Jon Niese started and despite not having his best stuff, he cruised through five scoreless innings. But then in the top of the sixth, centerfielder Brett Gardner tagged him for a leadoff triple and came around to score when Jayson Nix singled him home in the next at-bat for the first run of the game.
After Niese’s second single of the game, Brett Garner made a great leaping catch to rob Daniel Murphy of a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth. A shocked Murphy smashed his helmet in disgust as he was trotting to second base.
The Yankees got back to back, one-out singles off of Niese in the seventh, but the Met lefty was able to get out of the inning without any damage. The final line on Niese was one earned run on eight hits and a walk in 7.0 innings pitched with five strikeouts.
In the bottom of the seventh, third baseman David Wright led off the inning and walloped a tremendous solo home run to tie the game at one.
Brandon Lyon pitched a scoreless eighth after allowing a single to Nix and then inducing a doubleplay by Robinson Cano to end the inning.
With one out in the eighth, Mike Baxter laced a ground rule double to bring up pinch hitter Jordany Valdespin who had a great at-bat and worked out a walk. A passed ball with Ruben Tejada at the plate put runners on second and third. Tejada then hit a grounder to Cano who fired home to nail Baxter at the plate for the second out. That set things up for the hot-hitting Murphy who came through with a hard single to drive home Valdespin with the go-ahead run. Wright was up next and he took a pitch to the elbow to load the bases and bring up Lucas Duda who went down swinging for the final out. But not before the Mets took the 2-1 lead.
Bobby Parnell came in to preserve the lead in the ninth and after getting the first out he issued a four-pitch walk to Ichiro Suzuki. But he retired the next two batters to earn his ninth save of the season.
So the Mets take round one with a solid win… The series continues tomorrow at Citi Field at 7:10 PM with the Real Deal Matt Harvey on the mound. Lets Go Mets!
