– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — There was no getting around the New York Yankees fans’ ire for their version of Judas Iscariot, former Bronx hero turned ex Juan Soto, upon his return to Yankee Stadium this weekend. But before too long, that collective ill will may finally give way to incessant praise for the man who essentially was brought in to fill Soto’s void, as Cody Bellinger continued his torrid hitting by ended the latest supercharged Subway Series in grand fashion.
Bellinger launched a grand slam to cap off a six-run bottom of the eighth inning for the Yankees, who defeated the New York Mets 8-2 to take the Bronx edition of the all-New York series for 2025. The homer was part of a career-high six-RBI night for Bellinger, who also hit a two-run double in the first inning to open the scoring, as he extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
The Yankees broke the 2-2 tie in the eighth on a ground ball to first hit by Jorbit Vivas with runners on second and third with one out, as Pete Alonso’s throw home was well wide of home plate and allowed Jasson Dominguez to score the winning run. Paul Goldschmidt followed with an RBI single to double the Yankees lead, though the Mets were close to getting out of the inning without a crooked number after Aaron Judge struck out with the bases loaded for the second out.
But Bellinger drove the first pitch he saw from Mets reliever Ryne Stanek into the first deck of bleachers in right for his ninth career grand slam and set the Yankees fans inside the stadium alight.
At the beginning of the month, Bellinger was batting .196, but in his last 14 games, in which he’s recorded at least one hit in each one, the former National League Most Valuable Player is hitting .377 (20-for-53) with four doubles, four homers and 12 RBI.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Roberto Carlo. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are four pictures in total.
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