This year’s Subway Series was a true back-and-forth battle.
The Yankees found themselves on top following the Bronx half of the rivalry, taking two out of three in their home ballpark last month.
When the series turned to Citi Field this week, though, the Mets were ready to answer back.
Both teams found themselves struggling a bit heading into the three-game weekend set, but the boys in orange and blue were able to build off the momentum of their series win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Jeff McNeil’s late-inning homer pushed them in front on Friday, then a nine RBI effort from Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo helped them secure the series victory on Saturday.
Even running out a shorthanded bullpen game on Sunday, the Mets were able to rally and keep things close in the late innings, but closer Devin Williams worked a 1-2-3 ninth to salvage the finale for the Bombers.
Still, it was a tremendous effort in front of a rocking hometown crowd.
“That was a hell of a series,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Even on a day like today the guys fought back, we went down and just kept fighting. The at-bats were there throughout the day, we just came up short today — overall the whole series, I’m proud of the guys.”
The at-bats definitely were there throughout the contest — the Mets made life very tough on Yankees All-Star Max Fried, who battled his way through five innings of work to earn his team-high 11th victory of the season.
The ace southpaw has dominated this group over his career, but gave credit where it was due.
“It’s a deep lineup over there,” he said. “You’ve got the top of the order of guys who can really do some damage, but every guy can get on-base, they can run the bases, and they can do a lot of little things to create runs or have the big inning too.
“You know you have to be on top of all facets of the game and be able to move the ball around because they like to see a lot of pitches and really grind you out.”
And it wasn’t just Fried who had nothing but positives to note about this relentless group — Yankees captain Aaron Judge also offered high praise for the Mets after battling it out to a season-series split.
He's hoping to see them again later this year in a potential Subway Series Fall Classic.
“They’ve got a great ballclub over there,” Judge said. “It starts with their manager Mendy, who I’ve seen for years over here, you know he’s gonna do everything he can to get the boys fired up and ready to go.
“They have a great pitching staff, their lineup is deep and they added a guy like Juan Soto in the middle so it’s always gonna be a tough matchup — they are one of the toughest teams we’ve faced, hopefully looking forward to seeing them down the road.”
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