JAY HEY KID
Bruc ’s 3-run blast boosts M ts
Newcomer Jay Bruce gets his first hit in a Met uniform — a three-run homer — in the fifth inning of the Amazin’s 4-1 victory over the Yankees on Thursday night at the Stadium. Bruce’s shot, which came off Nathan Eovaldi, helped the Mets salvage a split of the four-game Subway Series.
Sleep well Jason Bay, eh, Jay Bruce. After two hitless games, self-loathing Mets fans were dropping Bay’s name when moaning about Bruce.
Acquired from the Reds on Monday, Bruce went hitless Tuesday and Wednesday during his first taste of Subway Series action, which is a bit more intense than the Reds-Indians.
And when Bruce went without a hit in the first two at-bats Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, memories of Bay started to percolate.
You remember, Bay? Quiet guy. Nice guy. Free-agent bust in Queens.
Well, Bruce stopped that silly chatter before it grew legs by belting a three-run home run off Yankees right-hander Nathan Eovaldi in the four-run Mets’ fifth inning to carry the visitors to a 4-1 victory in front of 48,153.
“I told some guys that it felt like my first major league home run running around the bases,’’ Bruce said.
Bruce’s initial homer as a Met was his 26th of the season and hiked his RBI total to 83.
With Yoenis Cespedes on the disabled list, Bruce was asked if it was his responsibility to fill the void.
“I have to be myself. The worst thing I can do is try to be something else,’’ Bruce said.
Bruce and the Mets were helped by 43-year-old ex-Yankee Bartolo Colon, who allowed one run and six hits in 6 innings to improve to 10-6. Kelly Johnson, another former Yankee, homered and delivered the game’s first run in the fifth.
“I thought tonight maybe he had his best stuff all year,’’ Terry Collins said of Colon. “I saw a lot of 91 [mph] up there and he located. He is not only in our rotation; he is a big, big piece of our rotation. When he goes out you expect a good game. We know exactly what we are going to get. He is going to keep us in the game. He has become a major piece of our rotation with all the things that have happened.’’
Jeurys Familia recorded the final three outs for his 38th save, but it wasn’t without drama. Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez singled with one out before Rob Refsnyder’s grounder to Johnson at third started a 5-3 game-ending double play.
With each team winning two of the four games, it’s the eighth time since the inception of the Subway Series in 1997 that the clubs split.
The victory moved the 56-52 Mets to within eight games of the NL East-leading Nationals and one length of the Cardinals and Marlins in the race for the second NL wildcard spot.
Eovaldi didn’t help the 54-54 Yankees’ fading chances of making it to October. In seven innings he allowed four runs and seven hits (two homers). He is 9-8 and has lost two straight. Eovaldi has given up 23 homers. K.C.’s Ian Kennedy led the AL with 26 entering Thursday night’s action.
The Yankees are 7 games back of the Orioles and Blue Jays, who are tied atop the AL East, and five lengths out of the second AL wildcard spot.
“He made a mistake with the cutter. It backed up and that is going to happen,’’ Joe Girardi said of the pitch Bruce hit for a home run after Eovaldi botched a play at second that cost him an out and eventually a run. “Really, he got in trouble with the extra out.’’
By the time Aaron Hicks singled home Gary Sanchez in the seventh Bruce and Colon had taken care of the Yankees.
“He doesn’t throw as hard as he was, it was 92-93 and it’s 91 now,’’ Girardi said of Colon’s stay with the Yankees in 2011. “He is still the same guy. He is impressive what he is doing at 43.’’
As was Bruce at 29.