Jeff McNeil flipped his bat and began jogging to first base with his hands clasped behind his back in celebration as he turned toward the Mets dugout.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets had scratched, using a makeshift pitching alignment, to remain in this game against the Yankees on Friday but still needed a last Fourth of July fireworks barrage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t hit that many home runs in that situation, so to do it, I enjoyed that one,\u201d McNeil said after his two-run blast in the seventh propelled the Mets to a 6-5 victory at Citi Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jeff McNeil put the Mets ahead with a homer in the seventh inning on July 4, 2025 against the Yankees. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
Jeff McNeil celebrates his game-winning homer. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Jeff McNeil made a defensive gem in the ninth inning to help the Mets over the Yankees. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
The Mets smashed three homers in winning their third straight, further distancing them from a horrid stretch that included a three-game beatdown in Pittsburgh last weekend in which a players only meeting was held.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets celebrate their win. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
The Yankees lost their fifth straight, continuing their recent pitching slump. On this day, it was Luke Weaver delivering the disappointment with a blown save in the seventh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pete Alonso\u2019s two-out walk in the seventh gave the Mets a pulse before McNeil unloaded on a full-count changeup from Weaver to put the Mets ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If that wasn\u2019t enough, McNeil\u2019s lunging grab and throw to first on DJ LeMahieu\u2019s one-hop bloop in the ninth prevented the Yankees from putting the tying run on base in what became a 1-2-3 inning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen that ball hit my glove, I said, \u2018Oh, s-\u200a-t, it\u2019s in my glove,\u2019 \u201d McNeil said. \u201cI know it was a big play. I knew [Aaron] Judge was up fourth that inning and we didn\u2019t want him coming to the plate. That\u2019s why I was so excited about that one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Juan Soto had a huge day for the Mets on Friday. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Reed Garrett pitched the final two innings scoreless for the save, with Edwin D\u00edaz unavailable following back-to-back appearances. If Garrett couldn\u2019t have pitched the ninth, manager Carlos Mendoza likely would have deployed left-hander Richard Lovelady.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge series,\u201d Garrett said. \u201cThis is what everybody in New York looks forward to, so to get the last six [outs] was big for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Marcus Stroman, in his second start off the injured list, gave the Yankees a chance by limiting the Mets to three runs on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts over five innings. Stroman was removed at 81 pitches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luke Weaver gave up the game-deciding homer. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
Brett Baty homered in the Mets\u2019 win. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Justin Hagenman, in his third MLB appearance and first start, fell into a 2-0 hole by surrendering homers to the first two batters he faced, Jasson Dom\u00ednguez and Judge. <\/p>\n
Dom\u00ednguez, who appeared struck out on a pitch that was called a ball by plate umpire Mike Estabrook earlier in the at-bat, launched a full-count sinker for his seventh homer. Judge hit a sinker for homer No. 32.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aaron Judge homered in the first inning for the Yankees. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Jasson Dominguez went deep twice. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not the start you are looking to get off to,\u201d said Hagenman, who allowed four runs on five hits over 4 \u00b9\/\u2083 innings. \u201cBut to keep the team in the game and give them a chance to win is all I am looking for.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets recovered the runs in the bottom of the inning. After Dom\u00ednguez froze on Brandon Nimmo\u2019s shot to left leading off the inning \u2014 the ball eluded Dom\u00ednguez\u2019s outstretched glove for a double \u2014 Juan Soto tied it with a two-run homer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soto received a standing ovation before the at-bat, a response by Mets fans after the star outfielder was booed and taunted throughout the team\u2019s visit to Yankee Stadium in May. Soto jumped on a 1-2 cutter from Stroman and cleared the fence in left-center for his team-leading 21st homer of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets celebrate their win over the Yankees. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to take my chances when I swing the bat,\u201d said Soto, who earned National League Player of the Month honors for June with a 1.196 OPS.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets went ahead 3-2 in the third on Alonso\u2019s RBI single off Anthony Volpe\u2019s glove after Soto had doubled against Stroman with one out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hagenman surrendered his third solo homer of the day, a shot by Cody Bellinger leading off the fourth, tying it 3-3. Bellinger\u2019s 13th of the season gave him three in four games against the Mets this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets pitcher Reed Garrett (75) reacts to closing the win. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
Dom\u00ednguez\u2019s second homer of the game sank the Mets into a 5-3 hole. Hagenman was removed after allowing a one-out single to LeMahieu, and Dom\u00ednguez greeted Austin Warren by clearing the left field fence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brett Baty\u2019s solo homer in the sixth against Ian Hamilton sliced the Yankees\u2019 lead to 5-4, putting the Mets in position to strike in the seventh with McNeil\u2019s blast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s what you expect out of games like this,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cSubway Series, packed house, fan base intense going after each other. I\u2019m glad we got the job done today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff McNeil flipped his bat and began jogging to first base with his hands clasped behind his back…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[3090,5229,10624,3690,3693,1266,405,403,1305,2228,5226,5225,5228,5227,62,30700,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-39762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-aaron-judge","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-cody-bellinger","11":"tag-jeff-mcneil","12":"tag-juan-soto","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-mets","17":"tag-new-york-yankees","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-subway-series","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114798523140453122","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}