BRONX, NY — Francisco Lindor socked two home runs and drove in five runs to headline a Mets’ offensive clinic and a 12-3 victory over the Yankees on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium to sweep this season’s four-game Subway Series for just the second time ever and the first time since 2013.
The Mets continue to have Gerrit Cole’s number, hitting three more home runs off the Yankees’ ace. After throttling him for six runs on four round-trippers on June 25, the Mets hung another six runs on him, featuring the 20th round-trippers of the season for both Lindor and Pete Alonso. Tyrone Taylor also contributed his sixth of the season on a night he went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs.
The Mets piled it on by scoring six runs and batting around in the eighth inning against the Yankees’ bullpen, which featured Mark Vientos’ 13th home run of the season and Lindor’s second bomb of the night — a three-run shot — to cap the Queens club’s power output at five round-trippers on the night.
The Mets (53-48) have won four of six games since the All-Star break to move past the St. Louis Cardinals for the second National League Wild Card spot and now just trail the Atlanta Braves for second place in the NL East by 1.5 games.
Gleyber Torres put the Yankees up from the get-go in the bottom of the first, jumping on a 2-2 cutter from Sean Manaea and depositing it into the left-field seats for the first lead-off home run of his career and his second round-tripper in as many days.
The red-hot Jeff McNeil nearly tied the game with his fifth home run in his last six games, lifting a deep fly ball to right-center. But Juan Soto leaped with his back to the wall and robbed the Mets’ lefty, catching it with his glove at the top of the wall to end the second inning.
Taylor did get all of a high, 2-2 Cole fastball with two outs in the third, lifting one well into the left-field seats to tie the game at one apiece. It was the first base-runner and hit allowed by Cole on the night.
Soto got one right back for the Yankees, crushing his 26th home run of the season to dead-center in the bottom of the third. Manaea served a four-seam fastball middle-middle, practically an open invitation for the superstar to bomb it 443 feet and 110.9 mph off the bat.
Alonso countered yet again for the Mets, smacking his 20th home run of the season into the left-center-field seats on the first pitch he saw from Cole with one on in the top of the fourth to give the visitors the lead.
He became just the fifth player in franchise history to record five or more seasons with 20-plus home runs, joining Darryl Strawberry (8), David Wright (6), Mike Piazza (6), and Howard Johnson (5). He also tied Wright for the most career home runs hit by a Met in Subway Series play with nine.
The Mets continued to sock Cole in the fifth. After Taylor singled to lead off the frame, Lindor jumped on the first pitch — as Alonso did — and sent a no-doubter into the second deck in right field for his 20th home run of the season to make it a 5-2 game.
Lindor achieved his fourth 20-plus-homer season as a Met, which further extends his franchise record. The franchise only had one instance before Lindor arrived in which a shortstop hit 20 or more home runs in a season.
Manaea allowed just one other hit outside those two solo shots over 4.2 innings with four walks that catapulted his pitch count to 103.
Taylor tacked on a sixth for the Mets while driving Cole from the game when he snuck a single over Torres at second to score McNeil.
The Mets poured it on in the eighth inning, scoring six more while sending 11 men to the plate. Vientos led things off with a solo home run off Tim Hill. McNeil doubled and ultimately came around to score on a Taylor fielder’s choice that saw Yankees third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera field the slow chopper and try to get McNeil at home despite there being no force out in play. It left no time for catcher Austin Wells to apply the tag.
Lindor followed with his second home run of the night, jumping on the first pitch yet again.
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