4 Takeaways From The Subway Series: Mets Stun Yankees In Drama-Filled Weekend

CITI FIELD (New York) – The Mets entered the Subway Series red-hot, on the heels of sweeping the Detroit Tigers at home. Meanwhile, the Yankees slumped into the weekend having lost five of their last six games. It was a scenario that, just a few weeks ago, would have seemed preposterous. The tables had turned, and it created a buzz. During a warm and sun-splashed weekend that finally felt like summer was around the corner, fans with different New York alliances traveled to Flushing and packed out the stadium every day of the three-game series. The atmosphere was charged. The stakes felt high. The drama was waiting to unfold. In the end, it was the Mets, the team with one of the worst records in baseball, that stunned the Yankees, the club that’s built to go to the World Series again. The Mets took two out of the three games, winning the first meeting of the season between the longtime crosstown rivals. Here are my takeaways: 1. Worst Gut Punch In A Season Full Of ‘Em Out of all the comebackers that could’ve hurt the Mets, this one burned like no other. Mets right-hander Clay Holmes absorbed a 111 mph line drive off the bat of Yankees rookie slugger Spencer Jones in the fourth inning of Friday’s series opener. It bounced off Holmes’ right leg and broke his fibula. He is expected to pitch again this season, but not for a very long time. A best-case scenario includes Holmes returning to the mound sometime around August. After Friday’s game, a 4-0 loss to their crosstown rivals, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza looked devastated. Reliever-turned-starter Holmes entered his Subway Series outing representing the Mets’ most consistent and dominant arm in their rotation. He carried a 1.86 ERA into his ninth start of the year before what he termed “a freak accident” derailed his season. As long as Holmes was churning out ace-level performances every five days, the Mets liked their chances of climbing up the NL East standings. But, without him? This was the toughest gut punch in a season full of them. “It’s tough. Clay is a guy who shows up every day. He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve seen in my career,” Juan Soto said on Friday. “It’s really sad what happened to him. We’re going to support him in any kind of way that he needs us. But it just sucks.” The Mets are without Francisco Lindor (calf strain), Francisco Alvarez (torn meniscus), Jorge Polanco (Achilles), Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine disc herniation), and Ronny Maricio (thumb fracture) for the foreseeable future. None of those position players have a definitive timeline to return. And yet, Holmes’ injury hit the Mets clubhouse the hardest, Mendoza said. On the heels of yet another lifeless loss, it seemed like the final nail in the coffin for their playoff hopes. The best thing about hitting rock bottom? The Mets were left with a blank slate. Even though it’s brutal, the only place to go was up. The only thing left to do was start over. 2. Mets Bullpen Then Shines In An Inspiring Win After deep devastation came a reason for celebration. The Mets showed up to Citi Field on Saturday with a vengeance, refusing to let Holmes’ injury sabotage their season even if it thwarted his. The Mets lineup rallied against the Yankees pitching staff and jumped ahead for a two-run lead that the Bronx Bombers were threatening to erase in the seventh inning. The Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out, thanks in part to a dropped ball from Mets rookie right fielder Carson Benge, when Mendoza turned to his eccentric setup man in the bullpen. Entering an impossible situation, Luke Weaver somehow pulled off the unimaginable against his former team. The wiry right-hander punched out his first two batters, then induced a groundout to end the inning with no runs crossing the plate. Weaver got it all done in just 11 pitches, so the Mets asked him for more. He came back out for the eighth, this time against the top of the Yankees order, and again he faced the minimum. Weaver delivered six king-sized outs for the Mets in a difficult spot. So, of course, he smirked as he walked off the mound. In the dugout after, Soto told Weaver he’s a unicorn. “You feel like there’s a little bit of an injury bug that we’ve had, and it feels never ending sometimes, especially in the midst of what’s going on with us this year,” Weaver said on Saturday. “But it’s games like tonight where every day is an opportunity to hit the refresh button.” Closer Devin Williams, another former Yankee, picked up some of Weaver’s leftover magic when he took the mound in the ninth inning. Trailing by three runs, Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger battled Williams but eventually whiffed on the sixth pitch of the at-bat. Williams followed up his toughest matchup by retiring his final two batters with ease, securing his sixth save of the season. After some inconsistency in their first few weeks as Mets, Weaver and Williams have bounced back so far this month. Williams has not allowed a run in his last 8.2 innings pitched (nine relief appearances). He’s given up just one hit and two walks in that stretch, while recording four saves. Weaver, too, has not allowed a run in his last 7.1 innings pitched (six relief appearances) with 11 strikeouts in that span. 3. Rodon’s Outing Was Bad News For Yankees’ Fried-less Rotation The Yankees avoided the worst when they learned on Friday that Max Fried’s elbow pain was due to a bone bruise. The left-hander won’t need surgery, and in a few weeks the team will re-evaluate whether Fried can resume throwing. In the meantime, the rest of the rotation has some very big shoes to fill. After Cam Schlitter, Fried was their best starter on the staff, helping the Yankees stay afloat until ace Gerrit Cole and southpaw Carlos Rodon returned from their respective injuries. Cole is one or two more rehab outings away from returning to the Yankees rotation for the first time since 2024. And now with Fried down for a while, there is more pressure on Rodon to perform like the 2025 version of himself, when he delivered an All-Star season and finished sixth in American League Cy Young award voting. But Rodon didn’t even make it through the fourth inning against the Mets on Saturday, which was his second start of the season since completing his rehab from left elbow surgery. He lacked command all night, eventually throwing a wild pitch that allowed the Mets to take the lead. Rodon’s erratic performance arrived at the worst time. The Yankees need him to settle in and find consistency as the No. 2 starter in the rotation now, particularly because Fried was a workhorse that saved manager Aaron Boone from having to overuse his bullpen. “I’m never going to make an excuse,” Rodon said on Saturday. “I think I should be dialed in right now. It’s frustrating.” Given what’s left of New York’s rotation — Will Warren, Ryan Weathers, Elmer Rodriguez, Schlittler, and Rodon — it’s fair to question whether this staff will be able to maintain its strong season. Yankees starters possess the second-best ERA in the AL, and it will be an uphill climb to try and keep it that way. 4. Extra-Innings Drama Returns To Subway Series After the Mets rallied for a victory on Saturday, the Subway Series finale on Sunday afternoon became an intense rubber match. The crosstown rivals were tied at 1-1 through five innings until the Bronx Bombers put up a four-run rally on Mets starter-turned-reliever Sean Manaea in the sixth inning. Boone had emptied his entire bench heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Then he went to his closer, David Bednar, trusting him to deliver a Yankees win. They were one out away from him doing just that when Tyrone Taylor had other plans on his mind. Taylor, the Mets’ fourth outfielder, executed the swing of his life — slugging a game-tying three-run home run off Bednar to resurrect the Mets back from the dead. He tied the game at 6-6, sending it to extra innings, as Citi Field went berserk. Williams took care of the Yankees again in the top of the 10th inning, expertly stranding the ghost runner at third base before Benge walked it off for the Mets in the bottom of the frame. “Bummed out to happy,” Taylor said of his emotions at the plate on Sunday. “Hitting’s contagious.” Boone seemed to panic throughout the series finale, over-managing with pinch-hitters early and often until there was no one left to do damage when the Yankees needed it in the 10th. Taylor and the Mets, meanwhile, kept the faith. In the fifth, Taylor came off the bench as a pinch-hitter and ripped a liner that had an expected batting average of .680 to center field, where Spencer Jones made a terrific diving catch to take away an extra base hit. Again, Taylor ran into an unlucky out in the seventh inning on a lineout to left. In the dugout, his Mets teammates encouraged Taylor to keep swinging. When he finally did, he hit the ball so far that no Yankees fielder would get in his way. “I blacked out for him,” Benge said of Taylor’s at-bat on Sunday. “Hopefully we can get our at-bats going. Our arms are shoving. We’re trending in the right direction.” 4 ½. What’s Next? The Bronx Bombers’ ugly road trip has mercifully reached an end. The Yankees went 2-7 against the Brewers, Orioles and Mets — their first spell of true adversity in what has otherwise been a terrific start to the year. They go home to host the division-rival Blue Jays on Monday. The four-game series is their first meeting against Toronto since the Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs last October. The Mets will try to keep the good times rolling on a quick road trip that holds the best opportunity yet to change the course of their season. Beginning Monday, they face the Nationals and Marlins, also known as the two teams that are ahead of the Mets in the NL East standings. If they can stack up more wins on the road, the Mets have a chance to jump from last place to third in the division. The Yankees (28-19) and Mets (20-26) will meet again on Sept. 11 in the Bronx. Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.