The next stop is Hell, stand clear of Cam Schlittler's fastball

Yankees 5 Mets 2 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 18-26

Mets streak: Lost 1

WP - Cam Schlittler (6-1)

LP - Clay Holmes (4-4)

Seat on the Korner: Cam Schlittler

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.

It's almost like a cheat code to choose an opposing starting pitcher as the star of the game, because so many of them have had great games against the Mets this season. Cam Schlittler is no different. Before Juan Soto's home run in the 7th, he had given up one hit in six innings while striking out eight to keep the Mets at arm's length the entire game.

Need to Know

• Clay Holmes was hit with a comebacker by Spencer Jones, and after the game it was announced that Holmes suffered a broken fibula and will be out for "a long time."

• Tonight was Holmes' first ever appearance against the New York Yankees (even through his early career with Pittsburgh.) He lasted 4 and 1/3 innings (95 pitches) giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out eight ... a season high. Holmes' ERA rose to 2.39 on the season.

• It was the first game all season where Holmes gave up more than two runs in his start. He set the Mets record for eight starts of two runs or less to start the season.

• The first four Yankee runs were all scored with two outs. They lead the league with 98 two out runs.

• The final line for Schlittler: 6 and 2/3's innings, one run on two hits and two walks, and nine strikeouts on 106 pitches.

• Schlittler's 106 pitches were the first time this season and second time in his career that he reached 100 pitches. His career high came in the playoffs against Boston last season (107).

• Juan Soto's solo HR in the 7th off Schlittler was his 250th career home run.

• Tobias Myers pitched two scoreless innings on a back-to-back night, waking one and striking out one.

• Craig Kimbrel also pitched on a back-to-back night, and it didn't go as well for him as he gave up a 106.1 mph home run to Ben Rice in the 8th.

• The Mets drop to 69-84 all time in the Subway Series, and 16-10 in the last 26.

Turning Point

Holmes was humming along in the third inning before he gave up two out singles to Ben Rice and Aaron Judge. Then came Cody Bellinger, who was hitting .351 with runners in scoring position. Holmes threw him a good pitch, one that might have gotten another hitter flailing to end the inning.

Bellinger went down and got it, and the Yankees were off to the races.

Three Keys

Fat Tuesday on Friday

The Bellinger hit on a good pitch by Holmes in the 3rd was unfortunate. But the location on the other three hits for the Yankees that inning caught too much of the middle of the plate. Ben Rice got a high pitch that caught all middle for the two out rally. Judge's single right afterwards was outer half but thigh high. Then came the Bellinger double off the nasty curveball, but then Jazz Chisholm got a sinker that hit that middle box that gave the Yankees all the cushion they needed.

That's the thing about the Yankees: They are going to hit your mistakes. Every one of them. You're not getting away with one. Holmes made too many of those pitches where the location was off and the Yankees turned them into three runs.

Tough Schlitt

And that's not a play on words for the sake of plays on words. Cam Schlittler is a tough cookie. Down 3-0 to Juan Soto isn't usually a good way to find success. But Schlittler showed no fear in coming back to strike him out in the first.

You knew it was going to be tough sledding against him, but when the Mets wend down in the 3rd, that 3-0 lead might as well have been 30-0 the way the Mets have been hitting all year combined with the way Schlittler has been throwing all season.

And throw in a Gold Glove play for good measure ...

All of this betwixt and between two comebackers that hit him in the foot and leg that he had to battle through. That young man is going to be a problem.

One Last Chance

Amazingly, the Mets scratched together two sticks and got a flame going against Schlittler in the 7th. First came Soto's dinger:

Then right after that, Mark Vientos lined one off of Schlittler's leg for the first out, then MJ Melendez struck out for the second out. But then Schlittler was chased after a Brett Baty walk, and Marcus Semien had himself an infield hit off of Fernando Cruz. That set up Cruz vs A.J. Ewing with Ewing as the tying run.

Ewing flew out to Judge to end the inning, and that was that. It was the best flicker of hope the Mets had all night as the Mets just missed a chance to get the tying run up to the plate again in the 9th.