Jasson Domínguez hit his first career lead-off home run on Friday, continuing his impressive performance at the plate. However, in a familiar turn for the Yankees, they lost their fifth straight game, falling to the Mets by a score of 6-5 at Citifield.
In a way, Domínguez didn’t focus too much on his home run; instead, he seemed to dwell on his last at-bat, where he grounded out weakly on a 3-1 splitter from Reed Garrett. “I was thinking about that last pitch,” he remarked. “Maybe I should have waited for another strike, but I got a bit anxious.”
Despite this, Domínguez had a solid outing, marking his third consecutive game with multiple hits and his fourth in the last five. “I really like how he’s batting right now,” said Aaron Boone, the manager. “He’s shown big results lately and has been hitting the ball powerfully, especially the last couple of days.”
On feeling good at the plate, Domínguez added, “I’m watching the ball well and overall, I just feel good.” Still, there were defensive hiccups; he misplayed a ball in left field that proved costly in the game’s final moments. This error came as Garrett struck out Aaron Judge, leaving the Yankees in a tough spot.
Brandon Nemo started the Mets’ scoring with a 104 mph liner that Domínguez misjudged, allowing Nemo to reach second base. He later scored due to a groundout from Francis Colindoor, which contributed to tying the game.
Domínguez acknowledged he couldn’t recover from that initial misstep, saying, “I just didn’t read the ball well enough.” Boone explained, “He just misread that fastball. It wasn’t the conditions; sometimes runners misjudge where a ball will land.”
When Domínguez is hitting well, addressing his defensive mistakes tends to be easier for the team. As the leadoff hitter, he stepped in for the absent lefties, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice, against Mets starter Justin Hagenman.
