NEW YORK — Luke Weaver admitted to telling a small fib to his injured teammate Clay Holmes after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the New York Mets' 6-3 Subway Series win over the Yankees on Saturday night at Citi Field.
Weaver, who signed a $22 million, two-year deal with the Mets after leaving the Yankees in December, sprinted in from the bullpen to relieve Brooks Raley in the seventh inning. The Yankees had loaded the bases after rookie right fielder Carsen Benge dropped Cody Bellinger's fly ball, allowing Aaron Judge to score and cutting the Mets' lead to 5-2.
“When I saw him I just was like: `That was in honor of you. I even had your name written in my hat,'” Weaver recalled saying to Holmes, who had broken his right fibula the previous day when struck by Spencer Jones' comebacker. Holmes is likely to be sidelined until at least August.
Only later did Weaver confess he made up the part about writing Holmes' name in his cap. “I didn’t, but it just felt right to say,” he told reporters. “Kids, don’t lie to your parents.”
Weaver struck out Amed Rosario and Trent Grisham on changeups after getting ahead 0-2 on both, then induced Anthony Volpe into an inning-ending forceout. His fastball averaged 96.1 mph, 1.4 mph above his season average. “He was pretty fired up,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.
“I don’t think he’s extra fired up. I think that’s who he is. I think that’s what he brings to the table every time,” said Juan Soto, who had two hits and walked twice in the game.
Weaver returned for the eighth inning, his first two-inning outing since May of last year, and retired Judge on a flyout to end the frame. “A little smirk,” Weaver said. “I did say I would acknowledge him at the plate. I didn’t do that a few years ago, and he let me have it.”
Fans at Citi Field were especially loud when Judge and Soto batted. “I enjoyed every bit of it,” Soto said. “Definitely, there’s some weird words that they say out there. Most of them, I don’t understand it, but, yeah, it’s really cool.”
Weaver explained his approach to running in from the bullpen. “I run in pretty fast. I just think that’s more of an adrenaline spike, but the first few steps always are unpleasant and then the ankles start to loosen up a bit.” He added that he concentrated on “not twisting an ankle or something.”
With the win, the Mets improved to 19-26 and have won four of their last five games, though they remain last in the NL East. “I think tonight I wanted people to know, especially my teammates, that’s what we’re capable of,” Weaver said. “We could beat great teams in this league and it just takes some fundamental baseball. It takes big moments. It takes some mistakes that we bounce back from.”
Weaver said he feels no obligation to actually write Holmes' name in his cap going forward. “I certainly will not. That would violate a best friendship that I’m striving for and it would just be a little too much too quick,” he said. “He seems like a guy that’s got a lot of friends but not a lot of best friends, so that’s always a challenge, trying to just get something you can’t have.”
Holmes left the Yankees for the Mets after the 2024 season. Weaver noted that Clay would probably be disappointed he wasn’t thinking about him on the mound, but the situation developed quickly.