Subway Series Take 2: Domingo Dominates As Yanks Grab 1st Game At Stadium

Domingo German. @Yankees.

 

The Yankees beat the Mets, 4-2, on Monday night in the first night of this two-game set of the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium, as Yankees starting pitcher Domingo German outdueled the Mets' Max Scherzer.

This night was a bit of redemption for the Yankees, as they dropped the two games at Citi Field in late July, and were shut down by Scherzer, who had thrown seven shutout innings on July 27. The Yankees touched up Scherzer in this one for all four runs they scored.

German, who also was matched up against Scherzer at Citi Field, had his best outing since he joined the Yankees in late July after missing the first three-plus months due to injury. He went 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and no walks, while striking out three, to improve to 2-2 on the season with a 3.89 ERA (earned run average). 

The Yankees earned their 75th win of the season, as they improve to 75-48, and they are now 3-5 on their current homestand, which ends tomorrow night. Their lead in the American League East remains at eight games over the Tampa Bay Rays (66-55), who beat the Angels 2-1. The Mets fell to 79-45, and the Atlanta Braves (76-48) moved back within three games in the National League East with a 2-1 win in Pittsburgh. They are 4-5 on their road trip, which also concludes tomorrow.

The Yankees got the lead in the first inning, as Andrew Benintendi was hit by a pitch to start it off, then raced to third on a one-out single by Anthony Rizzo, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by DJ LeMahieu.

In the third, Aaron Judge, who struck out in the first - a continuation of how he did against Scherzer on July 27 when he struck out three times - got his redemption as he deposited a Scherzer fastball into the seats in right for a solo home run to make it 2-0. That was Judge's 47th homer of the season, and broke a nine-game stretch in which he didn't have a dinger. It also gave him his 103rd RBI of the season.

The Yankees added to it in the fifth, as Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off with a ground-rule double, and then scored on a double by Benintendi to make it 3-0.

German cruised through the first six innings, and he struck out Francisco Lindor to open the seventh. The Mets then caught a break when Pete Alonso hit a pop-up to right field that Yankee second baseman Oswaldo Cabrera backed up to catch, but he ran into right fielder Marwin Gonzalez, and it popped out of his glove, allowing Alonso to reach. 

Daniel Vogelbach was up next, and he crushed one into the seats in right field for a two-run shot, his 16th homer of the season, to make it 3-2 Yankees.

German left after the home run, and Ron Marinaccio came on and got Jeff McNeil and Mark Canha to hit into groundouts to end the seventh. Marinaccio stayed on into the eighth and pitched an inning-and-a-third, in which he allowed just a walk and notched a strikeout.

Scherzer stayed on for the bottom of the seventh, and Kiner-Falefa got a one-out single and reached second on a throwing error by Lindor. That would loom large, as Benintendi dunked one into right field with two outs to bring in IKF and make it 4-2 Yankees.

That capped off a big night for Benintendi, as he went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, and a day after he hit a game-winning two-run homer to lead the Yankees to a 4-2 win over the Jays as they avoided a four-game sweep to their division rivals. This was just what the Yankee left fielder needed, after he had a dreadful day on Saturday, as he left four runners on base at the plate and two defensive miscues led to a four-run inning for Toronto.

Scherzer then allowed a single to Judge, and that was all for his night, and his final line was: 6 2/3 innings pitched, 7 hits, 4 runs (all earned), 1 walk, 3 strikeouts. He fell to 9-3 and his ERA (earned run average) ticked up to 2.33.

Trevor May came on and struck out Rizzo to end the seventh, and Mychal Givens pitched a perfect eighth. 

Jonathan Loaisiga relieved Marinaccio with two outs in the eighth, and he got Brandon Nimmo to fly out to center field to end the frame, and he stayed on to pitch a perfect ninth, and ended the game with a strikeout of Vogelbach to earn his first save of the season.