NY Mets lose to Yankees in heartbreaking fashion on 20th anniversary of 9/11

NEW YORK — After a long back-and-forth game, a frustrated Trevor May acknowledged the circumstances surrounding Saturday night's Subway Series game at Citi Field.

It was the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Fans witnessed a touching pregame ceremony. On this day every year, emotions swirl for everyone. Oh, and two crosstown rivals, both fighting for postseason spots in their respective leagues, were playing in front of a national audience. 

This one hurts — perhaps more than others. 

“I can definitely feel how this loss can be a little bit more emotionally-charged than others," May, sitting at a table on Zoom with reporters, said after a rough performance. "Trust me, I’m feeling that too. All I want to do is flip this table over. ...I'm frustrated to a point where that's all I got. If I keep going, it's all going to go downhill from here."

On an emotional night, the Mets had the momentum and the lead. In front of a sellout crowd, they authored the perfect comeback for a day of this magnitude. 

In heartbreaking fashion, the Mets saw the game slip away late. 

They had a simple inning-ending double play, but Javier Báez sailed the throw to first base and the go-ahead run scored for the Yankees. That gut punch followed another from Aaron Judge, who hammered a game-tying, two-run home run — his second of the night — off May, who had allowed only a run in his last 10 innings before the blast. 

The Yankees scored three runs in the eighth inning and stunned the Mets, 8-7, on Saturday at Citi Field. Not only did the Mets (71-72) miss out on a monumental win on a special night, but they hurt their postseason chances by not gaining ground in the standings. They remain five games behind the first-place Braves. 

"With everything that was going on and the night that it was," May said, "it's not the night that you want to not be on your best stuff."

Before that fatal eighth inning, the Mets had shown heart, fight and energy. They overcame an early deficit. Their pitching had shut down the Yankees after Taijuan Walker's rough start to his outing. They had all the ingredients for a victory, except the one that has often eluded them this season: the ability to finish. 

The Mets came agonizingly close, too. They left the tying run at third in the ninth when McCann, facing Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, flew out to right field to end the game. An inning before, the Mets had two on for Pete Alonso, who put a charge into a ball that eventually died at the warning track for the final out of the inning. 

These failures perhaps undid the goodwill the Mets earned for the heart and fight they showed earlier in the game. Those late-game failures, though, fit right in with how the Mets' season has gone. 

"The resiliency showed again," Mets manager Luis Rojas said. "We just couldn't finish it." 

In the bottom of the second inning, after Walker served up three home runs in the top half, the Mets scored three runs on hits from Walker, James McCann and Kevin Pillar to cut a five-run deficit to two. Then Báez homered in the third, which set up McCann perhaps penned his signature moment as a Met, a go-ahead, two-run home run off Yankees reliever Chad Green in the sixth inning. An inning later, Pillar smacked a two-out, run-scoring single to give the Mets a two-run advantage. 

After the Mets put up these runs to storm back, McCann said "it definitely gives you the feel that it's our ballgame to win."

"Unfortunately, we couldn't hang on," he added.

May threw Judge a pitch high in the zone and, as Rojas put it, "power hitters like Aaron Judge are not going to miss those pitches." But Aaron Loup, who replaced May, got a ground ball that looked to be an easy double play. 

Francisco Lindor cleanly fielded it and threw to Báez for the first out at second. Báez made an awkward turn, and the throw looked even worse. Yankees fans erupted as the go-ahead run scored, while Mets fans couldn't believe it. 

Minutes after the loss, May remained frustrated. You could see it in his face, hear it in his tone. He had pitched so well recently, but stumbled in a game with added importance — which he acknowledged. 

"It's a day you want to go out and you want to have your best stuff and you want to give the fans what they came to see," May said.

Before that eighth inning, the Yankees had no answer for Mets pitching. After Judge's first home run of the game, in the second inning, the Yankees went 0-for-16 with eight strikeouts against Walker, who finished six innings, and Seth Lugo. Through seven innings, the Bronx Bombers looked defeated and lifeless. 

In a snap, they woke up. 

The Mets, on the other hand, couldn't steal back the momentum late. It looked like they might be able to steal one, though, when Alonso sent a ball out to center field. 

Did the Mets think it was leaving the yard? 

"I did," McCann said. "I think out whole dugout did."

"At some point, I think everyone in the dugout knew it was going to stay (in), just knowing the ballpark and the angle coming off the bat."

This season, the Mets have suffered many gut-wrenching losses, including a few recent ones. And now that they're in the home stretch, those defeats feel even worse for a team that needs every win it can grab. 

"We're definitely to the time of the season where you're scoreboard-watching, you're standings-watching," McCann said. "A night we could've gained ground, a ballgame that very easily could've gone our way, yeah it's frustrating. But at the same time, we can't dwell on it."

Justin Toscano is the Mets beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Mets analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.

Email: toscanoj@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @justinctoscano