NEW YORK -- In the top of the ninth inning Friday at Citi Field, Jeff McNeil splayed himself onto the outfield grass, belly flopping in an attempt not only to save a hit, but to keep Aaron Judge out of the batter’s box one last time.
The Mets’ No. 9 starter had long since departed this carnival ride of a game. Their beleaguered setup man was moonlighting as a closer, in part because an alternative had only just arrived at the ballpark. McNeil and Juan Soto had done their parts, each with a two-run homer. But the Mets still needed to finish off their third consecutive victory.
When Reed Garrett finally did, he vigorously pumped his fist, understanding what this 6-5 win over the Yankees meant. Yes, it was chaotic. No, it never felt secure. But it was the clearest evidence yet that the Mets have broken free of their recent doldrums.
“This is a huge series,” Garrett said. “This is what everybody in New York looks forward to. So to get the last six [outs] was big for me, and just a little subtle reminder to keep going, keep fighting.”
Each year, the Subway Series carries a little extra juice. From the moment Major League Baseball released its 2025 schedule, with three games between the Mets and Yankees scheduled for Fourth of July weekend, this particular event figured to be even more intense. Yet by the time the teams arrived in Queens for Game 1 of the series, both sides were bruised, beaten and struggling.
In the Mets’ case, they were missing five of their top eight starters to injuries, forcing them to dip even lower on their depth chart to tab Justin Hagenman. They were operating without their two top relievers, Edwin Díaz and Ryne Stanek, who had combined for seven outs the night before, as well as a key leverage arm in José Buttó, who had landed on the IL due to illness.
The Mets had also recently lost 14 times in a 17-game stretch. To say they were reeling would be an understatement -- one that Hagenman underscored by allowing homers to the first two batters of the game, Jasson Domínguez and Judge.
“Obviously, that’s not the start you’re looking to get off to,” Hagenman said.
It was Soto who began to change the tenor of the afternoon with a game-tying two-run homer in the first off Marcus Stroman -- one of three hits for the $765 million Yankee-turned-Met. The teams continued trading blows until the seventh, when McNeil hit a go-ahead two-run shot into the second deck in right field. As the ball left the yard, McNeil flipped his bat high into the air with both hands, all but skipping part of the way down the first-base line.
“I feel like I don’t hit that many home runs in that situation,” McNeil said. “So to be able to do it, I enjoyed that one.”
For McNeil, the moment was jubilation. For Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, it brought a new wave of concern. Without Stanek and Díaz, Mendoza still needed to stitch together six more outs.
Around the time of McNeil’s homer, Mendoza received word that veteran Chris Devenski had arrived at Citi Field from Triple-A Syracuse. That was one option. Richard Lovelady, a journeyman left-hander, was another.
Mendoza decided on the only other possibility available to him. After Garrett set down the middle of the Yankees' order on 14 pitches in the eighth, Mendoza approached him in the dugout to ask if he felt strong enough to continue to the ninth. Garrett had initially tried to avoid his manager, not wanting to come out of the game. Instead, Mendoza surprised him by saying he planned to go batter by batter.
The first of those, Trent Grisham, flied out. The second, DJ LeMahieu, hit a soft liner to the right side. McNeil sprinted to receive the ball, left his feet to glove it, then popped back up and fired to first to nab LeMahieu by a step.
“He came out of nowhere and just dived for that ball,” Soto said. “It really got me shocked.”
Moments later, with Judge on deck -- “the big boy,” as Mendoza called him -- Garrett nailed down the final out for a multi-inning save. The Mets secured their second win in four tries against the Yankees this season.
More importantly, with a ragged but effective performance, they provided additional evidence that the worst stretch of their season may be behind them.
“You appreciate the show from both teams,” Mendoza said. “Inning after inning, there’s something really special happening, whether it’s a pitch, a pitcher, an at-bat, a play. … It’s what you expect out of games like this.”