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The Yankees are a .500 team. So it’s really just fitting that against another squad that is barely over .500 themselves, they could only manage a four-game split. Much like Jacob deGrom after the Yankees scored six runs to win the first game at Citi Field, Bartolo Colon silenced the offense following their nine-run outburst last night.
Nathan Eovaldi got the start against Colon, and while he didn’t give up many hits, the majority went for extra bases. The Mets’ fifth inning proved to be the game-changer; until then, Eovaldi had held them scoreless on a pair of singles. Former Yankee Kelly Johnson smoked his first pitch of the fifth down the right field line and into the short porch for a solo homer, putting the Mets on the board.
Matt Reynolds went down on strikes, but Curtis Granderson was up next. He dropped a base hit well in front of Brett Gardner in left field, allowing him to hustle it into a double. Alejandro De Aza hit a comebacker, so with Granderson only partially off second, Eovaldi tried to throw him out. He got back in under the tag though, and there was no play at first base. Jay Bruce then crushed the decisive blow of the ballgame, a booming three-run homer to right-center field, his first as a member of the Mets. Eovaldi gave up just five hits in seven innings of work, but the three extra base hits in the fifth crippled him.
Meanwhile, the Yankees’ offense couldn’t find a rhythm against Colon. The 43-year-old struck out just one batter and gave up six hits, but he scattered them. He didn’t allow any walks and instead yielded plenty of weak contact. The Yankees were unable to score until the seventh inning, when Gary Sanchez turned on an inside pitch down the left field line for his first career double. Colon was relieved by Jeremy Blevins, who gave up an RBI single to the struggling Aaron Hicks.
Adam Warren and Anthony Swarzak stemmed the tide in relief of Eovaldi, but Addison Reed was up to the challenge as well, fanning two in a perfect eighth. Sanchez and Didi Gregorius both singled to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth against Jeurys Familia in the form of Rob Refsnyder. However, a ground ball that was barely fair up the third base line turned into a game-ending double play. At least Sanchez had a good day.
Now back at exactly .500, the Yankees will welcome recently departed friend Andrew Miller and the Cleveland Indians to town tomorrow night. Michael Pineda faces Josh Tomlin at 7:05pm.