NEW YORK — The first sign that Gerrit Cole’s afternoon would end badly came in the top of the first inning, when Francisco Lindor drove a 1-1 changeup into the right-field seats at Yankee Stadium before the Saturday crowd had settled in. The Mets shortstop did not stop there. Seven innings later, with New York’s lead already comfortable and the Yankees’ rotation in pieces, Lindor hit a grand slam to right-center field and made Mets history.
New York won 12-2 in a Subway Series rout that felt decisive from the opening at-bat. Lindor went 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs, powering a six-home-run performance that marked the first time the Mets had hit six against their crosstown rivals in franchise history.
Lindor’s leadoff shot was his 36th career leadoff home run and his fifth of the season, an early declaration that the Mets had not come to Yankee Stadium to be polite. Cole, who entered the day with an 8-9 record and a rotation spot to defend, never recovered. He allowed nine hits and five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings before manager Aaron Boone removed him in the fifth. The move came after Carson Benge’s solo homer and RBI single extended New York’s advantage to seven runs.
The eighth inning gave Lindor his record-setting moment. With the bases loaded and the outcome no longer in doubt, he sent a pitch into the right-center-field seats, giving him his eighth career grand slam, his seventh with the Mets including the playoffs, and the most grand slams in Mets history. He surpassed Hall of Famer Mike Piazza’s mark of six.
Lindor also joined Piazza in 2000 and Carlos Delgado in 2008 as the only Mets players to hit a grand slam at Yankee Stadium.
The record tied in the Bronx carries a particular weight. Piazza’s September 21, 2001 home run at Shea Stadium, the one that provided New York its first reason to cheer after September 11, remains the most emotionally significant home run in Mets history. Lindor breaking Piazza’s grand slam mark at Yankee Stadium two days after the franchise held a pregame ceremony honoring first responders on the 25th anniversary of the attacks lands with the kind of coincidence baseball occasionally produces without arrangement.
Zac Thornton, a rookie right-hander making his third appearance against a major-league lineup, was the story before Lindor made him a footnote. Thornton went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out five, and threw enough first-pitch strikes to keep the Yankees’ lineup from building any momentum. His outing gave Mets manager Carlos Mendoza exactly the start he needed: economical, consistent, and effective well into the later innings.
Aaron Judge, playing as the designated hitter, went hitless with a strikeout. The Yankees’ captain has been the steadiest force in a lineup that has cycled through injuries and inconsistencies all season, and his quiet afternoon reflected how thoroughly the Mets had controlled the game from the first pitch.
The Yankees entered Saturday holding the first American League Wild Card spot, 4.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox. That cushion does not disappear after a single loss, but the Jazz Chisholm Jr. injury that landed the second baseman on the injured list earlier this week has already forced adjustments in the lineup. Anthony Volpe’s recall from Triple-A provided a stopgap, but the Yankees are navigating the final weeks of the regular season with reduced margin for error. The AL Wild Card race has remained tight enough that these results carry accumulated weight in the third week of September.
The Mets, by contrast, are outside the National League playoff picture, sitting behind the Cubs, Phillies, and Padres for the available wild card spots. Saturday’s blowout extended their run to 22 wins in their last 35 games since the August 3 trade deadline, a stretch that has kept the franchise relevant deep into September even without a guaranteed postseason berth. A previous Subway Series win in May suggested the Mets matched up well against their rivals this year; Saturday confirmed it at a more urgent moment.
According to Yahoo Sports, Lindor’s performance was only the second time a Mets player had hit a grand slam at Yankee Stadium in franchise history, a detail that underscores how singular the afternoon was for the Mets shortstop.
The Subway Series stands 1-1 heading into Sunday’s finale, with wild card races tightening across both leagues. What the Mets have not answered is whether 22 wins in 35 games is the beginning of something or the ceiling of it. What the Yankees have not answered is whether their lead in the AL Wild Card picture is durable enough to survive the kind of afternoon Cole produced on Saturday. Both questions are still live, and Sunday’s finale will not close them permanently.
