Todd Frazier powers Mets to 2-0 win over Yankees | Rapid reaction

Todd Frazier hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning off Yankee ace Luis Severino to account for the only runs in a 2-0 Mets win.

NEW YORK — A long first inning set the tone for Yankees ace Luis Severino’s Subway Series start Sunday night at Citi Field.

The Mets didn’t score and it didn’t matter.

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What the Mets did with expertise was work Severino and work Severino to the point that his pitch count had climbed to 31 by the time Devin Mesoraco struck out with two on and two out.

That practically assured that Severino, a workhorse who is in the midst of a sensational campaign, wouldn’t go deep.

He didn’t.

And by the fifth inning, Severino looked tired making mistake pitches. On one of them, old friend Todd Frazier made Severino pay for a knee-high slider that split the plate and the result was a two-run homer for the high-energy Jersey boy who signed with the Mets last winter after spending the second half of 2017 as a popular Yankee.

Frazier’s homer was the difference in a 2-0 Yankees loss that ended their four-game winning streak and handed them their first shutout defeat in 111 games since Aug. 10 of last season.

Down two runs in the eighth, the Yankees were gifted their only scoring threat of the night when Aaron Judge, pinch-hitting for reliever Adam Warren, bounced a one-out, man-on-first grounder to short pinch that should have been turned into an inning-ending double play. 

Instead, the Yankees had two on with one out when Mets second baseman Jose Reyes didn’t throw second after taking a throw from shortstop Amed Rosario and then whipped a wild throw to first for a double error.

The Yankees wasted the chance though, as Mets reliever Robert Gsellman retired Gleyber Torres on a popup to first base and Brett Gardner on a flyball to left to end the inning.

From there, the Mets held on to end an eight-game losing streak and avoid being swept in the first of this year’s two Subway Series.

The Mets got a great spot starter from righty Seth Lugo, who pitched a two-hit shutout over six innings with eight strikeouts and no walks.

Lugo (21) came out of the bullpen to make his second start of the season because the Mets decided on Friday to push back Noah Syndergaard’s scheduled return from the disabled list.

Severino (9-2) allowed two runs on five hits in five innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. He was pulled with his pitch count at 83.

In the Mets fifth, Severino struck out Lugo and Rosario for the first two outs, but Reyes singled to right and Frazier followed with a homer to left center on a 1-2 pitch.

“One of those sliders that (Severino) threw just hung up a little longer,” Frazier said. “He’s dominate, so when you get a pitch like that you have to drive it and I just got lucky and did my job.”

NOTABLE

— Judge didn’t start on Sunday that he could have two days of rest counting Monday’s off day to fully recover from a jammed left thumb that occurred on a slide in the first inning of Friday’s game. Judge finished Friday’s game and hit a tie-breaking, eighth-inning homer playing on Saturday from start to finish. “Judge is good (health wise),” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously I was really relieved that he was good to go (Saturday) and obviously (he hit) the big home run. I just decided after the game that with the off day (Monday) that I wanted to give him a couple (days off). He fought me a little bit on it … but I wanted to play the long game a little bit.”

— Slumping catcher Gary Sanchez’s average sunk to .190 with an 0-for-4 night in which he grounded out weakly three times and hit into a game-ending, double-play liner to third. He’s 0 for 11 in his last three games and 4 for 53 over his last 15.

— Mets second baseman Asdrubel Cabrera hobbled badly grounding out in the first and third inning, then was replaced by Jose Reyes in the top of the fourth due to a tight left hamstring.

LOOKING AHEAD

Monday: Off day.

Tuesday: Washington Nationals at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., WPIX. RHP Tanner Roark (3-6, 3.56) vs. LHP CC Sabathia (3-1, 3.59).

Wednesday: Washington Nationals at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., YES. TBA vs. RHP Sonny Gray (4-4, 4.81)

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.