Listless Mets drop Subway Series opener to Germán, Yankees

Following an exhilarating and exhausting win against the Phillies on Sunday afternoon, the Mets were feeling the effects of their hard-fought effort in the Bronx as they dropped their series opener to the Yankees 4-2. Perhaps it was a hangover following their big win, or a letdown after a high-intensity comeback, but whatever it was, this was a different Mets team than the one that staged multiple comebacks in the later innings of yesterday’s thriller.

It doesn’t help that Max Scherzer, who is usually extremely reliable, under-performed when his team needed him most. It’s hard to fault a guy who has given them everything they’ve needed all season long, but he was simply not as sharp as he usually is. He allowed four runs in alternating innings, allowing the Yankees to score in the first, third, fifth, and seventh. In the first, he allowed a sacrifice fly to D.J. LeMahieu which scored Andrew Benintendi, whom Scherzer plunked to lead off the game. In the third, Aaron Judge used the short porch in right to connect on his 47th homer of the year. In the fifth, Benintendi hit a double down the right field line to drive in the game’s third run—both Judge and Anthony Rizzo just missed home runs to end the inning. In the seventh, Benintendi again drove in a run, which ended Scherzer’s night after 6 ²⁄₃ innings

The Mets, meanwhile, were no match for Domingo Germán, who pitched into the seventh for the first time in 2022. He faced the minimum through three and needed just nine pitches in the second, third, and fourth innings. It wasn’t so much that the Mets weren’t picking up hits as they weren’t even being competitive when up at the plate. That finally started to change a bit in the later innings, as they made the right-hander throw 15 pitches in the fifth and 23 in the sixth—James McCann’s 12-pitch at-bat accounted for much of that. The Mets finally broke through in the seventh, thanks to a dropped pop up by Oswaldo Cabrera that elicited the memory of Luis Castillo, and a Daniel Vogelbach two-run homer.

Taijuan Walker will take the hill on Tuesday as the Mets will aim for a series split. He will be opposed by Frankie Montas.

Box scores

MLB
ESPN

Win Probability Added

Fangraphs.com

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Daniel Vogelbach, 9.8% WPA
Big Mets loser: Max Scherzer, -19.2% WPA
Mets pitchers: -15.8% WPA
Mets hitters: -34.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Daniel Vogelbach home run, 15.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Aaron Judge home run, -10.8% WPA

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