Yankees, Aaron Boone avoided disaster with key call against Juan Soto in 9th inning

On Friday night, the New York Yankees took home a 6-2 victory over the Mets in the Subway Series opener. But the game was closer than the score indicated after the Bombers got into some trouble in the ninth inning.

Manager Aaron Boone made the right call going to Yerry De Los Santos for the final three outs against the bottom of the Mets' lineup, but the right-hander couldn't finish the job. He issued two walks and gave up an RBI double in 2/3 of an inning.

That made the score 6-2 with runners on second and third. There were two outs and ... Juan Soto was coming to the plate. If Soto had done any damage off De Los Santos in order to help stage a Mets comeback, the Yankees would have perished on the spot. They would have been dead to rights for the rest of the season. They would have completely slaughtered the vibes after their impressive 25-18 start.

So Boone didn't waste another moment. He pulled De Los Santos after 25 pitches and called upon Luke Weaver, who threw three innings between Tuesday and Wednesday, to face Soto. The Yankee Stadium crowd was letting Soto hear it all night, so there was no room for error here.

Thankfully, Weaver got Soto to pop up to center field with a changeup on an 0-1 count. Exhale. There's your series lead with Max Fried set to pitch on Sunday night.

Aaron Boone presses emergency button for Yankees to halt Juan Soto-led rally

Turns out maybe Soto wasn't exactly ready to face the wrath from Yankees fans. Though he walked three times, his team scored two runs and he couldn't get a hit in the biggest plate appearance of the night for the Mets.

Carlos Rodón bent but didn't break. He allowed one earned run over five innings of work and threw 102 pitches. The Yankees chase Tylor Megill in the third and forced the Mets to use two of their long relievers. That should help for the remainder of the series.

But the Yanks also used five relievers in this one, including Jonathan Loaisiga in his return, Mark Leiter Jr. and Devin Williams, so Boone will have to navigate things smoothly on Saturday to avoid having things go wayward by the end of the weekend.

Nonetheless, this is the start they needed to this series to keep their west coast road trip momentum going. And they live to see another day with the Soto headlines. Double win.