One night after failing to recover from an early deficit, the New York Yankees again found themselves scrambling to complete a comeback on Saturday. This time around, they were successful, defeating the New York Mets by a final score of 4-3.
Center fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the third, a solo shot that gave the Mets an early lead. An inning later, left fielder Scott Hairston scored off a grounder by catcher Josh Thole. Starting pitcher Chris Young made it 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI single that scored Daniel Murphy.
The Yankees took the lead in the top of the seventh thanks to two home runs — the first was a three-run shot by left fielder Raul Ibanez, scoring first baseman Mark Teixeira and right fielder Nick Swisher. Later in the inning, pinch hitter Eric Chavez blasted his fifth homer of the season to give the Yankees a 4-3 advantage.
Ibanez hit his game-tying home run off Mets starter Chris Young, a ball that just cleared the fence in the right-field corner of Citi Field Reliever Jon Rauch (3-7) took the loss, allowing Chavez game-winning opposite field blast.
The Mets were unable to string together any runs after losing control of the lead. David Wright mustered a single in the bottom of the ninth inning but Yankees reliever Rafael Soriano closed the game with two strikeouts and got Daniel Murphy to fly out.
The win improves the Yankees record to 42-28 on the season, while the Mets fall to 39-33.
The third and final game of the interleague series will be played Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
For more on the 2012 Subway Series, stick with this storystream. For all things Mets, head over to Amazin' Avenue. If the Yankees are your team, check out Pinstripe Alley.