Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s steal of home surprises Mets in Yankees loss – The Denver Post

Brooks Raley made the mistake of pitching from the windup on Wednesday night. Isiah Kiner-Falefa took notice and took off.

The Yankees’ super utilityman had been on third base with Raley, a left-handed Mets reliever, on the mound in the seventh inning. The pitcher never paid attention to Kiner-Falefa, so he took a huge lead and broke for the plate. Raley and catcher Francisco Alvarez appeared to notice as Kiner-Falefa began sprinting, but it was too late.

Raley had already begun his windup. The southpaw sped things up, but he sailed a pitch over Billy McKinney’s head as Kiner-Falefa slid home.

A pumped-up Kiner Falefa then jogged to the Yankees dugout and celebrated after giving his team a 3-1 lead.

“I got halfway and [Raley] didn’t acknowledge me,” Kiner-Falefa recalled. “Third baseman [Eduardo Escobar] didn’t acknowledge me, and I kind of timed it up.

“They thought I was bluffing. So I just went.”

The Yankees’ lead didn’t hold, as the Mets won, 4-3, in 10 innings thanks to a walk-off double from Brandon Nimmo. Still, Kiner-Falefa’s manager and peers admired the daring dash home.

“Loved it,” Aaron Boone said. “Loved it. Just a gutsy play. Knew he was able to get off there quite a bit and then took advantage of it. It was a great play by him.”

Added Gerrit Cole, who allowed one earned run over six innings: “Outstanding. What a cool play to witness. My gosh. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.”

Kiner-Falefa, meanwhile, had never pulled off a steal of home until Wednesday’s game. He said that he tried in high school and in the minor leagues, but the stars never aligned.

“I couldn’t believe I did that in the big leagues, especially in this game,” he said, referring to the Subway Series.

Kiner-Falefa became the first Yankee to steal home since Didi Gregorius successfully accomplished the feat on a double-steal on August 27, 2016. Kiner-Falefa also became the first Yankee to steal home in the Subway Series, per statistician Katie Sharp. Ex-Met Roger Cedeno was the last player with a Subway Series steal of the plate, as he raced home on June 29, 2002.

Kiner-Falefa is coming off two straight 20-steal seasons and now has eight swipes this year. He’s been caught three times.

The veteran, who’s done a little bit of everything for the Yankees this season in a new utility role, reached base after grounding into a force out that led to a Jeff McNeil throwing error. He then stole second and advanced to third on another throwing error, this time from Alvarez.

Once 90 feet from the plate, Kiner-Falefa was surprised to see that Escobar wasn’t doing anything to keep the runner honest. “IKF” would’ve certainly done things differently had he been manning the hot corner.

“When I play third base, if someone does that, I give them a little jab step or something to at least force them back or maybe respect it,” Kiner-Falefa explained. “And especially with the new rules with the two step-offs from the pitcher, I was kind of trying to force [Raley] just to do one or maybe a balk in that situation. And he didn’t acknowledge me either. So instincts took over. I just saw the window.”

While Kiner-Falefa took pride in his steal of home — one of the most exciting plays in baseball — he didn’t want to get too caught up after a loss.

Rather, he turned his attention to the Yankees’ next series against another rival, the Red Sox.

“Wish the result today would have been different, but it was kind of a cool moment for myself,” Kiner-Falefa admitted. “But at the end of the day, it’s a tough loss, and we just got to go to Boston and pick it up and start playing better baseball.”

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