Former Yankees help Mets beat old team in Subway Series Game 2

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on May 16, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — The Mets have made it a trend in recent years to sign players after they’ve made names for themselves in the Bronx. They currently have five former Yankees on the roster, plus manager Carlos Mendoza, who spent 13 years with the team across town in various capacities, including as Aaron Boone’s bench coach.

So when the Mets used four of those former players to beat the Yankees 6-3 on Saturday night at Citi Field, it wasn’t so much the revenge of the pinstripes as much as it was revenge against the pinstripes Saturday night at Citi Field. The Subway Series is tied 1-1.

Boone keyed in on one of his former players, specifically, in the fifth inning, Juan Soto, but it was the player behind him he should have been more concerned about.

With one on and one out in the fifth inning and the Mets up by one run, the Yankees replaced right-hander Jake Bird with left-hander Brent Headrick to face Soto, with Mark Vientos right behind him. The Yankees clearly wanted the matchup against the left-handed Soto, but Vientos has historically hit left-handed pitching hard. Headrick threw sinker after sinker, trying to get Soto to ground into a double play, but the Yankee-turned-Met drew a walk instead.

History then repeated itself when Vientos took an 0-1 splitter and drove it into the left-field corner to score two runners, giving the Mets some much-needed separation on the scoreboard.

It was a moral victory of sorts, coming one night after the team’s best starting pitcher, right-hander Clay Holmes, suffered a fractured fibula in the loss. The Mets (19-26) are battered, bruised and broken — literally and figuratively — right now, desperate to gain ground in the standings before it’s too late. Wins like this sure don’t hurt that cause.

The first two runs came in the third when they capitalized on a wild pitch by left-hander Carlos Rodon, and pulled the Mets ahead of their crosstown rivals, 2-1. Rodon struck out the 8-9 hitters to turn the lineup over, with catcher Luis Torrens battling him for 10 pitches before striking out for out No. 2.

That gave leadoff hitter Carson Benge a chance to see what Rodon was throwing. Rodon had only thrown one slider to Torrens in the previous at-bat, but that was all Benge needed. The rookie outfielder drove a 2-2 slider over Aaron Judge’s head in right field to keep the inning alive. Rodon walked Bo Bichette and Soto to load the bases and get to Vientos.

Before Vientos could even swing the bat, the Mets were able to score two.

Rodon threw a wild pitch high — so high it went over his catcher and bounced off the backstop, right back to the field. The pitcher tried to field it himself, catching it off the bounce, but throwing it well past the plate. Benge and Bichette both came easily, while Rodon looked incredulous at his own misplay.

An RBI double by Brett Baty chased Rodon (0-1) from the game in the bottom of the fourth, ending his night with three runs (two earned), on three hits over 3 2/3 innings, with three walks and six strikeouts.

Then came the Vientos double to increase the Mets’ lead to 5-2. Those runs proved useful when Benge dropped a fly ball in the top of the seventh, allowing a run to score for the Yankees. The Bombers loaded the bases on left-hander Brooks Raley without any outs, and the Mets went to Luke Weaver, one of their many former Yankees, to hold the lead.

Weaver retired the next three in order. With the Mets up 6-3 in the top of the eighth, Weaver got help in the form of a 3-6-3 double play. Closer Devin Williams, who spent last season in the Bronx, shut the door on the Yankees with a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.

It was another successful outing for left-hander David Peterson behind right-handed opener Huascar Brazobán. Peterson limited the Yankees to two earned runs on six hits over four innings in the win (2-4), after Brazobán handled the first four outs. Two players with no ties to the Yankees (28-18), other than the winning column.

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