A Night Ralph Kiner Would Have Loved: Mets Outlast Yankees in Subway Series Flushing Thriller, Leaning on Ex-Yankee Arms to Seal 6–3 Win

Mets 6 Yankees 3 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 19-26

Mets streak: Won 1

WP - David Peterson (2-4)

LP - Carlos Rodón (0-1)

S- Devin Williams (6)

Seat on the Korner: Luke Weaver

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

This was one of those games that Ralph Kiner lived for. A wild Subway Series atmosphere, momentum swings, controversy, big hits, defensive miscues, and clutch pitching — the kind of night where Ralph would have had endless highlights to break down afterward on Kiner’s Korner. More than anything, he would have loved dissecting the huge outs recorded by Luke Weaver in the top of the seventh inning. Weaver’s calm demeanor and extremely philosophical personality would have made the postgame exchange absolutely must-see television, as Ralph would have pulled apart every pitch sequence and every decision while Weaver thoughtfully explained how he navigated one of the biggest jams of the night. It would have been baseball conversation at its absolute best.

Aaron Judge started the 7th inning by ripping a double to left, and for a moment it felt like Mets fans had seen this movie before. Then came the play that brought back painful memories of the infamous Luis Castillo dropped pop up during the 2009 Subway Series. Cody Bellinger lifted a playable ball to right, but Carson Benge misplayed it, allowing Judge to score as the inning suddenly began to unravel once again for the Mets.Raley then hit Paul Goldschmidt, and then Jazz Chisolm Jr, lifted a bunt into the Flushing Triangle behind Raley and in front of Bichette and Semien.

With runners everywhere and nobody out, the Yankees appeared ready to blow the game open.

That’s when Weaver slammed the door.

Weaver entered into this bases-loaded nightmare and completely flipped the inning on its head. He got Amed Rosario on a foul-tip strikeout, Trent Grisham swinging, and finally induced Anthony Volpe into an inning-ending force play as the Mets escaped with the damage limited.

In a season where too many innings like this have spiraled out of control, Weaver refused to let this one get away. The veteran right-hander stabilized the game, quieted the Yankees rally, and gave the Mets a chance to breathe again.

The Seat on the Korner goes to Luke Weaver for delivering the kind of clutch, pressure-packed relief outing that changed the entire tone of the night.

Need to Know

• Prior to today's game the Mets placed RHP Clay Holmes on the

  15-Day Injured List with a right fibula fracture and recalled RHP Joey

  Gerber (#56) from Triple-A Syracuse. Gerber threw 2.0 scoreless

  innings on April 13 at Los Angeles-NL in his only appearance with the

  Mets this year.

• The Mets are 9-5 over their last 14 games

• The Mets are now 4-1 through the first five games of this six-game homestand against the Tigers (3-0) and Yankees (1-1)

• Following this homestand the Mets head out on the road for a crucial seven game trip against Washington (four games) and Miami (three games)

• There have been 176 players who have played

  for both the Mets and Yankees, including current players -Juan

  Soto, Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Clay Holmes, Paul Balckburn

  and Amed Rosario.

• Huascar Brazobán was used as an opener for the third time this year...

  Brazobán is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA (2 ER/3.1 IP) as a starter .In 16

  games in relief, Brazobán is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA (3 ER/19.0 IP)..

  Since the beginning of last season, he has had 10 scoreless relief

  appearances of at least 2.0 innings.His 10 such games are tied for

  the ninth-most in the NL over that span.

• Carlos Rodón made his 2026 debut last week when allowed three runs on two hits and five walks over 4 1/3 innings against the Brewers. His two starts against the Mets last year were polar opposites. In May he held the Mets to one run over five innings. In July he allowed seven runs, six earned, over five innings.

• Yankees Aaron Judge (16 HR) and Ben Rice

  (14 HR) are only the second pair of Yankees teammates in

  franchise history to each hit at least 14 HR in the club's

  first 45 games of a season, joining Roger Maris (15 HR) and

  Mickey Mantle (14 HR) in 1961 and are only the second pair of

  Major League teammates in the last 19 seasons (since 2008)

  to accomplish the feat, joining Houston’s George Springer

  (17 HR) and Alex Bregman (14 HR) in 2019.

• Yankees baserunners have recorded 41 stolen bases this year, their most through their first 45 games of a season in the last 25 seasons (since 2002) and most since recording 51SB in 2001.

• The Mets climb to 70-84 all time in the Subway Series, and 17-10 in the last 27.

• Freddy Peralta (3-3, 3.10) takes Elmer Rodríguez (0-1, 5.19) gets the call for the Yankees in the rubber match of the series tomorrow afternoon.

Turning Point

Tonight's turning point game in the bottom of the 3rd, and initially it looked like the Mets were headed toward another frustrating inning.

Brett Baty struck out swinging to open the frame, bringing Luis Torrens to the plate against Carlos Rodón.

What followed may have been the hidden turning point of the game.

Torrens worked Rodón through a draining 10-pitch at-bat that forced the Yankees starter to repeatedly reach back for mid-90s fastballs. Torrens fouled off four different pitches while seeing a mix of four-seamers, a slider, and a changeup. After falling behind 0-2 early, he battled all the way back to a full count before finally being frozen on a 93.4 mph fastball for the second out.

It was technically just a strikeout.

But it didn’t feel like one.

The lengthy battle appeared to sap some of Rodón’s rhythm and energy, and the entire atmosphere inside the sold out stadium began to shift. The crowd woke up. The Mets dugout became louder. Rodón suddenly looked less dominant than he had earlier in the game.

Then the inning unraveled on the Yankees.

Carson Benge lined a sharp double to right field. Rodón followed with walks to Bo Bichette and Juan Soto to load the bases.

Moments later, the inning descended into complete chaos.

Rodón uncorked a wild pitch that turned into a Little League sequence. Benge scored. Bichette raced home behind him. Soto advanced all the way to third as Rodón added to the damage with a throwing error.

Just like that, a 1-0 Yankees lead had become a 2-1 Mets advantage without another ball leaving the infield grass after the Benge double.

By the time Mark Vientos grounded out to end the inning, the building felt entirely different. The Mets suddenly had momentum, the crowd was fully engaged, and the Yankees looked rattled.

And looking back, the inning may have turned not on a hit, but on a stubborn 10-pitch strikeout that quietly changed the energy of the night.

Three Keys

On Your Mark

Lately, Mark Vientos has continued to look like a hitter locked in at the right time, carrying the offense with timely production throughout the homestand. Over the current stretch he is 5-for-20, good for a .250 average, and has driven in 6 runs while continuing to deliver in key spots, even if the long ball has not yet shown up during this particular run. What has stood out most is that the at-bats are competitive and purposeful, with Vientos consistently putting the ball in play and coming through with runners in scoring position.

Against the Yankees specifically, he continues to thrive in the spotlight. Entering today, he owned a .757 OPS in 13 career games against New York with 3 home runs, 2 doubles, and 7 RBI, and he added to that line by going 1-for-4 with another double and 3 RBI in today’s game alone. That performance further reinforced his growing reputation as a hitter who doesn’t shrink in rivalry moments, but instead seems to elevate when the stage gets bigger.

Benge But Doesn't Break

Carson Benge showed exactly the kind of poise teams dream about from a young player, shaking off what could have been a potentially disastrous defensive miscue in the game and responding like nothing had happened. Instead of letting the moment snowball, Benge reset, stayed engaged, and ultimately continued to impact the game on both sides of the ball, reinforcing why the Mets remain confident in his growth trajectory.

Offensively, Benge’s recent run has been strong and increasingly consistent. He has recorded multiple hits in four of his last five games and has now hit safely in ten of his last 12 contests, batting .386 (17-for-44) with 7 RBI over that span. Expanding the sample, over his last 20 games he is now hitting .363 (28-for-77) with 15 runs scored, 6 doubles, 2 home runs, 10 RBI, 4 walks.

What stands out most is the response factor — even after an error that could have lingered, Benge immediately moved on and continued contributing, including earlier in the week when he recorded his first career walk-off RBI with a single against Detroit. That combination of resilience and steady production has quickly become a defining part of his early career narrative.

EX-actly As They Planned it.

The Mets’ win was fueled in large part by a trio of former Yankees who came up huge in key moments and tilted the game in New York’s favor. Juan Soto set the tone at the top of the lineup, going 2-for-2 with a run scored, drawing two walks, and swiping two bases, constantly putting pressure on the defense and forcing the issue on the basepaths. In relief, Luke Weaver delivered one of the defining stretches of the night, recording six massive outs—three of them with the bases loaded—completely extinguishing what could have been a game-breaking Yankees rally. Then, in the ninth, Devin Williams slammed the door by retiring the side in order to secure his sixth save of the season, putting the finishing touch on a win that featured former Yankee fingerprints all over its biggest turning points.