Jeff McNeil's go-ahead HR atones for baserunning blunder in Mets' Subway Series win at Yankee Stadium
Published in Baseball
NEW YORK — A baserunning blunder by Jeff McNeil nearly cost the New York Mets in Tuesday night’s Subway Series opener at Yankee Stadium.
He more than atoned for it.
McNeil’s tie-breaking two-run home run in the sixth inning against former teammate Michael Tonkin proved to be the game-winner in the Mets’ 3-2 victory against the crosstown Yankees.
The second baseman pointed to the sky as his 393-foot blast landed in the Yankees’ bullpen and put the Mets up, 3-1. He clapped emphatically after rounding second base, then excitedly gestured toward the stands as he continued his home-run trot.
He had good reason to celebrate.
The home run was McNeil’s fourth in the five games since the All-Star break, continuing his stark resurgence after slumping to a .216 average, five homers, a .314 slugging percentage and a .591 OPS over 88 games in the season’s first half.
His 2 for 3 performance Tuesday made him 6 for 15 (.400) since the All-Star break. McNeil hit two home runs in Friday’s game in Miami and another in Monday’s series finale against the Marlins.
McNeil is starting to resemble the version of himself that led all MLB hitters with a .326 average in 2022. The two-time All-Star hit .270 last year before a partial UCL tear ended his season in late September.
Amid his struggles this season, McNeil was benched for a week in early June.
Tuesday’s homer came an inninFg after McNeil failed to score from second base on what ended up being a 388-foot single by Tyrone Taylor.
With the Mets down 1-0, McNeil appeared to misread Taylor’s drive to the wall in left-center and went back to second base to tag up, only to scurry to third after realizing Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo had not caught it.
A sprinting Luis Torrens, who began the play on first base, found himself on McNeil’s heels and had to retreat to second, loading the bases with no outs.
McNeil ended up scoring when Yankees starter Luis Gil plunked Francisco Lindor two batters later, but that was all of the offense the Mets mustered in the inning.
Situational hitting has haunted the Mets of late.
They entered Tuesday just 3 for- (.071) with runners in scoring position over their previous five games, stranding at least nine baserunners in each of them. The Mets went 2-3 during that stretch, despite facing the National League’s worst two teams in the Rockies and Marlins.
The Mets were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position Tuesday before McNeil’s crucial blast, which scored Pete Alonso from third base.
They finished the game 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base. Tuesday marked the first game out of six in which the Mets had multiple hits with RISP.
With the win, the Mets improved to 30-15 in their last 45 games, a surge that started when they were a season-worst 11 games below .500.
Entering Tuesday, the Mets boasted baseball’s highest-scoring offense since May 29, despite their recent situational hitting woes. Their season-long average of .263 with runners in scoring position through Monday ranked sixth in the NL and 12th in the majors.
The Mets are now 3-0 against the Yankees, whom they swept in last month’s two-game Subway Series at Citi Field.
They wrap up this week’s two-game set in the Bronx — and the season series between the interborough rivals — on Wednesday night, with Sean Manaea scheduled to start for the Mets and Gerrit Cole set to pitch for the Yankees.
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