James Paxton gets shellacked, Yankees split Subway Series with Mets

Well, game two of the Yankees-Mets doubleheader ended up being almost the exact opposite of the first. In this game, the Mets had all the power, and the Yankees had the poor starting pitching. It definitely wasn’t pretty, but let’s recap it anyway.

Things went south for James Paxton right out of the gate. Jeff McNeil doubled on the very first pitch of the game, and J.D. Davis moved the runner over to third on a single to left, setting the table for Pete Alonso. The Mets’ rookie came into the game with 21 homers, second in the NL to Christian Yelich, and after an eight-pitch battle, he made it 22. He clobbered a Paxton fastball 424 feet to center field, giving the Mets an immediate 3-0 lead.

Following his poor first inning, Paxton avoided trouble in the second but succumbed in the third. After back-to-back walks to Alonso and Todd Frazier, Michael Conforto and Wilson Ramos followed with back-to-back singles, plating two more runs. One more single from Adeiny Hechavarria put the Mets’ sixth run on the board, and Paxton was done for the night.

Paxton’s final line was 2.2 innings, seven hits, six runs, two walks, and just one strikeout.

Maybe bringing Paxton back while still suffering from knee pain wasn’t the best idea, but hey, who could’ve guessed that?

Facing a six-run deficit, the Yankees got a little offensive action going in the bottom of the third. DJ LeMahieu started things with a single up the middle, followed by a Luke Voit walk. Gary Sanchez slashed a knuckle curve into right field after a seven-pitch at-bat, and Gleyber Torres brought home the LeMahieu on a single to left.

The Yankees got their second and third runs of the inning on a couple of fielder’s choices. Clint Frazier hit a groundball to first, but the Mets couldn’t turn two, which allowed Voit to score, Then, Gio Urshela grounded one to second, but again, the Mets couldn’t convert the double play, allowing Sanchez to score. It was station-to-station baseball, but it cut the Yankees’ deficit in half.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the Mets to extend their lead again. Urshela dropped a pop up that allowed Jeff McNeil to reach base, but he wasn’t out there for long. J.D. Davis took an Adams fastball to right field, extending the Mets’ lead to 8-3.

In the top of the fifth inning, the Mets made it a 9-3 game. Carlos Gomez deposited an Adams fastball 391 feet into the right field seats. Adams just missed his spot. He attacked the outside part of the plate for five straight pitches. On the sixth, Romine called for a fastball up and in, but Adams left it up and out.

Adams was smooth sailing after the Gomez homer, but the damage was already done. Vargas kept the Yankee hitters in check after his third-inning slip up. In his final three frames, he didn’t surrender a walk, and the Yankees only mustered two hits.

The Mets’ bullpen mostly continued the job Vargas started. Jeurys Familia allowed a 114-mph single off the bat of Gary Sanchez and walked Gleyber Torres but didn’t allow any serious damage. Seth Lugo struck out the side in the eighth.

Drew Gagnon surrendered a homer to Brett Gardner in the top of the ninth, but it didn’t mean anything in terms of the game. It was Gardy’s 10th of the year, which is pretty cool since he hit just 12 all of last season. It was also the Yankees’ 10th game in a row with a homer, but that’s nowhere close to a team record. The 1941 Yankees hit a homer in 25 straight games. Without looking it up, it seems safe to say Matt Ferenchick probably wrote about that at some point.

Not much game to watch tonight, folks. For what it’s worth, DJ LeMahieu, Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres, and Brett Gardner all had two hits a piece tonight. The Yankees’ offense just couldn’t keep up with all the runs their pitching surrendered. The team is off tomorrow night and will be back in action Thursday in Chicago. The Yankees face the White Sox for a four-game set.