The 2026 Mets season has been a pretty terrible one, and nothing that happens in this final stretch of the season can change that. Hell, one can make the argument that their decent play over the past month or so has only furthered the disappointment of the season, given the negative effects it’s had on the team’s draft odds. But sometimes in a season like this, you just gotta enjoy the good times that do come along. And the Mets hitting six home runs today to deliver a 12-2 defeat over their crosstown
rival Yankees? Well, disappointing season or not, that sure is an enjoyable thing to watch. So let’s recount the fun we witnessed in the Bronx today, shall we?
Francisco Lindor started off the game with a classic Yankee Stadium cheapie, hitting a solo homer to the short right field porch to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead against Gerrit Cole. One inning later, they struck against the former Cy Young winner again. Jared Young led off the frame with a single, and after Cole retired the next two batters, Luis Torrens struck with a two-run homer to left field to put the Mets up three. And were they done with the long-balls? No, sir, not even close. Carson Benge hit the third bomb in as many innings against Cole with a one-out solo shot to right-center field, making it a 4-0 ballgame.
Meanwhile, Zac Thornton took the mound for the Mets attempting to rebound from what was arguably his worst start as a big leaguer last weekend against the Giants. He came out of the gate strong, tossing three perfect innings with three strikeouts to start. He finally stumbled slightly in the bottom of the fourth, surrendering a leadoff double to Paul Goldschmidt and then a one-out single to Cody Bellinger to give the Yankees their first run of the afternoon and making it 4-1 Mets. But Thornton rebounded to get the next two outs without any further damage, and the Amazins turned right around and got the run back in the following inning. After Cole finally put up a zero in the fourth, he surrendered a leadoff double to Juan Soto to start the fifth, and then with one out Benge got his second RBI of the game—this time on a single to center to bring Soto home from second. That would prove to be the end of Cole’s afternoon, and the mighty Mets had given him a statline—4.1 innings, 9 hits, and 5 earned runs—to forget.
Meanwhile, Thornton continued to pitch efficiently. He surrendered a second run in the bottom of the sixth inning—this one on a two-out solo homer from Bellinger to cut the lead down to 5-2—but nevertheless still made it through six innings on just 66 pitches. And once again, right after surrendering seeing their lead cut, the Mets immediately turned around and got the run right back—this time via a long Soto bomb with two outs in the top of the seventh off lefty Tim Hill, who had just entered the game specifically to face the $765 million star. That put the lead back at four runs.
Thornton faced more trouble in the bottom of the seventh, as the young lefty allowed two one-out baserunners on a single and a walk, respectively. But he hunkered down and induced a groundball double play off the bat of Anthony Volpe to get out of the inning unscathed. Thornton was as jubilant as we’ve ever seen him coming off the mound, and for good reason. That would prove to be the end of his afternoon, and it was a quality bounceback start for the rookie—7 inning, 5 hits, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk, 2 earned runs, all the while outdueling a Cy Young winner and likely future Hall of Famer.
The Mets then completely blew the game open in the top of the eighth, as Hill came back on and retired the first two batters before allowing two baserunners on a single to Marcus Semien and a walk to A.J. Ewing. Bradley Hanner then came out of the bullpen to try to get the Yankees out of the inning, but Torrens—following his homer earlier in the game—instead got his second extra-base hit of the afternoon, this one a double which scored Semien from second to bump the lead up to 7-2. Nick Morabito then walked to load the bases, and Lindor followed that by providing the dagger: a grand slam to right field (his second homer of the day) to give the Mets five runs in the inning—all after two outs!—and a comfortable 11-2 lead.
Tobias Myers came on to relieve Thornton, and he put up a scoreless eighth—aided by another sterling diving catch from Benge in right field off the bat of Aaron Judge. The Mets then decided to add one more for good measure, as Jared Young hit a two-out solo bomb in the top of the ninth for the team’s sixth homer of the day and giving them a double-digit lead. Myers came back on for the bottom of the inning and tossed a second scoreless frame to end the ballgame and give the Mets the 12-2 victory.
The Mets will still be sitting at home in October, and the Yankees won’t be. The ass-kicking today certainly doesn’t change that. But after winning the first Subway Series of the year back in May, the Amazins now have the chance to take the season series over their New York counterparts with a win tomorrow. So like we said at the top, let’s just enjoy the small victories as they come, shall we?
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What’s WPA?
Big Mets winner: Zac Thornton and Luis Torrens, +18% WPA
Big Mets loser: Marcus Semien, -6% WPA
Mets pitchers: +18% WPA
Mets hitters: +32% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Luis Torrens two-run homer in the second, +17.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Cody Bellinger solo homer in the sixth, -5% WPA
