Three Yankees takeaways from Subway Series Game 1 loss to Mets

1. The oddest lineup of the season made little difference

With Mets lefthander Jose Quintana on the mound, the Yankees loaded up their lineup with seven righties; the lone lefties being Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo. But, not surprisingly, a lineup featuring the seldom-used Jahmai Jones hitting leadoff, the just-as-seldom-used J.D. Davis at cleanup and Carlos Narvaez, a defense-first catcher, got little going besides Gleyber Torres’ first homer since June 28 and Verdugo’s RBI double. The Yankees went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11. Even with the Mets throwing another lefty Wednesday – Sean Manaea – it would be a borderline shock if the Yankees ran it back with the same lineup, or anything remotely similar.

2. Expect teams to keep pitching around Aaron Judge

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, formerly the Yankees bench coach, saw first-hand during his many years with the organization the damage Judge can inflict on a team and had no interest in seeing his club on the receiving end of that - especially with the struggles of the Yankees’ offense, other than Judge and Soto, of course. The approach? Give Judge, in the midst of another MVP-caliber season, as little to hit as possible. The Yankees’ middle of the order for the most part has become a black hole in Giancarlo Stanton’s absence and, as a result, teams were already pitching Judge more and more carefully. Until there’s some consistent production from the hitters following Judge, the number of hittable pitches he sees – at least from teams with decent to good pitching – is likely to continue to dwindle.

3. Luis Gil appears as if he’s put his slump behind him

The rookie righthander, 9-1 with a 2.03 ERA after a victory in Boston June 14, took a nosedive thereafter (as did much of the rotation), going 0-3 with a 14.90 ERA in his next three starts. But the 25-year-old who during that stretch looked as if he had hit the proverbial wall that many young starters do seems to have put that behind him. Gil made it three straight good starts Tuesday night, allowing one run and four hits over five innings in which he walked one and struck out six. Gil, whose fastball velocity held steady in the 96-98 mph range, had an especially devastating slider Tuesday. That is a pitch that, incidentally, Luis Severino, now with the Mets but a Yankee from 2015-23, helped Gil with last season. Gil has allowed a combined three earned runs in his last three starts, striking out 23 and walking two in 17 2/3 innings. His strong start Tuesday was among the few Yankees highlights from what was another dispiriting loss.