Either Gerrit Cole is still rusty or the Mets are just swinging the bat that well. Maybe it’s a combination of both.
The Mets bashed four homers over four innings against the star right-hander Tuesday night and held on late for a 9-7 victory over the Yankees in front of a Citi Field sellout crowd of 42,824.
“You are talking about the Cy Young award winner from last yearand one of the best for the second half of the year,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said, referring to Cole. “But we went out there with a real good plan, with conviction and executed. But that’s a tough night when you are facing Gerrit Cole and I was pretty pleased with our at-bats.”
It came on a day Edwin Diaz began serving a 10-game suspension following his ejection Sunday for violating MLB’s foreign substance rule.
Another significant Mets player, Starling Marte, was placed on the injured list with a deep bone bruise in his right knee.
The Mets won for the 14th time in 18 games and are assured of an eighth straight non-losing series since they were swept by the Dodgers last month.
The slumping Yankees lost for the eighth time in 11 games.
“I didn’t really give us a good chance to win tonight,” Cole said. “I didn’t execute enough good pitches as a whole.”
The Yankees infused drama late, with five runs in the eighth — Aaron Judge’s grand slam sliced the Mets’ lead to 9-7 — before Reed Garrett got the final four outs.
Garrett was summoned to face Judge with the bases loaded and two outs and got ahead in the count 0-2 on two straight cutters before Judge cleared the fence in right-center for his MLB-leading 29th homer of the season.
The grand slam was the seventh of his career.
Cole, in his second start off the injured list, allowed six earned runs on seven hits and four walks over the four innings.
Mark Vientos went deep twice against him and Harrison Bader and Brandon Nimmo also homered against Cole.
“It feels good to hit two [homers] off Joe Schmo, but Gerrit Cole is a great pitcher,” Vientos said.
The shorthanded Mets — they aren’t allowed to replace Diaz on the roster during his suspension — got to the finish line using four relievers behind David Peterson, who needed 103 pitches to get through 4 ¹/₃ innings.
Tyrone Taylor, starting in right field in Marte’s spot, — the Mets also have DJ Stewart and just-recalled Ben Gamel as options for the position — stroked an RBI single in the first that gave the Mets a 1-0 lead.
Pete Alonso was thrown out at the plate by Alex Verdugo trying to piggyback Francisco Lindor on the play.
Lindor doubled to open the inning and Nimmo walked before J.D. Martinez’s double-play grounder appeared to squelch the inning.
But Alonso and Francisco Alvarez walked in succession before Taylor delivered.
Vientos homered leading off the second and two batters later Bader cleared the fence in left field to extend the Mets’ lead to 3-0.
It continued a surge for Bader, who doubled twice in Sunday’s victory over the Cubs.
Vientos’ second homer of the game, a shot to right field leading off the fourth, placed the Yankees in a 4-0 hole.
But Cole wasn’t finished with the gopher ball; after Jeff McNeil singled, Nimmo smashed a two-run homer with two outs, widening the deficit to six runs.
Juan Soto homered leading off the fifth and David Peterson never got through the inning.
After walking Gleyber Torres and Verdugo, he was removed at 103 pitches.
Dedniel Nunez replaced him and got J.D. Davis to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Peterson had an interesting night, striking out eight and walking five, with two hit batters, over 4 ¹/₃ innings.
He appeared in trouble right from the start, loading the bases on Anthony Volpe’s single and walks to Soto and Judge before striking out Torres, Verdugo and Davis in succession.
“I knew I needed a strikeout,” Peterson said. “Once I got that I knew I had an opportunity to end the inning there if I got a ground-ball double play or something like that.”
In the sixth, with the infield drawn in, Nimmo hit a grounder under Torres’ glove that let Jeff McNeil score the Mets’ seventh run.
Torres was charged with an error, making the run against Phil Bickford unearned.
And Martinez joined the party with an ensuing RBI double and Alonso’s sacrifice fly gave the Mets a 9-1 lead.
“We have a really good ball club and I am excited,” Vientos said. “I feel like this is just the beginning.”
