The New York Mets erupted for six home runs Saturday afternoon, including three against Gerrit Cole, as Zac Thornton delivered a strong bounce-back performance in a 12-2 victory over the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
The win gave the Mets at least a split of the season series and put them ahead 3-2 entering Sunday’s Subway Series finale. It also prevented the Yankees from clinching a postseason berth, as they entered the afternoon needing a win and a Toronto Blue Jays loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
Thornton set the tone for the Mets, retiring the first nine batters he faced and limiting the Yankees to two runs on five hits over seven innings. The rookie left-hander struck out four, walked one and needed just 81 pitches, 61 of which were strikes.
Cole, meanwhile, struggled to keep the Mets in the ballpark. Francisco Lindor opened the game with a home run before Luis Torrens launched a two-run shot in the second inning. Carson Benge added another solo homer in the third, giving the Mets a 4-0 advantage.
Benge later drove in another run with a single in the fifth, scoring Juan Soto after Soto doubled. Soto then added a home run of his own in the seventh, extending the Mets’ lead to four runs.
Cody Bellinger accounted for both Yankees runs, driving in Paul Goldschmidt with a fourth-inning single before homering in the sixth for his second consecutive game with a home run.
The Mets broke the game open late. Torrens added an RBI double in the eighth, Lindor hit his eighth career grand slam later in the inning and Jared Young added another home run in the ninth. Lindor finished with two homers and five runs batted in, while Torrens went 2-for-4 with three runs batted in.
The Mets collected 14 hits, with eight going for extra bases, and scored in every inning except the fourth and sixth.
Cole finished with five runs allowed on nine hits over 4.1 innings. He struck out four without issuing a walk. His first strikeout of the afternoon moved him past Al Downing for 11th place on the Yankees’ career strikeout list with 1,029.
The Yankees had a chance to mount a comeback in the seventh, putting runners on first and second with one out, but Thornton recovered to get Anthony Volpe to ground into a double play.
The Subway Series concludes Sunday at 1:35 p.m., with Christian Scott scheduled to start for the Mets against Cam Schlittler.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to kyle@fingerlakes1.com.