Game Recap: Ike Davis Homer the Difference in 6-4 win

The Mets and Yankees met for the second installment of the Subway Series, the last time these teams will meet two separate times in one season. It featured a re-match for the Bronx finale a week and a half ago, between Jonathon Niese and Andy Pettitte. Once again, the Met offense jumped on Pettitte early, but the Yankees continued to hang around, putting the tying runs on base in the top of the ninth.

Mets Offensive Highlights:

The bulk of the scoring for the Mets came in the first inning, as they were able to hang a five spot on the Bronx Bombers. Andres Torres led the inning off with a walk, followed by a Ronny Cedeno single in his fist at-bat back off the DL. After a couple outs and a walk to Scott Hairston, the bases were loaded for Justin Turner. After a long turn at-bat, Turner came through with a liner to center, plating the first two runs of the game. Next up was Ike Davis, who capped the big inning by hitting a three-run homer to right field just out of Nick Swisher‘s reach. There was no more scoring for the Mets until the seventh; Omar Quintanilla entered the game as a pinch hitter and singled to center in front of David Wright, who hit a 3-2 off speed pitch to left center, scoring the sixth run of the game for the Amazins. Turner and Wright were the players who both enjoyed multi-hit games last night, while Davis drove in the most runs (3).

Yankees Offensive Highlights:

Immediately being down five runs after the first inning, the Yankees had a lot of work to do, and Jonathon Niese did a good job of keeping their bats quiet for most of his outing. He made a couple of mistakes in the sixth and the seventh innings, giving up solo home runs to both Alex Rodriguez and Andruw Jones, but was fortunate that there was nobody on base. Miguel Batista couldn’t keep the Bomber bats silent in the eighth, as Robinson Cano hit a two-run homer that just about reached Shea Bridge in right center field. There was a threat in the top of the ninth with a walk to Raul Ibanez and single by Derek Jeter, but they ended up being stranded. Mark Teixeira and A-Rod both registered two-hit games last night.

Pitching Highlights:

Although he shut out the Mets after the first inning, Andy Pettitte couldn’t get past that five-run frame, as he lost his third game of the year. He ended up going 6 innings last night, giving up those 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 6 hitters. Cory Wade followed Pettitte and gave up the crucial insurance run to David Wright, but Clary Rapada and Cody Eppley were able to minimize the damage.

Jonathon Niese pitched 6.1 strong innings for his fifth win of 2012, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 5. He gave up those two home runs, but they were both of the solo variety, unlike his last start against the Reds. Miguel Batista gave up the two-run homer to Cano in the eighth and Frank Francisco made fans go for their inhaler in the ninth, but he put the Yankees away for his 18th save of the season.

Worth Nothing:

There was a 53 minute rain delay to the start of the game and the storms flooded some of the Citi Field parking lots, but that didn’t deter a crowd of 40,191 of coming to the stadium to watch game one of the Queens edition of the Subway Series. Robinson Cano’s home run last night was his 15th on the season, and 12th in his last 31 games. The Yankees lead the league with 108 home runs, and over 50% of their runs scored come by the long ball, which is how they scored all of their runs last night.

The difference in the game was clutch hitting; the Mets scored 5 runs with two outs last night, while going 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The victory is the fourth straight for the Amazins, improving their record to 39-32. Thanks to a win by the Orioles, the Mets only trail the Nationals by 2.5 games in the NL East.

Probable Pitchers Saturday:

The Mets will try and secure the series victory tonight as they send Chris Young (1-1, 3.06 ERA) to the mound to face off against winning machine, Ivan Nova (9-2, 4.32 ERA). First pitch at Citi Field is scheduled for 7:15pm.