QUEENS — Overcoming calamitous play and a shaky bullpen that derailed a pitching gem between Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, the Mets pulled out an improbable Subway Series split when Brandon Nimmo — who had been the talk of the rivalry set for the wrong reasons — walked them off with a 10th-inning double to clinch a 4-3 victory over the Yankees on Wednesday night at Citi Field.
“It was my first time facing [Yankees reliever Nick Ramirez] and I was just trying to get a pitch in the middle of the plate and put a good swing on it,” Nimmo said of his long fly of a game-winner that struck off the right-field fence over Oswaldo Cabrera to score Eduardo Escobar from second. “I didn’t realize how shallow they were playing me. I was begging for that ball to go out rather than drop but when I looked down and saw how shallow they were, I thought, ‘oh, OK, we should have this.'”
The win provides a reprieve in another downturn for the struggling Mets (32-36) after they had lost nine of their previous 10 games.
The Yankees (39-30) built a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning thanks to the speed of Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He first forced an errant throw from Jeff McNeil on the attempted turn of a double-play to score Josh Donaldson from third, breaking a 1-1 tie. He then stole second, advanced to third on a bad throw by catcher Francisco Alvarez, and stole home on southpaw reliever Brooks Raley, who inherited a jam after Jeff Brigham led the frame off with a walk and hit batter.
“We scored more runs than they did over the course of the game and that was a big one for us,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said when asked about his team’s mistake-riddled play. “There were things that we were able to overcome but you’d like to see them not happening.”
The Mets came back to tie it in the bottom half of the inning upon Cole’s exit. Jimmy Cordero loaded the bases with two outs before Ron Marinaccio failed to clean up his mess, hitting Nimmo to force in a run and allowing a game-tying single to Starling Marte.
But Nimmo — who missed a fly ball that allowed the Yankees to score the game-winning run in Tuesday’s win over the Mets — was halfway to third when he realized that the runner in front of him, Mark Vientos, was being held by third-base coach Joey Cora. He was thrown out at second to end the inning on another undisciplined note.
“I thought I was safe,” Nimmo. “Those haven’t seemed to go our way this year… It was really disappointing but it’s that same mindset that these weren’t the ones we’ve gotten this year so you have to prepare yourself.”
Cole, who allowed just one run on four hits across six innings with eight strikeouts, was perfect for the first four innings, not allowing a single Mets baserunner. But doubles by Francisco Lindor and Tommy Pham in the fifth — the latter coming with two outs — not only ruined Cole’s pursuit of history but gave Verlander a slim lead to work with after he posted five innings of one-hit, scoreless ball.
Within three batters in the sixth inning, though, the lead was gone when Jake Bauers drove home Jose Trevino with a one-out single to knot things up.
Billy McKinney was responsible for the only hit for both teams over the first 4.5 innings while Cole and Verlander — who went six innings himself, yielding one run on three hits with six punchouts — traded zeroes. The Yankees’ left fielder led off the third inning with a ground-rule double but was left stranded on third after Verlander set down the next three he faced in order.
“This is definitely the brightest light, especially in the regular season,” Verlander said. “At this point, for our team, every win matters. We have to start winning some baseball games and you have to look at the bigger picture, but these are important to start with.”
Lindor finally gave the Mets a baserunner when he led off the bottom of the fifth with a scorching double off the right-center-field fence. He was promptly moved to third by an Alvarez fly ball to right and with two outs, came home on Pham’s double to right.
The Yankees answered right back thanks to Trevino, who led off the top of the six with a double down the left-field line and advanced to third on an Anthony Volpe flyout to right. Bauers, who wore down Verlander by seeing 24 pitches across three at-bats, lined a single to right to score Trevino and leave the Mets’ co-ace with the no-decision after he threw 107 pitches across six frames.
Brigham put his side in trouble immediately in the seventh by walking Josh Donaldson and hitting Anthony Rizzo to put two on with no outs. After striking out DJ LeMahieu, Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s grounder allowed the Mets to get the force at second, but McNeil’s throw to first in an attempt to turn the double play was up the line and could not be scooped by Vientos.
As the ball squirted away, Donaldson was able to streak home with the go-ahead run for the Yankees.
After Raley called in to relieve Brigham, Kiner-Falefa stole second and moved to third when Alvarez’s throw rolled into center field. With the southpaw’s back turned to third in the stretch and Eduardo Escobar not playing near the bag, Kiner-Falefa took off for home and swiped the Yankees’ third run of the night with ease as the unassuming Mets reliever haphazardly fired an erratic fastball that nearly hit home-plate umpire Bill Miller in the face.
“The third baseman didn’t acknowledge me and I kind of timed it up right before [Raley] made a move,” Kiner-Falefa. “The timing worked out perfectly and my instincts took over… I couldn’t believe I did that in the big leagues, especially in that game. I wish the result could have been different.”
