5/14 Game Recap: Yanks Spoil Montero’s Debut, Beat Mets 4-0

Well, there was a feeling that the Mets “powerful” offense of the last couple of days was gonna take a bit of a seat with the unbeatable Masahiro Tanaka on the Citi Field mound for the Yankees. Combine that with some boneheaded plays on the bases and in the field and some well-connected outs, and you have a 4-0 Mets loss.

The contrast between Yankee Stadium and Citi Field could not have been greater. No one thought that Rafael Montero wouldn’t buckle under the Subway Series pressure in his Major League debut, but he needed his team to make plays behind him and not let any opportunities they received fall to the wayside.

Game Recap:

May 14, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets catcher

(20) visits starting pitcher Rafael Montero (50) during the third inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Though Brett Gardner singled to lead off the game, Montero was able to work around that. Daniel Murphy singled for the 1st hit off Tanaka in the 1st and promptly stole 2nd as the Yankees headed into the Curtis Granderson shift, but unfortunately they could not score him.

In the top of the 2nd, with 2 out following a Yangervis Solarte walk, Brian Roberts hit a ball to Eric Young, Jr. in left that he should have gotten in front of to keep it as a single. He dove, however, and the ball went all the way to the wall, scoring Solarte and sending Roberts all the way to 3rd with his 1st of 2 triples on the night.

Montero wasn’t hitting the corners as well as we’ve heard he can, and his inability to put hitters away kept his pitch-count rising at an uncontrollable rate. He gave up a Solarte solo shot in the 4th and entered the 5th close to 90 pitches. He got a 1-2-3, and most people thought he was done. Terry Collins, however, wanted to push him through the 6th with the bullpen having been used extensively the past couple of days.

The 2nd pitch Mark Teixiera saw leading off the inning he sent into the bullpen in right-center. Montero settled down, though, for a full line of 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, with 3 strikeouts in 6 IP. His 1st Major League strikeout was when he got Derek Jeter swinging in the top of the 3rd.

Chris Young led off the bottom of the 5th with a single, and tried to catch the Yankees napping again in switching the shift for Lucas Duda. Tanaka would have none of that, however, and Chris Young was out by a mile.

The Yankees added a 4th run in the 7th with 2 out. Brett Gardner singled, stole 2nd, moved over to 3rd on a Carlos Torres wild pitch and scored on a come backer to the pitcher by Derek Jeter that Anthony Recker took instead (Travis d’Arnaud did not play with possible concussion symptoms after being hit on the head by Alfonso Soriano‘s bat in a strikeout follow-through in yesterday’s game.)

The Yankees bullpen has been so bad as of late that of course Joe Girardi sent Tanaka, only at 101 pitches, back to the mound in the 9th to attempt for the CG shutout. Bobby Abreu, who had stayed in the game during a double-switch earlier in the game, led off with a single. Eric Young, Jr. then chopped it to Roberts at 2nd who got the force out at the base but could not get EYJ. Murph then bounced it back to Tanaka who threw it to Jeter, but Derek dropped the ball in what was called out a dropped in transfer, and the force was held after a review by the umps. Now, with 2 out, Murph on 1st and David Wright up with an 11-game hitting streak on the line, our captain lined it to their captain, and the 6-game winning streak against the Yankees was halted.

Up Next:

The Mets and the Yankees wrap up the Subway Series tomorrow at 7:10PM ET. RHP Jacob DeGrom will make his Major League debut against RHP Chase Whitley, who will also make his Major League debut.

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