What had the vibe of a Mayor’s Trophy game after 4 ½ innings on Sunday unexpectedly turned into another Subway Series thriller. 

The Mets charged. The Yankees, extremely desperate for a win, didn’t relent. And in the end, it might have been Cody Bellinger’s glove that ensured manager Aaron Boone’s crew would return to The Bronx with a shred of dignity. 

“To stop the bleeding a little bit, get a ‘W’ into the off-day is always better for the soul,” Boone said after the Yankees snapped their six-game losing streak with a 6-4 victory at Citi Field. 

The Mets, after falling into a five-run hole in the middle innings — they were forced into a bullpen game for the second time in the series with the rotation depleted — were right there with a shot in the seventh, trailing by two runs, when Juan Soto hit a sinking line drive to left field with Francisco Lindor on first base and nobody out. 

Bellinger snatched the ball with a shoestring catch and turned it into a double play that changed the game’s momentum. 

“Pretty incredible play there,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after his team’s four-game winning streak concluded. “The jump off the bat was pretty impressive.” 

From Boone’s perspective, the play held deeper significance. 

“Considering the context of this week and everything, that’s probably our play of the year so far,” Boone said. 

Lindor, caught between the bases, blamed himself for initially looking toward second base umpire Mike Estabrook for the call instead of Laz Diaz at third. It was Diaz’s call as the umpire closest to the play. 

“There were a couple of mistakes … that one definitely hurt us,” Lindor said. 

Mendoza didn’t reach the finish line — he was ejected in the bottom of the ninth while vehemently protesting plate umpire John Bacon’s called third strike on Luis Torrens. It was Mendoza’s second ejection in the past eight games. 

The Yankees received a strong bullpen effort, highlighted by Devin Williams’ perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts. Had anyone reached against Williams, Soto would have come to the plate representing the tying run. Lefty Tim Hill provided 1 ¹/₃ scoreless innings. 

Max Fried was removed after plunking Brandon Nimmo to begin the sixth. The left-hander allowed three earned runs on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts in his shortest outing since May 30. 

Chris Devenski gave the Mets a superb two-inning start in which he retired six of the seven batters he faced, largely keeping the Yankees off-balance with off-speed pitches. The right-hander was removed with the game scoreless. 

Austin Wells blasted Zach Pop’s second pitch of the afternoon for a homer leading off the third. The blast was No. 13 for Wells this season. Pop allowed a two-out single to Trent Grisham in the inning but escaped. 

Pop returned for the fourth and surrendered a leadoff double to Giancarlo Stanton. After Bellinger’s ensuing single put runners on the corners, Antony Volpe’s RBI fielder’s choice gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Pop surrendered a third hit in the inning, a single to DJ LeMahieu, before he was replaced by Brandon Waddell. The lefty got Wells to hit into a fielder’s choice, with the Yankees’ third run of the game scoring. 

Aaron Judge’s two-run homer in the fifth sank the Mets into a 5-0 hole. Paul Goldschmidt doubled leading off the frame before Judge served a first-pitch changeup from Waddell over the fence in left-center for his second homer of the series and 33rd this season. 

Lindor’s two-run single in the fourth sliced the Yankees lead to 5-2. Jeff McNeil, Hayden Senger and Starling Marte all singled in succession before Lindor delivered, giving him 49 RBIs for the season. But Fried struck out Soto and retired Pete Alonso to keep the Yankees lead from further evaporating. 

The Mets loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth before McNeil’s infield squib against Jonathan Loáisiga sliced the Yankees lead to 5-3. Senger’s double play grounder brought in another run. Judge’s diving catch on Marte’s bloop to right kept the tying run from scoring. 

Judge extended the Yankees lead to 6-4 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly after Goldschmidt and Grisham singled in succession against Huascar Brazobán. 

“It was a hell of a series,” Mendoza said. “Even on a day like today, the guys fought back, we got down and they kept fighting.”