Lindor Leadoff HR, Slam Mets Rout Yanks

Francisco Lindor hit a leadoff homer and added an eighth-inning grand slam as the New York Mets blasted the Yankees 12-2 on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Lindor finished with two homers and 5 RBI. The Mets hit six home runs in front of a crowd of 46,864.

It was Subway Series baseball that flipped the series to 1-1 after Friday's Yankees win. Gerrit Cole (8-9) was chased after 4.1 innings with five runs and nine hits. Mets fans who made the trip to the Bronx got the loudest afternoon of the weekend.

Leadoff shot, then the slam

Lindor started the day by lining Cole's 1-1 changeup into the right-field seats for his fifth leadoff homer of the season and the 36th of his career. The date also marked the fifth anniversary of his three-homer game against the Yankees at Citi Field. Luis Torrens followed with a two-run shot in the second. Rookie Carson Benge added a solo blast, then an RBI single that ended Cole's day.

Juan Soto homered in the seventh. In the eighth, after Torrens doubled home another run and the bases loaded, Lindor crushed a grand slam off rookie Bradley Hanner for his eighth career slam. Jared Young added a ninth-inning solo shot to make it six Mets homers for the first time against the Yankees. AP noted Lindor joined Mike Piazza (2000) and Carlos Delgado (2008) as Mets with a grand slam in the Bronx.

Cole pounded, Thornton steady

Cole is 0-3 with a 10.92 ERA and 10 homers allowed across his last three Subway Series starts. Zac Thornton (4-5) answered with seven innings and two runs in his Subway Series debut, ending the outing on an Anthony Volpe double-play grounder. Cody Bellinger supplied both Yankees runs with a homer and an RBI single as New York's four-game winning streak ended.

The Mets improved to 22-13 since the Aug. 3 trade deadline selloff and won for the fifth time in six games. The Yankees (85-63) dropped for the eighth time in their past 25. Sunday's finale lines up Cam Schlittler against Christian Scott at Yankee Stadium.

Lindor's day bookended the box score. The leadoff swing set the tone. The slam emptied half the stadium. Fantasy managers who started him in a Subway Series spot got the kind of line that covers a quiet week.

Mets fans will replay the slam. Yankees fans will want Sunday. Lindor already made Saturday his.