Megill skewered on Juan Soto's homecoming as Mets' train is stalled in Subway Series

Yankees 6 Mets 2 (Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, NY)

Mets record: 28-17

Mets streak: Lost 2

WP - Carlos Rodon (5-3)

LP - Tylor Megill (3-4)

SV - Luke Weaver (5)

Seat on the Korner:

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

Paul Goldschmidt was all over the place for the Yankees tonight, driving in two runs on two hits and making a great play in short right to lead the Yankees to a 6-2 win on "Boo Juan Soto Night" at Yankee Stadium.

Need to Know

• Juan Soto made his return to Yankee Stadium as a Met, and started the night with a walk and a steal of second as he caught Carlos Rodon napping. He would wind up walking his first three times up before grounding out in the 7thm and flying out in the 9th to end the game with the tying run on deck.

• Tylor Megill had a miserable night for his first game at Yankee Stadium. He threw 74 pitches in 2 and 2/3's, and only 37 of them for strikes. He gave up four runs on four hits and five walks in that span.

• Carlos Rodon was only slightly better as he threw 102 pitches in five innings with 60 of them for strikes. But he got the job done as he gave up only one run on two hits and four walks.

• Max Kranick pitched 2 and 1/3 innings in relief of Megill, giving up two runs in the 4th inning. Jose Butto pitched two scoreless innings while Dedniel Nunez pitched a scoreless 8th, giving up one hit.

• Brandon Nimmo went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a strikeout.

• Cody Bellinger went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, while Aaron Judge went 2-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.

• Jonathan Loaisiga made his return from an injury which kept him out since early April of 2024, and pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit.

• Pete Alonso's first at-bat against Devin Williams since the Wild Card home run in Milwaukee last October ended in a strikeout looking in the 8th.

• Tonight marked the 8th game out of 152 between the Mets and Yankees in the regular season where both teams were in first place.

Turning Point

Megill didn't start out the game all that bad. He got out of trouble in the first and had a clean second. Even the third inning didn't necessarily start out like it was going to be a dumpster fire. He gave up a single to Jorbit Vivas to lead off the inning, but then got a ground ball from Trent Grisham which Pete Alonso took the sure out at first.

Then Megill walked Judge, but it was the type of walk which said "I'm not giving a .400 hitter a pitch to hit" rather than "I've lost my command." Then he got the soft contact he needed from the next two batters. But Cody Bellinger reached on an infield single to third, and then Megill broke Paul Goldschmidt's bat, but Goldie put it in the right spot.

From then on, the wheels fell off for Megill. Three of his five walks came after that play, and surrounding a sac fly by Volpe, two more runs went on Megill's ledger after that. For Megill, a guy who is 10-4 with a 2.45 ERA in March/April and a 2-6 record with a 5.97 ERA in May, he must be wondering why May turns him from Tylor Megill into Justin Timberlake.

Three Keys

The Return

Let's take in some sights and sounds from Juan Soto's return to the Bronx, starting with pre-game warmups ...

Then, his first at bat where he audaciously (I mean that as a compliment), tipped his helmet to the booing crowd ...

Then his stolen base against Carlos Rodon, who had his thoughts elsewhere ...

Soto's night didn't turn out to be productive, but at least he had his head in the game and didn't try to hit a five run HR to mark his return.

Chances Were Fleeting, But They Were There

The Mets had two great chances to make some noise in this game. The first one game in the first inning after Soto's first walk. Pete Alonso hit a liner labeled for left field, but Oswald Peraza made a great diving catch which put the brakes on the rally.

Then in the 4th after the Yankees tagged Megill, the Mets rallied for a run after a leadoff walk to Soto and back to back one out singles to Mark Vientos and Nimmo to creep the Mets back to 4-1 down. But Starling Marte's liner up the middle was snared by Anthony Volpe for the force out, and that inning's rally also came to a screeching halt.

The Yankees would score two more in the bottom of that inning, and the Mets wouldn't make much noise after that until the 9th inning rally which saw Juan Soto fly out to end the game with Alonso on deck as the tying run.

Goldie's Heroics

We told you what Paul Goldschmidt did, and showed you the RBI single which turned the game around. So let's also show you the other stuff that gave him the seat:

First, the RBI single which stopped the little momentum the Mets had in the 4th:

Then the running behind the head catch which is just a 37-year-old showing off ...

You knew it wasn't the Mets' night after that.

AND AS A BONUS

Here's Keith Hernandez talking about trying to play a game on no sleep:

I'm sure Juan Soto will be smart enough not to try that before tomorrow's short turn around game.