Mets take 2 of 3 in Subway Series after walking off Yankees in finale
The Mets' Carson Benge celebrates with teammate Juan Soto after reaching on a fielde'rs choice and scoring Marcus Semien to defeat the Yankees in the 10th inning at Citi Field on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
Tyrone Taylor delivered the kind of hit so often missing for the Mets this season.
His three-run homer off Yankees closer David Bednar with two outs in the ninth inning on Sunday drew the Mets even and electrified what was left of the home portion of the Subway Series crowd of 40,232 at Citi Field.
But for that kind of hit to hold any truly tangible meaning — by coming in a victory — another Met would have to come through. That turned out to be Carson Benge, who, while not coming through in the sense of a sharply struck ball, nonetheless did put his bat on the ball.
And that was enough.
Benge’s tapper over the mound in the bottom of the 10th against a five-man infield couldn’t be fielded cleanly and gave the Mets a stunning 7-6 win to end the first iteration of the 2026 Subway Series.
“We continue to come back in games,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of his club, which trailed 5-1 after 5 1⁄2 innings and had been 0-96 (including the postseason) when trailing after eight innings since Pete Alonso hit his famous three-run homer off the Brewers’ Devin Williams in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 2024 Wild Card Series.
“We showed the whole home-stand, we get down, we get punched in the face, we get back up,’’ Mendoza said. “Today was a perfect example. We didn’t play our best game and we’re still able to shake hands at the end.”
The Mets (20-26) went 5-1 on their homestand and the Yankees (28-19) concluded a 2-7 road trip. They had been 80-0 since the beginning of last season in games in which they brought at least a three-run lead into the ninth.
Bednar had allowed a walk-off homer by Brice Turang on a first-pitch curveball in the finale of the Brewers’ sweep of the Yankees to begin the trip. Taylor, who entered Sunday hitting .182 with a .488 OPS, jumped on a hanging first-pitch curveball Sunday for a no-doubt-about-it 404-foot drive, his third homer of the season.
“I’ve had a lot of success with that pitch, and I trust my stuff implicitly,” Bednar said. “It’s more the position I put myself in.”
Which was two runners on base after back-to-back singles by Benge and Bo Bichette to open the inning. Bednar got Juan Soto to ground into a forceout and struck out Mark Vientos on three pitches to bring Taylor to the plate.
Taylor had been robbed of a potential tiebreaking single by Trent Grisham in the fifth and stung one to left in the seventh that Max Schuemann caught.
“Bummed out to happy,” Taylor said with a smile of his emotional swing from the two empty at-bats to what turned out to be the day’s biggest one.
Up until Taylor’s blast, the day’s offensive hero was not someone fans would have had on their collective Bingo card.
Anthony Volpe, who was promoted to the big leagues late last week in the wake of Jose Caballero’s broken finger, went 2-for-3 with two walks and three RBIs. His two-run single in the sixth snapped a 1-1 tie and sparked a four-run inning.
He drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to make it 6-3.
“That’s the guy we know,” Aaron Judge said. “That’s why he’s been our shortstop for the past couple of seasons. When we need him in a big spot, he comes up big for us.”
Facing Williams, their former closer, the Yankees had a runner on third with one out in the top of the 10th, but after Volpe walked, Austin Wells went after the first pitch, tried to pull an up-and-away fastball that was out of the strike zone and grounded into a 3-6-3 double play.
Volpe was indirectly involved in the game’s deciding play.
With lefthander Tim Hill on the mound in the 10th, ghost runner Marcus Semien on third after A.J. Ewing’s sacrifice bunt and Luis Torrens at the plate, the Yankees employed a five-man infield, bringing in Schuemann from leftfield. Hill hit Torrens to put runners at the corners and Benge chopped one off the plate. Schuemann fielded the ball instead of Volpe, who made contact with him, and there was no play at the plate as Semien slid across.
“We have to be quick. It’s a tough play at the plate either way,” Schuemann said. “I talked to Volpe about it . . . We’re both going to be aggressive to that baseball no matter what. We both wanted to make a play.”
Said Benge, “I was just putting the ball in play. Once it went over the pitcher’s head, I kind of knew, ‘Yeah, he’s probably scoring on that.’ ”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
