2025 group...
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What’s up with the Mets? 🇺🇸🎆
The Mets extended their winning streak to three straight games after beating the Yankees 6-5 in the Subway Series on Friday (box)
RHP Justin Hagenman allowed back-to-back home runs to leadoff the game in his first career start, finishing with four earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts across 4.1 innings
RHP Reed Garrett closed out the win with a six-out save, allowing just one hit with no walks and one strikeout
2B Jeff McNeil hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh, before making a crucial defensive play in the ninth to stop the tying run getting on base
RF Juan Soto was a triple away from the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, a double, two runs scored and two RBIs
3B Brett Baty went 2-for-4 with a run scored, a RBI and a solo shot in the sixth inning
Roster Moves 📰
RHP José Buttó placed on the 15-Day IL, retroactive to July 1, with an illness
RHP Chris Devenski recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
Signed LHP Colin Poche to a minor league contract
Injury Updates 🏥
RHP José Buttó (undisclosed illness) was placed on the 15-Day IL and is expected back right after the All-Star break
RHP Dedniel Núñez (right elbow sprain) will meet with a doctor after the holiday weekend after an MRI revealed significant ligament damage. Tommy John surgery remains a possibility
LHP Brooks Raley (Tommy John surgery) allowed just one hit and one walk with one strikeout over an inning of work in his latest rehab outing for Triple-A Syracuse on Friday
Stat of the Day 📊
Following his two-run shot on Friday, RF Juan Soto now has 64 career opposite-field home runs - that’s second-most in MLB since the start of 2018, behind only Yankees OF Aaron Judge (90)
Play of the Game 🌟
The opening game of the Subway Series was packed with memorable moments and plays as both teams slugged it out.
At times, Friday’s game felt more like two heavyweight boxers going toe-to-toe and landing nothing but knockout blows.
However, there can only be one Play of the Game, and, ultimately, a clear winner emerged.
In the bottom of the seventh with two outs and a runner on first, Pete Alonso was able to draw a two-out walk to get on base. Jeff McNeil crushed a 3-2 changeup from Yankees reliever Luke Weaver.
The two-run shot landed in the second deck of the right-field seats, giving the Mets only their second lead of the day.
They would never trail again.
McNeil would also make a clutch defensive play in the ninth, but his go-ahead two-run shot was the real turning point in a wild back-and-forth game.
Who’s Hot? 🥵
RF Juan Soto is hitting .386/.481/.886/.1.367 with 12 runs scored, 17 hits, seven homers, 13 RBIs and eight walks over his last 13 games
2B Jeff McNeil is hitting .385/.467/.615/.1.082 over his last four games
LF Brandon Nimmo is hitting .300/.340/.580/.920 with six runs scored, 15 hits, two doubles, four home runs, two walks and nine RBIs over his last 13 games
Down on the Farm 🌾
RHP Brandon Sproat (No. 5 prospect, Triple-A): 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
RF Gilberto Celestino (Triple-A): 1-for-3, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR
RHP Jonah Tong (No. 2 prospect, Double-A): 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 10 K
INF Colin Houck (No. 30 prospect, High-A): 3-for-4, 3 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B
3B Jesus Baez (No. 7 prospect, High-A): 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR
1B Yohairo Cuevas (Single-A): 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 HR
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (51-38) vs. Yankees (48-40)
Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY
Starters: RHP Frankie Montas (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. LHP Carlos Rodón (9-5, 2.95 ERA)
When: 4:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY | FS1
The gritty, resilient, never-say-die Mets are back… ✍️
For a minute, it looked likely that all the July 4 fireworks were going to be let off by the Yankees.
After all, the Bronx Bombers had come out swinging in the opening game of the Subway Series with Jasson Domínguez and Aaron Judge delivering back-to-back bombs to leadoff the game.
For the Mets, who were trying to find a way to somehow stitch together 27 outs with a decimated pitching staff, it looked set to be a very long day at the office.
And, for the most part, it proved to be exactly that.
The bruised and badly beaten-up Mets trailed for the majority of the afternoon, and it felt as though the game could truly get away from them at any point.
Instead, somehow, someway, this team, who have had to absorb plenty of soul-crushing, back-breaking lows over the past few weeks, found a way to win.
They fought. They clawed. They scratched. And they used every single ounce of willpower to come out on top in a thrilling Subway Series instant classic that served as a fitting spectacle for the July 4 festivities.
In doing so, the Mets leaned on all the qualities, attributes, and intangibles that powered their improbable run to the 2024 NLCS.
That kind of fight, steely determination, and intense will to win hasn’t exactly been present during this recent stretch of bad baseball.
However, over this three-game winning streak, and especially on Friday, we have started to see signs that this team is ready to fight for its right to be considered one of the true contenders in baseball.
You could see examples of that everywhere you looked in the opening game of the series against the Yankees.
Justin Hagenman, making his first career MLB start, allowed a bunch of runs to score but was able to gut out 4.1 innings to at least give the bullpen half a chance. Huascar Brazobán, who entered Friday having allowed a total of 11 earned runs in his previous five outings, was brilliant in one inning of work, striking out three while not allowing a run or a hit. Enter Reed Garrett. With both Ryne Stanek and Edwin Díaz unavailable following their efforts against the Brewers, it was up to Garrett to record the final six outs. That is no easy task under the best of circumstances. But, for Garrett, who imploded in his last outing, the mission seemed almost impossible.
Or so we thought.
The veteran, who finished June with a 7.36 ERA, banished all of his recent demons with an all-time heroic performance. Garrett put aside his house of horrors outing against the Brewers last time out, pitched a clean inning in the eighth, and then gave everything he had to deliver a clutch 1-2-3 inning.
Now that’s what you call fight.
On the offensive side of things, the Mets needed a total effort from the lineup in order to keep pace with the Yankees, who blasted a total of four homers on the day.
It all started with Juan Soto. Because, well, of course it did. The $765 million man delivered his first real statement moment against his former team, crushing a monster two-run shot in the bottom of the first inning that changed the entire complexion of the game. It shifted the entire mood inside Citi Field and started a wave of hope that would carry this team through the rest of the game.
Soto was just stellar throughout, and he was a triple shy of the cycle. He hit a double in the third and then came home on a Pete Alonso single, giving the Mets a rare lead. Soto would finish 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
It wasn’t just the top of the lineup that came up with big-time contributions, however. After two more home runs had given the Yankees a 5-3 lead, Brett Baty hit a solo shot in the sixth, making it a one-run game and turning the tide once again. It was also a crucial contribution from the bottom of the lineup.
No matter how many times the Mets were punched in the mouth by their cross-town rivals, they kept on going back for more.
And that brings us to the fightback’s crowning moment.
Alonso showed plenty of plate discipline to draw a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh. That set the stage for Jeff McNeil to come to the plate and deliver the biggest and loudest fireworks of the afternoon. The veteran— who has proved this year that he’s able to help this ballclub win in a multitude of different ways— crushed a go-ahead two-run shot into the second deck in right field after battling for a 3-2 count.
Those proved to be the winning runs.
And McNeil wasn’t done there, either. With Garrett doing his best to shut the door in the ninth, McNeil showed his range in the field with an elite diving catch to smother a chopper off of the bat of DJ LeMahieu, before having the presence of mind to get to his feet and make the throw to first to record the crucial second out.
That’s how you become a valuable member of the team.
When all was said and done, the Mets somehow emerged from a July 4 thrill ride with their third consecutive win. As unlikely as it seemed at times, this group laid everything on the line and gave this game everything they had.
That’s character. That’s grit. That’s a winning mentality.
Hot on the heels of the dark days of losing 14 times in a 17-game stretch, it appears as though a corner has now been turned. And it has been turned in large part thanks to the ingredients that powered New York’s heroic run last year.
If Friday, and indeed the last three games, are anything to go by, the gritty, resilient, never-say-die Mets are back.
Around the League 🚩
Mariners C Cal Raleigh hit his 34th and 35th home runs of the year - tying Seattle icon Ken Griffey Jr. for the most homers in franchise history before the All-Star break
The Cubs put on plenty of fireworks in their July 4 game against the Cardinals, crushing a franchise-record eight home runs. 1B Michael Busch led the way with a three-homer game
White Sox SS Colson Montgomery made quite the first impression in his MLB debut, making a stunning, full-extension diving catch
1B Spencer Steer went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs to help lead the Reds to a 9-6 win over the Phillies
INF Jake Cronenworth delivered a two-out RBI single to help the Padres walk-off the Rangers in extra-innings
Astros OF Jose Altuve finished with two homers and five RBIs in an 18-1 demolition of the Dodgers - LA’s worst loss at Dodger Stadium
A great win. I'm skeptical of the emotional-based narrative that when a team performs well it's because they're gritty and tough and when they perform badly, it's because they lack "fire" or a "pulse". Sometimes I think it's the other way around. Great play by my boy McNeil. He's an infielder and he fielded a ball and then threw to first. I don't see how "presence of mind" enters into it because that's what infielders do all the time.
I find it hard to keep up with the comings and goings of the Mets pitching staff. Peterson to me is a terrific 2 or 3, the rest of the rotation is in and out. Would like to see a guy at #1 that takes the ball every turn and gives a 6-7 inning effort. The more the bullpen is used to cover for inadequate starters, it diminishes their ability to complete the job every time out.