Mets 12, Yankees 2: Lindor's Leadoff Shot and a Bronx Slam

A changeup in the first, a slam in the eighth

September 12, 2026 - Bronx - Francisco Lindor lined Gerrit Cole's 1-1 changeup into the right-field seats before the New York Yankees recorded an out. By the eighth, he hit a grand slam off a rookie and sent a sellout toward the exits. The New York Mets won 12-2. They hit six homers in the Bronx for the first time, the Associated Press recap said.

Cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left. First pitch 1:38 p.m. Attendance 46,864. The game lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes. That is a short afternoon for a rout that started on the first pitch sequence of the day.

The Mets are 69-79. The AP recap said they have won 22 of 35 since the August 3 trade deadline. The Yankees are 85-63. Their four-game winning streak ended. They have lost eight of 25.

Cole never found the second out that stuck

Cole (8-9) lasted 4 1/3 innings, nine hits, five runs, no walks, four strikeouts, 77 pitches, three homers. The AP recap said he is 0-3 with a 10.92 ERA in his last three Subway Series starts and has allowed 10 homers in those games. Saturday was the version of that sentence you can see from the first inning.

Lindor's leadoff drive was his fifth to start a game this year and the 36th of his career, the AP recap said. It also landed on the fifth anniversary of his three-homer game against the Yankees at Citi Field. 1-0. Jared Young reached in the second. Luis Torrens then hit a two-run homer to left, his ninth. 3-0. Carson Benge followed in the third with a solo shot to right-center, his 17th. 4-0. Cole had thrown three innings and already given up three homers.

Juan Soto doubled and scored on Benge's single in the fifth. That was the hit that ended Cole. Ryan Yarbrough inherited a runner and picked Benge off first, then caught him stealing. The Yankees finally had a clean inning on the bases. They still trailed 5-1.

Thornton, then the eighth that emptied the stands

Zac Thornton (4-5) worked seven innings, five hits, two runs, one walk, four strikeouts, 81 pitches. It was his Subway Series debut, the AP recap said. Paul Goldschmidt doubled in the fourth and scored on Cody Bellinger's single. Bellinger added a solo homer in the sixth, his 15th. 5-2. Thornton ended his outing by getting Anthony Volpe to bounce into a double play. Aaron Judge went 0-for-4.

Tim Hill took the seventh. Soto hit his 25th homer to right-center with two outs. 6-2. Then came the eighth, and the Bronx stopped pretending this was still a one-score game.

Marcus Semien reached. A.J. Ewing walked. Torrens doubled Semien home. Nick Morabito reached. Lindor then hit a grand slam to right-center, his 20th, Ewing, Torrens, and Morabito scoring. 11-2. The AP recap called it his eighth career slam and said he joined Mike Piazza (2000) and Carlos Delgado (2008) as Mets with a grand slam in the Bronx. It was also Lindor's 24th career multi-homer game. Bradley Hanner, a rookie, absorbed two of those homers. Young added a solo shot in the ninth, his ninth. 12-2.

Lindor finished 3-for-5 with five RBI. Torrens went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Soto had two hits. Benge had two hits and two RBI. Young had three hits. Bo Bichette went 0-for-5. The Mets left three on and still scored 12. Team RISP: 3-for-5.

Six homers, two Yankees runs, and a series that flipped

Tobias Myers threw two scoreless innings. Bellinger was the only Yankee who hurt anybody: 2-for-4, a homer, two RBI. Spencer Jones had two hits. Everybody else made outs in the wrong innings. New York left five on and went 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

Yarbrough threw 2 1/3 scoreless after Cole left. Hill lasted one inning, three runs, a walk, Soto's homer. Hanner finished 1 1/3, three hits, four runs, two homers. That is what a 12-2 looks like from the home bullpen. The Yankees had won Friday 6-4 in the same building. Saturday did not care.

Sunday is Cam Schlittler (13-6, 2.01) against Christian Scott (4-4, 3.81). The Yankees still sit four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East. The Mets are 18 and a half out in the NL East and still found a way to empty Yankee Stadium in the eighth. A leadoff homer and a slam from the same shortstop will do that.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Lindor at 15 hitting fantasy points, second among batters on Saturday after pitchers were filtered off the hitter board. Torrens had 10. Young had 9. Soto had 8. The Mets finished with 25 team FP, tied for second. The Yankees finished at minus-9.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*