Until next year.
They shared a city spotlight for the last two days, but the Mets and Yankees probably won’t be mentioned in the same sentence again this season.
The best the underwhelming Mets can say is they played .500 over four Subway Series games in 2019. Their chance at winning the season series and temporary city bragging rights fizzled along with their bats Wednesday in a 5-1 loss to the Yankees before a sellout crowd of 43,323 at Citi Field.
Domingo German (10-2) stifled the Mets, allowing one run on five hits over six innings as the Yankees rebounded from a rare bullpen hiccup that cost them the game a night earlier. Chad Green and Nestor Cortes Jr. took this one to the finish with three scoreless innings.
“That was the good, dominant version of Domingo we saw so much the first couple of months of the season,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It was exciting to see him pitch that well.”
The Mets (39-48) have a rare Fourth-of-July off day and will look toward a three-game series against the Phillies to close the first half.
The Yankees (55-29) play a four-game set in St. Petersburg, Fla., starting Thursday as they try to extend an AL East lead that stands at 6 ½ games on the Rays.
The Yankees jumped on Jason Vargas and Wilmer Font in the sixth with homers that built their lead to 4-1. Vargas was removed after surrendering a solo blast to Didi Gregorius, before the ensuing batter, Gio Urshela, went deep against Font.
All told Vargas lasted 5 ¹/₃ innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits with two walks. In the Mets’ win over the Yankees in The Bronx last month, Vargas provided six innings in which he allowed three runs.
“I thought he threw the ball really well,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “Obviously a great lineup over there and he kept them off balance and kept the ball underneath the zone when he needed to and he gave us a chance. Another great outing from him.”
Font allowed two runs over 1 ¹/₃ innings and Steven Matz got the final out of the seventh inning in his first major league relief appearance. The left-hander will remain in the bullpen until at least the All-Star break as the Mets attempt to get him back on track following a rough stretch.
“It was a little bit different,” said Matz, who got Gregorius to ground out. “But at the end of the day you’re just going out there and pitching.”
Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless ninth in his first appearance since returning from a second stint on the injured list this season.
After winning consecutive games — following a seven-game losing streak — the Mets took a step backward. The lineup largely hasn’t been a problem recently, but the Mets managed only two extra-base hits in this clunker. They could have used the firepower on a night Vargas kept them in the game, but couldn’t carry the Mets.
Vargas succeeded in eluding trouble in the middle innings. In the fourth, he retired Gleyber Torres with two runners on base. And in the fifth the pitcher German bunted into an odd 2-5-4 double play, with the second baseman covering first base, to end the inning.
But in the sixth, Gregorius crushed a hanging changeup from Vargas for a solo homer that extended the Yankees’ lead to 3-1. It was the fourth straight game with a homer allowed by Vargas, who previously had a stretch of four starts without surrendering one.
“I just made a mistake, really lost focus,” Vargas said. “That’s why I felt so bad about how that last at-bat went down, because I felt like we were in probably pretty good situation to finish that hitter and finish the inning.”
Jeff McNeil’s homer leading off the game for the Mets had sliced the Yankees lead to 2-1. The homer was McNeil’s seventh and second in four games against the Yankees this season.
The Yankees jumped on Vargas for two quick runs in the first inning. Torres delivered an RBI single for the second run after DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge doubled in succession to start the game.
“The Yankees put together a good lineup more than not,” Vargas said. “So you just know it’s going to be a tough day when you get there.”