It what turned out to be a tale of three catchers, the New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets, 5-2, sweeping a doubleheader and sending the Mets to their third straight loss. The first catcher is, of course, Gary Sanchez who hit a pinch-hit grand slam to give the Yankees the lead in the top of the eighth. The second is Wilson Ramos, who struck out with the bases loaded to end the game. And the third was rookie Ali Sanchez, who was allowed to bat in the fifth with two runners on, and not pinch hit for, and popped out to third for the final out.

This game certainly had more to it than just three players, such as the outstanding effort by Yankees first-time starter Deivi Garcia who pitched six innings of four-hit ball. Also, the continued excellence of Mets starter Seth Lugo who went 3 2/3, threw sixty pitches and struck out seven.

The Mets have little time to lick their wounds as they play a matinee Monday in Flushing against the Miami Marlins. Jacob deGrom will be asked to be the stopper again to stop this losing streak at three.

Pitching

Seth Lugo made his second start of the season against the Yankees.

After a lead-off single to DJ LeMahieu, Lugo induced a double play grounder by Luke Voit. He pitched an effective second inning after allowing another lead-off hit this time to Clint Frazier.

The third started with light hitting Tyler Wade homering to right center to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. It was the shortstop’s first home run of the year and the first allowed by Lugo as a starting pitcher. On the plus side, Lugo struck out five through the first three innings.

The fourth inning turned out to be Lugo’s last. The Yankees loaded the bases on a single by Aaron Hicks and two walks. With one out, Lugo struckout Erik Kratz for a huge out. Mets manager Luis Rojas then lifted Lugo in favor of  Chasen Shreve. Shreve threw one pitch and induced a harmless fly-out to right by Wade to leave the bases loaded.

Seth Lugo’s final line was: 3 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. He threw 60 pitches. In 6 2/3 innings over two starts, Lugo has an impressive 12 strikeouts.

Shreve worked around some problems in the fifth as the Yankees put two men on base. He stranded them keeping the score 1-0 Yanks.

A double-play helped Shreve and the Mets get out of the sixth unscathed. Shreve left the game after the frame. He has now pitched 7 consecutive scoreless innings.

Jeurys Familia worked around an error by Amed Rosario to retire the Yankees in the seventh.

After Rojas stated between games of the twin bill that he was not comfortable with Drew Smith pitching with a five run lead in game 1, Smith was selected to start the eighth with the free runner on second in game two. It turned out to be a grand mistake.

After the Yankees loaded the bases, struggling Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez, who was one for his last 18, hit a grand slam to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead. it was his sixth home run of the year and third lifetime slam. It was the first extra-inning grand slam in Yankees history.

Offense

The Mets managed only six hits in the game.

Deivi Garcia made his first lifetime against the Mets and he proceeded to go through the lineup perfectly first time around.

The Mets finally broke through with a single in the fourth by Jeff McNeil. He was stranded and the score remained 1-0 after four.

Robinson Cano led off the fifth with a hard shot to right center that Clint Frazier dove for and stopped from going to the wall preventing extra-bases. The Mets could not advance Cano as Garcia retired the next three. The broadcast booth (and probably several hundred Mets fans) wondered as a first guess if Rojas should have pinch hit for catcher Ali Sanchez.

McNeil led off the sixth with a sharp grounder to first that Luke Voit bobbled with McNeil ending up on second. Michael Conforto could not move the runner over but was picked-up by Dominic Smith. Smith singled to left to plate McNeil and tie the score at 1-1.

Between innings, J.D. Davis was evaluated by the Mets trainer and was taken out of the game. Andres Gimenez replaced Davis at third.

The Mets scored once in the bottom of the eighth and had the bases loaded for more, but pinch-hitter Wilson Ramos struck out to end the game and send the Mets to their third straight loss.

Only Dominic Smith had a multiple hit game for the Mets, with two.

On Deck

The Mets conclude their season series against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on Monday. New York is 6-3 so far this year against the Fish. Jacob deGrom will make the start for the Mets, his fourth straight start against the division rival. Jake is 2-0 on the year with a 1.80 ERA. His last start encapsulated his entire Mets career as his line was : 7 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, 14 K, 104 pitches/67 strikes. And despite his brilliance, he received a no-decision.

He has now made 177 starts in his career and has allowed one or no runs in a record 83 of them. In those 83 games, deGrom has a 0.65 ERA and 32 no-decisions. Hard to believe.

Miami has not yet named its starter for the make-up game. First pitch is at 1:10 PM and it will be televised by SNY and broadcast on WCBS 880-AM.