Juan Soto, Mets offense quiet in the Bronx in 6-2 Subway Series loss to Yankees

In the battle between the best pitching staff in baseball and the best offense, the big bats in the Bronx prevailed. The Yankees ruled baseball in New York City on Friday night and showed Juan Soto what he left behind in a 6-2 win over the Mets.

Yankee Stadium has never been known as a friendly place, but it’s a place where loyalty is valued over just about everything other than winning. With Soto returning for the first time since Game 5 of the World Series, Yankee fans showed the right fielder exactly how they felt about his decision to leave for a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets.

They booed him loudly throughout every plate appearance, which required some impressive vocal efforts given how many pitches he took. In turn, Soto tipped his cap to the sellout crowd of 47,700, the fourth-largest Yankee Stadium crowd of the season.

When he ran out to the outfield wearing orange and blue, the Bleacher Creatures turned around, refusing to acknowledge a player who was crucial in the Yankees AL pennant win last fall. Some stood facing away from him with their middle fingers displayed toward the field. Some yelled “traitor.”

It was nothing the Mets didn’t already expect. Fans in the city spent the better part of the offseason debating Soto’s decision to leave the Yankees after only one season for the upstart rival in Queens. They’ve spent the better part of the season already debating whether or not he even likes his new team.

Soto scored the first run for the visitors in the fourth inning. The Yankees had already beat up on an ineffective Tylor Megill in the bottom of the third and took a 4-0 lead when left-hander Carlos Rodon issued a leadoff walk to Soto. Brandon Nimmo drove him home on a one-out single to left before the Mets loaded the bases, and Rodon got out of the jam.

The Mets made Rodon work. They made him throw a lot of pitches and were able to knock him out after five innings and 102 pitches, but he left with the lead intact, limiting the Mets to one earned run on two hits. He walked four and struck out five in the win (5-3).

Megill turned in his worst start of the season. Pitching to his historical pattern of being dominant in April before turning into a completely different pitcher in May, the big right-hander was fine through the first two innings before losing the strike zone and failing to make it through the third.

The Yankees batted around in the bottom of the third. Starting with a leadoff single by No. 9 hitter Jorbit Vivas, Aaron Judge was walked with one out to put two on. Paul Goldschmidt hit a broken-bat single to Francisco Lindor, who spun and threw to Pete Alonso at first for the out, bouncing the ball in front of Alonso’s glove. Vivas and Judge both scored.

Megill then walked Jasson Dominguez and a fly ball to right by Anthony Volpe scored Bellinger, with Soto’s throw to Francisco Alvarez coming home too late. Austin Wells walked to load the bases and Oswald Peraza did the same to bring in another run. The Mets (28-17) then went to right-hander Max Kranick, who retired Vivas on one pitch.

The Yankees (26-19) scored twice more in the fourth, with Kranick being charged with both runs.

In March and April, Megill has a career ERA of 2.45, but in May and June it’s 6.41. It’s a confounding pattern for a pitcher who some around the Mets think has the best pure stuff. He took the loss (3-4) with four earned runs on four hits and five walks over 2 2/3 innings, with four strikeouts.

Soto went 0-for-2 with three walks. His final at-bat: An anticlimactic pop up to center field for the third out in the ninth. The Mets rallied for one run against right-hander Yerry De los Santos.