The Yankees faced an unexpected setback in their playoff hunt on Saturday, suffering a 12-2 defeat to the Mets in The Bronx.
With aspirations of securing a third consecutive playoff berth and chasing the Rays in the AL East, the Yankees watched as Gerrit Cole struggled in what might have been his worst outing since returning from Tommy John surgery. Meanwhile, a lineup that had seemed revitalized by Aaron Judge’s comeback was surprisingly subdued by rookie pitcher Zac Thornton.
On the flip side, the Mets showcased a surprising resurgence, albeit a bit late in the season.
With the Yankees needing a win over the Mets and also relying on the Blue Jays to lose to the Orioles later in the day, they’ll now have to wait at least one more day as their four-game winning streak came to an end.
While the Yankees are likely to make their ninth postseason appearance in the last decade, they must confront the reality that Cole has struggled in his past four starts.
Coming into this matchup, he had already allowed 10 runs and five homers over 18 ⅓ innings.
Things only deteriorated further against the Mets, who improved to 22-13 since the trade deadline and have won five of their last six games.
As Cole aimed to recover from a previous start where he gave up three consecutive home runs at the start of the game, he witnessed Francisco Lindor crush his third pitch into the right field stands for a home run.
In the second inning, Luis Torrens followed up with a two-run homer with two outs.
The Mets then kept the rally going with singles from Nick Morabito and Lindor.
After a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, Juan Soto struck out, ending the inning.
However, Cole surrendered another home run in the third inning, with Carson Benge hitting his 17th of the season to extend the Mets’ lead to 4-0.
Thornton, who had previously struggled against the Giants, pitched impressively against the Yankees, allowing only two runs over seven innings.
He needed just 28 pitches to retire the first nine batters he faced, striking out three in the process.
George Lombard Jr. attempted to be the Yankees’ first baserunner in the third, but Lindor made a spectacular play at shortstop to throw him out.
Paul Goldschmidt broke the Yankees’ drought with a leadoff double in the fourth, and Judge moved him to third before Cody Bellinger brought him in with a single, narrowing the Yankees’ deficit to 4-1.
However, Cole quickly gave that run back, as Soto doubled to start the fifth and scored on Benge’s single, effectively ending Cole’s day.
Bellinger later hit a solo home run off Thornton in the sixth, bringing the Yankees within three runs, but Soto responded by hitting his 25th homer off Tim Hill in the seventh.
And just when the Yankees had an opportunity to close the gap with runners on first and second and one out in the seventh, Anthony Volpe grounded into an inning-ending double play.
