Tyrone Taylor and Carson Benge rally Mets to Subway Series win over stumbling Yankees

NEW YORK (AP) — Carson Benge crossed first base and the rookie raised both arms in triumph after driving in the winning run for the New York Mets in the 10th inning for the second time in five days.

Anthony Volpe tumbled to the infield grass after crashing into Yankees teammate Max Schuemann, who had gloved Benge's two-hop chopper behind the mound, a collision that allowed Marcus Semien to slide across home plate without a throw.

“Once it went over the pitcher's head I kind of knew,” Benge said.

Tyrone Taylor tied the score with a three-run homer off All-Star closer David Bednar with two outs in the ninth, Benge hit the game-ending bouncer an inning later and the Mets stunned the New York Yankees 7-6 on Sunday to take two of three from their crosstown rival in their Subway Series at Citi Field.

"He’s like 20 years old, hitting a bunch of walk-offs,” the 32-year-old Taylor said as he walked by the 23-year-old Benge to address the postgame media scrum.

The Mets had lost 91 consecutive games when trailing after eight innings since Pete Alonso’s three-run homer off Devin Williams led them to victory at Milwaukee in the deciding Game 3 of their 2024 NL Wild Card Series.

While the banged-up Mets (20-26) improved to 10-5 in May despite missing injured regulars Francisco Lindor, Francisco Alvarez, Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr., the Yankees (28-19) completed a 2-7 trip going into a seven-game homestand against AL champion Toronto and AL East-leading Tampa Bay.

“Guys are playing tough and making the plays they need to but just coming up a little bit short,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “We've got to have a short memory, move on and get ready ... because we've got a big division opponent coming in.”

Brought back from the minor leagues on Tuesday after fellow shortstop José Caballero broke a finger, Volpe hit a tiebreaking, two-run single and drew a bases-loaded walk for his first RBIs this season. That helped the Yankees build leads of 5-1 in the sixth and 6-3 in the seventh, closing in on what would have been their first series win at Citi Field since 2018.

Benge and Bo Bichette started the ninth with singles off Bednar. Juan Soto grounded into a forceout, Mark Vientos struck out and Taylor drove a first-pitch hanging curveball 404 feet, just inside the left-field foul pole.

“I didn't know it was going to stay fair,” Taylor said. “I kind of waited there to see if it would.”

Teammates mobbed Taylor when he returned to the dugout, smiling wide and still wearing his wraparound sunglasses as they put the team's celebratory orange construction helmet on his head and added the matching hi-visibility vest.

With the score 1-all in the fifth, Taylor pinch hit with two outs and runners at the corners and was robbed by center fielder Trent Grisham, who sprinted in for a tumbling catch. Taylor then lined out to Schuemann just in front of the left-field warning track in the seventh.

Because of those two drives, Benge thought Taylor was due for a big hit in the ninth.

“I kind of blacked out for him,” Benge said. “I had a feeling. I didn’t tell him but I had a feeling, and to be able to see that was so sick.”

Bednar blew a save for the second time in 12 chances and has a 4.95 ERA. He has allowed runs in six of his last nine appearances.

“Overall it’s unacceptable, especially in that spot,” Bednar said. “It’s just very frustrating.”

Williams (3-1), now with the Mets, got Austin Wells to ground into an inning-inning double play in the 10th.

Tim Hill (0-1) relieved Bednar starting the bottom half and A.J. Ewing moved Semien, the automatic runner, to third with the first sacrifice bunt of his professional career. The Yankees brought in Schuemann from left to form a five-man infield, and Luis Torrens — whose pinch-hit, two-run double had cut the deficit in the sixth — was hit by a pitch.

Benge's chopper bounded off the plate and bounced high before landing midway between the mound and second base. Schuemann, positioned to the right of second, snagged a short hop and was about to throw to catcher Austin Wells when Volpe barged into his right shoulder, knocking Schuemann off balance.

“A no-man's land there,” Volpe said. “We're both just trying to make a play on the ball.”

Semien was about halfway home when Schuemann scooped up the ball. By the time Schuemann regained his balance, there was no reason to throw.

“With Timmy on the mound, it's more than likely going to be a groundball in that situation,” Schuemann said. “It’s just one of those things that we’re both going to be aggressive to that baseball no matter what. We both want to make a play.”

The Mets won their second straight game in which they dropped a flyball, allowing a run to score. Bichette ranged from shortstop and allowed Grisham's sixth-inning popup in short left field to bounce off his glove, a day after Benge dropped Cody Bellinger's fly for his second misplay in right of the homestand.

“We get down. We get punched in the face. We get back up,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Today was a perfect example when, like I said, we didn’t play our best game and we still are able to shake hands at the end.”

AP freelance writer Jerry Beach contributed to this report.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

New York Mets' Tyrone Taylor reacts after hitting a three-run home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Mets' Carson Benge reacts after hitting into a walk-off fielders choice during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Mets' Carson Benge, right, is lifted off the ground by Juan Soto after Benge hit the game-winning fielders choice during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Mets' Carson Benge, center, celebrates with teammates after he hit into the game-winning fielders choice during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Mets' players dump a cooler on Tyrone Taylor, left, after a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Sunday, May 17, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

After nearly seven years away from the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but not record-breaking crowds to global theaters this weekend. According to studio estimates on Sunday, “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” made $82 million in ticket sales from 4,300 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. By the end of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, it’s expected to have earned $102 million domestically and $165 million globally.

It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which made $103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While “Solo” was considered a disaster, the metrics around “The Mandalorian and Grogu” are a little different.

The production budget for “Solo” was in the $300 million range, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was made for significantly less — a reported $165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore. Boys under the age of 13 are especially high on the movie: They gave it an A CinemaScore and a perfect five on PostTrak. Parents also gave it a five out of five.

The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.

“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” debuted in December 2019.

Star Wars as a brand is in a time of transition under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan; Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years. The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if next year’s “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.

Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie “Obsession” defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters. The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some $15 million, is projecting that it will have made $28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to $58.5 million. It snagged the second-place spot, while “Michael” landed in third place with $20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million.

“Obsession” also did better than the new horror movie “Passenger,” a Paramount Pictures release with Melissa Leo, which grossed an estimated $8.7 million from 2,534 locations. It’s expected to earn $10.5 million over its first four days. The movie received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).

The mix of movies this year didn’t hold a candle to last year’s record Memorial Day weekend, which was led by Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” The overall four-day frame this year will net out around $211 million, down about 36% from last year’s $330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous 2024 Memorial Day weekend box office, a 30-year low, when “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” opened.

Jon Favreau arrives at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

The character Grogu arrives at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)