NEW YORK — What do you know, the Yankees still have a little fight left in them, after all.
Until rallying late, they looked like quitters for much of Saturday night when they didn’t get a baserunner for five innings while the Mets shockingly were turning an early five-run deficit into a two-run lead. The Yankees were six outs away from their first eight-game losing streak since 1995 when finally stopping their embarrassing slide from continuing.
With some help from the Mets, the Yankees scored three in the eighth to regain the lead and held on for an 8-7 win at Citi Field that was needed in the worst way.
Want more Yankees coverage? Get exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text directly with beat writers
Aaron Judge’s two-run homer off Mets reliever Trevor May tied the game, then with lefty Aaron Loup pitching, the Yankees pulled ahead when Mets second baseman Javier Baez made a wild throw to first base on what should have been an easy inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play off pinch-hitter Luke Voit’s bat. Voit would have been out by 10 feet, but the bad throw enabled pinch-runner Andrew Velazquez to score from second base for an 8-7 Yankees lead that held up.
This night began with an emotional pre-game tribute honoring 9/11 victims on the 20th anniversary, then the Yankees went out and built a 5-0 second-inning lead on Mets starter Taijuan Walker via three homers, a two-run shots by Kyle Higashioka and Brett Gardner, then a solo blast by Judge, who had a two-homer night.
From that point on, 16 Yankees hitters were retired in a row as the Mets clawed their way back in the game and then went ahead.
The Mets scored three in the second and on in the third on Yankees starter Corey Kluber to make it a one-run game, then took a 6-5 lead in the sixth when Chad Green served up a two-run homer to James McCann.
The Mets made it 7-5 in the seventh when Clay Holmes allowed three singles in a row after two down, the last a run-scoring hit by Kevin Pillar.
Gardner started the Yankees’ eighth-inning rally with a single to right off May, then Judge blasted a 1-0 changeup over the left-center wall to tie things up. Giancarlo Stanton kept it going with a single to right, then the Mets’ defense let them down as Gleyber Torres reached on an infield single that shortstop Francisco Lindor couldn’t handle before Baez’ throwing error on Voit’s tailor-made double play.
From there, the Mets threatened in the eighth when Yankees reliever Albert Abreu walked two in a row after two outs, but Pete Alonso flied out to deep center to end the inning.
Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, albeit shaky again, put the Mets away by working a scoreless ninth despite J.D. Davis rapping a ground-rule double with one out and moving up to third on a wild pitch as Kevin Pillar whiffed for the second out.
With the tying run on third base, Chapman closed out the Mets by retiring James McCann on a can-of-corn flyball to right field.
NOTABLE
-- Kluber was roughed up for four runs over four innings and has an 8.49 ERA in three starts since he returned from the injured list on Aug. 30.
-- The game was stopped for a couple minutes twice in the middle-to-late innings due to fans running on the field.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sunday: Yankees at Mets, 8:08 p.m., YES, SNY & MLB Network. TBA vs. RHP Carlos Carrasco (1-2, 5.88).
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.
Ad Choices