Mets at Yankees
The New York Yankees are the best team in the city record-wise, but the New York Mets are playing the best right now. The Mets will try to take advantage of the slumping Yankees when they visit the Bronx for the opener of a two-game Subway Series on Monday.
The Yankees needed extra innings to avoid a sweep at Cleveland on Sunday and dropped five of their last seven games to fall into a first-place tie with the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. The Mets come in hot with wins in four of their last five and moved within a game of .500 with a 6-1 victory over Colorado on Sunday that featured a homer and four RBIs from Todd Frazier. "I don’t know what else to say," Mets manager Mickey Callaway told reporters of Frazier. "He's just doing everything right now. A few days ago, we planned on maybe him getting a day off. Obviously, we had to change that because he's been going so good." Frazier will take his swings on Monday against Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka while the Mets counter with lefty Jason Vargas.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, SNY (Mets), WPIX (Yankees)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mets LH Jason Vargas (2-3, 3.57 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (3-5, 3.42)
Vargas was one of the worst pitchers in baseball over the first few weeks and was in danger of losing his spot in the rotation with an ERA that ballooned to 14.21 on April 13, but things have changed. The 36-year-old posted a 1.85 ERA over his last seven starts and is coming off a five-hit, eight-strikeout shutout of the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday. Vargas is seeing the Yankees for the first time since 2017, when he lost a pair of starts while allowing a total of nine runs in 10 innings as a member of the Kansas City Royals.
Tanaka got an extra day off for paternity leave and is making his first start since Tuesday, when he allowed four runs and six hits - including two home runs - in six innings to suffer a loss at Toronto. The Japan native is winless in his last four outings and surrendered a total of nine runs - eight earned - and 15 hits in 12 innings over his last two turns. Tanaka struck out eight and yielded only one hit - a solo home run - over five innings in his lone start against the Mets last season but did not factor in the decision.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Mets placed 2B Robinson Cano (quad) on the 10-day IL on Sunday.
2. The Yankees added to their lengthy injured list by placing RHP Domingo German (hip) on the 10-day IL on Sunday.
3. The teams split six games last season.