By Tennie Sumague
EBC New York Bureau
FLUSHING, NEW YORK (Eagle News) – In the final game of their three-game series at Citi Field in Queens, the New York Mets ended their eight-game losing streak, blanking their crosstown rival, New York Yankees 2-0 Sunday night.
Seth Lugo, who started in place of Noah Syndergaard, was dominant against the Yankees, pitching six scoreless innings on two hits, striking out a career high eight batters for his second win of the season.
“The [curve ball] worked for me and I have a pretty good command of it right now,” Lugo said. “Mechanically, it’s pretty sound [and] keeping them off balanced was all part of the game plan.”
Scoreless after four innings, Todd Frazier blasted a two-out, two-run home run off Yankees starter Luis Severino in the bottom of the fifth inning for the game’s only runs. The Mets held on, avoiding a sweep and snapped their ten-game losing streak at home.
“It was tremendous, a big win for us,” said Mets manager, Mickey Callaway. “To be able to win against their best pitcher, having the day off tomorrow and letting this sink in, we need to get things rolling. It wasn’t a now or never situation, but this going to be big for us moving forward.”
The Mets also snapped a six-game losing streak against the Yankees, who continue to lead the Subway Series 68-47 all-time during the regular season.
The Yankees threatened to score in the top of the eighth inning when Mets shortstop, Jose Reyes failed to touch second base and threw away a grounder by pinch hitter, Aaron Judge, leaving the Yankees with two men on with one out. Gleyber Torres fouled out and Brett Gardner flied out to left field to end the the inning.
“We were looking to take advantage of the mistake they made,” said Gardner. “Gleyber and I weren’t able to get anything done after that. We just came up a little bit short.”
The Yankees were shut out for the first time this season and Severino suffered his first loss since April 10.
“We had a successful trip overall,” Yankees manager, Aaron Boone said. “We didn’t necessarily swing the bats great, but we gave ourselves a chance late.”
The two teams will meet again in July at Yankees Stadium.
(Eagle News Service)