Judge 47th HR, Yankees beat Scherzer, Mets 4-2 in Subway Series

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge homered off Max Scherzer for his major league-leading 47th home run, Andrew Benintendi drove in two runs and the New York Yankees overcame rookie Oswald Cabrera’s poor popup to beat the Mets with 4-2 on Monday night in their first match. Subway series win this season.

The Yankees, on a historic 14-game losing streak in 18 games going into the Bronx, took a 3-0 lead thanks to DJ LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly in the first inning, Judge’s home run off Scherzer (9-3) in the second and Isiah’s double Keener-Falefa and Benintendi in the fifth.

With this two-game set, the Yankees ensured they would snap their six-game losing streak, their worst since 1995. They also had back-to-back wins for the first time since July 29-30.

Domingo Herman (2-2) was on track with a triple when Pete Alonso hit a popup that Cabrera and right fielder Marvin Gonzalez placed just 221 feet from the plate.

Cabrera, making his first major league start at second after stints at shortstop, third base and right field, allowed the ball to pop out of his glove on an error when Gonzalez’s skin hit the glove, a play reminiscent of Luis Castillo’s ninth-inning drop the first game of the Subway Series at the new Yankee Stadium in 2009.

Daniel Vogelbach, with 6-inch black streaks on his face, followed that up with a two-pitch curveball into the Yankees’ bullpen in right-center for a two-run homer to make it 3-2.

Benintendi restored a two-run lead in the bottom half with an RBI single after Keener-Falefa reached on an infield single and moved to second when shortstop Francisco Lindor bare-handedly scooped up a bouncer and fired a sidearm throw past first on an error .

German (2-2) gave up two runs — one earned — in 6 1/3 innings.

Rookie Ron Marinaccio had four straight shutouts and Jonathan Loaisiga finished with four straight for his first save since Aug. 17 of last year, earning a loud ovation from the 48,760 crowd, the Yankees’ ninth home crowd of the season.

Scherzer allowed four runs for his second straight start, raising his ERA from 1.93 to 2.33 in two outings. He struck out seven in 6 2/3 innings.

Judge had his 103rd RBI, tying Alonso for the major league lead by one.

The Mets swept the Yankees in a pair of games at Citi Field last month.

Judge was 2-for-11 with seven strikeouts against Scherzer and 4-for-32 overall before hammering a 95.7-mph fastball for an opposite-field shot into the right seats. Judge hit a deep right in the fifth and Scherzer turned his head, apparently thinking it was a home run, only to look back to see the ball caught by Starling Marte on the warning track.

deGrom

Jacob deGrom had a problem during warmups before his last start and was ruled out of the Subway Series game against the Yankees. Instead, he will pitch against Colorado on Thursday or Friday. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner is 2-1 with a 2.31 ERA in four starts after a year-long layoff caused by an elbow injury last summer and a stress reaction in his right shoulder blade this spring. He threw 95 pitches last Thursday in a 3-2 loss against Atlanta.

He snapped

Brandon Nimmo and Benintendi were hit for the first time since April 17, 1926, when the Yankees and their opponent opened the scoring. Washington’s Alex Ferguson beat Mark Koenig and New York’s Sam Jones beat Sam Rice.

Back

Anthony Rizzo flew out to first, getting Scherzer to ground out on LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly, but was sent back because the umpires ruled the ball still dead. The Mets then appealed at third, but the umpires ruled that Benintendi was not out early and scored to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Goodbye for now

Mets LHP Nate Fisher was designated for assignment a day after going three scoreless innings in his major league debut, a year after returning to the minors after working as a financial analyst at a Nebraska bank. The Mets also designated LHP Rob Zastrzyny for assignment, optioned RHP Jose Booth to Triple-A Syracuse and optioned the contract of RHP Connor Gray from the Triple-A farm team.

Coach’s room

Mets: C Thomas Nido was activated from IL, was reinstated from IL. He has been sidelined since August 13 for an unspecified reason, which is usually COVID.

Yankees: DH Giancarlo Stanton, out since July 23 with left Achilles tendinitis, expects to return to the Yankees lineup Thursday when New York begins a trip to Oakland. … RHP Scott Efros was placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to Sunday, with a sprained right shoulder. RHP Clark Schmidt was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Next

RHP Frankie Montas (4-10, 3.87) is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts since the Yankees acquired him from Oakland. Mets RHP Taijuan Walker will make his first start since Aug. 16 in Atlanta after overcoming back spasms.