For the first time in Mariano Rivera's career he blew a save without recording an out. And it came against the Yankees' intracity rivals.
Lucas Duda plated David Wright with the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Mets rallied for a 2-1 win over the Yankees.
The Mets entered the ninth down 1-0 after a brilliant start by Hiroki Kuroda. But Daniel Murphy led off the inning with a double against Rivera. The Mets’ second baseman scored on Wright’s RBI single. Wright hustled to second on the throw home as Murphy scored. Duda finished off the rally with a solid single over Robinson Cano to right.
“They [have] to learn from this,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “That’s what it takes sometimes — a stinkin’ single to win a game. You don’t have to hit a ball in the seats all the time.”
The question going into the game was whether the Subway Series stage would be too big for Matt Harvey. The right-hander answered the question with a resounding no.
Harvey was dominant in striking out 10 in eight innings. He yielded just six hits and one run but took a no decision.
“He threw a good game,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He has command of four pitches.”
Lyle Overbay’s RBI single in the sixth which plated Brett Gardner was Harvey’s lone mistake. After watching the play unfold, the right-hander kicked the dirt on the pitchers’ mound.
“I don’t want to give up runs,” Harvey said. “It was a pitch I wanted [to take] back.”
Before the bottom of the ninth, it appeared as if Harvey was in line for his first loss of the season. Even with the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 hitters in the lineup coming to bat, the Mets trailed 1-0 and Rivera was taking the mound for what will most likely be his last Subway Series game at Citi Field.
Nine pitches later, Duda was being mobbed by his teammates while the Yankees (30-21) trudged off the field with their third loss in as many games.
“You can’t figure it out. There [are] no words to explain it right now,” Collins said. “I just hope it gets the lineup going. I just hope it gets everyone going a little bit where they realize, hey, look you don’t have to hit home runs to make a difference.”
For the second night in a row, Brett Gardner robbed Murphy of an extra-base hit in the sixth inning. In the series opener, Gardner’s leaping catch at the wall took away a home run from the Mets second baseman. Last night, the Yankees centerfielder leapt at the wall to take away what would have been an RBI double.
Mets manager Terry Collins was in the locker room for the action in the ninth, as he was ejected three innings earlier. After Ruben Tejada was picked off at second to end the inning, he immediately began protesting the call to second base umpire Adrian Johnson. Initially, Johnson called Tejada safe, before changing the call without consulting another umpire. Collins interceded and was ejected from the game for his troubles. Collins, who was animated throughout the argument, kicked over the first base bag as he stormed off the field.
“I was not very happy with what happened. I’ve never seen [a call] changed like that,” Collins said. The manager later added Tejada “can’t get picked off.”
The Mets improved to 20-29 on the season and have won three in a row, including consecutive games against their intracity rivals. The Mets only managed seven hits off of starter Hiroki Kuroda (6-3) and relievers David Robertson and Rivera (0-1). It was the first blown save in 19 chances for Rivera this season.
“Our guy threw a good game, too,” Girardi said of Kuroda.
Ike Davis, who was dropped to eighth in the order, went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. He received a mock cheer for making contact when he grounded out to Overbay to lead off the eighth.
The start of the game was delayed 91 minutes due to rain. Before the game started, the Mets honored by Rivera by having the future Hall of Famer throw out a ceremonial first pitch to former Mets closer John Franco.
Follow Mets beat writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman.
