New York Yankees Recap: Yankees Crush Mets; Clinch 2015 Subway Series

Tonight the Yankees and Mets battled for the final time in the 2015 regular season in a best-of-three rubber match. The end result would not only give the winning team bragging rights for the remainder of the season, but it would also have major playoff implications on both teams as we near the final two weeks of the regular season. The Yankees looked to pull within 2.5 games of the Toronto Blue Jays while the New York Mets would look to increase their lead over the Washington Nationals. It was matchup that featured the veteran CC Sabathia (4-9, 4.93 ERA) and perhaps future Yankees ace Matt Harvey (12-7, 2.88 ERA) in an 8:05 pm ESPN Sunday Night Baseball showdown in Flushing, NY.

The Mets took a page out of the Yankees playbook by scoring an early first inning run thanks to an RBI double off the bat of David Wright.

Matt Harvey, who was making his first start in twelve days displayed just how much the Mets will miss him down the stretch when he surpasses his innings limit. He pitched five dominant shutout innings, scattering just three Yankees base-runners while striking out seven. After today’s effort, Harvey’s innings total now stands at 176.2, just 1.2 innings shy of his previous career high and just 3.1 innings away from his 180 inning limit.

Hansel Robles came in to replace Harvey in the sixth, and the Yankees immediately went to work on a weak New York Mets bullpen. Former Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran roped a two-run double that plated Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner, giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead, and one they wouldn’t surrender for the rest of the night.

In the same inning, Dustin Ackley crushed a three-run homer to right field, extending the Yankees lead to 5-1.

After giving up an early run in the first, CC Sabathia settled in and provided the Yankees with another quality outing. His final line on the day was 6.0 innings pitched, five hits allowed, one earned run against, three walks and seven strike outs.

The Yankees tacked on another insurance run in the top of the seventh thanks to a bases loaded walk from Chase Headley that scored Brett ‘the hit man’ Gardner.

In the top of the eighth Jacoby Ellsbury boosted his confidence with an RBI single that plated Rico Noel. After struggling throughout September, Ellsbury ended the night with three hits in five plate appearances, extending his total to four straight games with a hit.

Three batters later, Brian McCann singled in Jacoby Ellsbury, extending the Yankees lead to 8-1.

Later on in the same inning, Gregory Bird crushed a three run homer to extend the Yankees lead to 11-1. It was the rookies eighth home run of the season since being called up by the New York Yankees, and surprisingly his home run pace in the majors is far greater than it was the minors. Slowly but surely he’s looking more and more like a major league ready first baseman.

The Metropolitans managed to squeak a run by in the bottom of the eighth off a Daniel Murphy single, but the game was long over.

Nick Rumbelow, Chris Capuano and Nick Goody pitched out of the Yankees bullpen to close out the ball game, giving the big guns Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances a much needed off-night.

When all was said and done, the Yankees earned an 11-2 victory on the road at Citi Field, taking two-out-of-three from the Mets and clinching another Subway Series.

However, more importantly they improved to 2.5 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays as they prepare to open up a critical three-game series against them at the Rodgers Centre starting tomorrow night. First pitch between Adam Warren (6-6, 3.33 ERA) and David Price (16-5, 2.42 ERA) is scheduled for 7:07 PM.

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