The Yankees have faced their share of criticism over the years for a defense that frequently has been lacking.

One  need only  look at the fifth-inning collapse against the Dodgers in Game 5 of last October’s World Series as a recent high-profile example, though far from the only one.

Though there still have been some defensive letdowns this season, collectively the Yankees have been better on that side of the ball. Saturday featured several standout efforts, with two of the best occurring in the seventh inning to preserve a 2-2 tie with the Mets in a game the Yankees ultimately lost, 3-2.

After Luis Torrens led off the inning with a single against Clarke Schmidt. Aaron Boone brought in righty Mark Leiter Jr., who got Brett Baty to hit into a 4-6 force.

Standout play No. 1 followed.

Tyrone Taylor blasted one toward the gap in left-center, where Jasson Dominguez couldn’t quite catch up with it at the wall. It glanced away from Dominguez, but centerfielder Cody Bellinger, also pursuing the play, quickly scooped up the ball and fired it to  Anthony Volpe. The shortstop got rid of the ball almost as soon as he caught it and threw a seed to catcher J.C. Escarra, with the throw taking him just away from the third-base line. Escarra cleanly fielded it and applied the tag on a sliding Baty just before his right foot, which actually elevated above the plate on his slide, connected with home.

“J.D. had a really good jump on the ball and the ball carried well, so I was kind of there on the backup on the ricochet,” Bellinger said. “It took a good bounce off the wall to where I just pick it up and throw it to Volpe, and Volpe did what he does and makes a perfect throw to home. That’s exciting. Just a well-executed baseball play.”

Taylor took second on the play, making the second stellar defensive play that much more important. Francisco Lindor banged a grounder back up the middle that, had it gone through, would have driven in Taylor and given the Mets a 3-2 lead. But DJ LeMahieu ranged well to his right, made a sliding stop on his knees and threw accurately to first to retire Lindor, keeping it a 2-2 game.

Fresher in LeMahieu’s mind, however, was another stop in which he hit the ground, this one in the ninth inning on a grounder by Baty that took him to his left. After making the diving stop, LeMahieu wasn’t able to get a handle on the ball to make a throw. Instead of the Yankees recording the second out,  Baty had an infield single, and two batters later, Lindor's sacrifice fly produced the go-ahead run.

“I thought I was going to make it but just couldn’t come up with it when I was going to throw,” LeMahieu said.

While the Yankees' defense stood out Saturday, so did LeMahieu’s overall performance. He has been injury-plagued since 2021 and, with second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. out with an oblique strain and significant questions at third base, the ability of the three-time Gold Glove winner at second to play the way he has for most of his career could be critical.

“That’s who he is. He’s an elite defender,” Aaron Boone said.

And, potentially, a needed threat from the right side as a two-time batting champion. In his second start of the season, he went 2-for-4 with a solo home run to rightfield and nearly delivered with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, but rightfielder Juan Soto made a nice running catch of his 106.6-mph line drive. 

LeMahieu, among the most respected players in the clubhouse because of the quiet, businesslike way he shows up every day, displayed a bit of emotion after his third-inning homer, punctuating it with a fist pump.

“Just felt good to play at Yankee Stadium again in front of these fans and, obviously, in a big series,” he said. “Just excited to be out there.”