Gray wins consecutive starts, Yanks hold on to beat Mets 7-6
NEW YORK » Sonny Gray won consecutive starts for the first time since the Yankees acquired him last summer, holding down a depleted Mets lineup again missing Yoenis Cespedes in a 7-6 Subway Series victory Saturday.
Aaron Judge homered for the Yankees, who survived a wild ninth-inning in which closer Aroldis Chapman forced in two runs and failed to get an out. Chasen Shreve relieved with the bases loaded and a two-run lead, induced Devin Mesoraco’s run-scoring, double-play grounder and retired Wilmer Flores on a slow roller in front of the mound for his second big league save, his first since August 2016.
The Yankees trailed after Michael Conforto’s second-inning home run but rallied against Steven Matz with a four-run fourth that included Didi Gregorius’ tying triple, run-scoring doubles by Miguel Andujar and Greg Bird, and Austin Romine’s RBI single. Mets center fielder Matt den Dekker had trouble with three balls that went for hits that inning and struck out three times, leaving him hitless in 17 at-bats this season.
A day after saying he may need surgery on both heels that would require an eight-to-10-month recovery, Cespedes was out again
and the Mets’ front office did not publicly comment on his startling health revelation. Cespedes homered in the Mets’ 7-5 win Friday, his first game since May 13 after two months on the disabled list caused by with a strained right hip flexor.
Mets closer Jeurys Familia again did not pitch. Manager Mickey Callaway said before the game he was awaiting word whether Familia would be traded.
Gray (7-7) has been a disappointment since the Yankees acquired him from Oakland last July 31, going 11-14 in 30 starts. He left with a 4-1 lead but David Robertson gave up Amed Rosario’s RBI single, then allowed another run in when he made an errant pickoff throw to first.
Gray has a 7.62 ERA in nine home starts this year and a 3.62 ERA in 10 road appearances. He allowed three runs — two earned — three hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. Pitching for the first time in a week, Chapman issued a leadoff walk, allowed an infield hit, then forced in a run by walking pitch-hitter Ty Kelly and Jose Reyes on eight straight pitches. He hit Brandon Nimmo with a 2-0 pitch, and was pulled in favor of Shreve.
Matz (4-8) lost his third straight start, giving up five runs and nine hits in five-plus innings.
Giancarlo Stanton reached on a slow bouncer to third leading off the fourth that went for an infield single, and den Dekker took a bad route as he missed a diving backhand grab on Gregorius’ liner that bounced to the fence for a tying triple. Andujar followed with a fly to the right-field short porch and that became a go-ahead double when a spectator reached over the wall, caught it and was cited for fan interference.
Bird hit an RBI double that glanced off the glove of den Dekker, who tried for a running grab on the warning track, and Romine had a blooper to short center that hit off the glove of a diving den Dekker on a short hop and bounced back toward the infield a run-scoring single.
After the Mets closed within a run in the top of the sixth, Bird chased Matz with an RBI single in the bottom half and Judge homered through a blustery wind in the seventh against Tim Peterson. Judge has hit 18 of 26 home runs at Yankee Stadium.
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Domingo Acevedo was recalled from Double-A Trenton by the Yankees, who were short in the bullpen after Domingo German failed to finish four innings Friday. A 24-year-old righthander, Acevedo is 6-6 with a 3.25 ERA in 23 starts. He was watching Netflix in his hotel room and at first thought something was wrong when manager Jay Bell and pitching coach Tim Norton knocked on his door at about 11 p.m. Friday in Binghamton. Acevedo called his mom, in the Dominican Republic, and she also thought something was amiss given the late hour. TOSSED Mets hitting coach Pat Roessler was ejected in the third inning by plate umpire Larry Vanover for arguing from the dugout after a called third strike to Jose Reyes, and DH Asdrubal Cabrera was tossed by third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt after throwing his bat when called out on a checked swing with runners at the corners for the third out of the fifth, then from the dugout threw a batting glove.