Subway Series: Mets draw first blood vs. Yanks
Lucas Duda, Daniel Murphy and Juan Uribe each homered and closer Jeurys Familia shook off the Yankees’ best shot in the ninth inning to guide the New York Mets to a 5-1 victory Friday night in the opener of the Subway Series.
Rookie Steven Matz (4-0) outpitched Masahiro Tanaka (12-7) and Familia escaped his own basesloaded jam by fanning Chase Headley for the final out at Citi Field.
This was the latest regular-season matchup between the teams, and the NL East-leading Mets held their eight-game lead over Washington with 15 to play.
The Yankees fell 4 1⁄ games behind
2 AL East-leading Blue Jays, who beat Boston 6-1.
Matz (4-0) overcame a wild start to pitch six gutsy innings, working around seven hits.
Alex Rodriguez, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann didn’t start for the Yankees — who outhit the Mets 9-8 — but all of them got into the game.
A-Rod walked as a pinch hitter with one out in the ninth to put runners on first and second. Ellsbury then grounded a shot off Familia’s leg that caromed into foul territory for a single that loaded the bases.
Familia showed he was OK with a warm-up pitch, then he retired Brett Gardner on a flyball and struck out Headley.
Tanaka gave up two runs and five hits in six innings, and left after throwing only 82 pitches. Duda and Murphy hit solo home runs off the Japanese star.
The second-largest crowd in Citi Field history of 43,602 was abuzz from the start in the most meaningful games between the teams since the Yankees beat the Mets in the 2000 World Series. RAINED OUT: Friday night’s game between the Los Angeles Angels and Minnesota Twins was postponed because of rain. The teams will make it up in a split doubleheader on Saturday.