NEW YORK -- The 105th regular-season game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees, played Monday night at Citi Field, might have been the most unusual one yet.
The teams will look to return to normalcy Tuesday night when the Mets host the Yankees in the second game of a four-game, home-and-home Subway Series.
The Yankees won the series opener Monday, when Starlin Castro's sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning produced a 6-5 victory. The game featured two ties and three lead changes but was as memorable for what happened beforehand, when both teams made two trades.
The Yankees (53-52) are 5 1/2 games behind the American League's two wild-card leaders -- the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays -- but they continued to rebuild by trading outfielder Carlos Beltran to the Texas Rangers for three prospects and right-handed pitcher Ivan Nova to the Pittsburgh Pirates for two players to be named.
Both Beltran and Nova were at Citi Field when the trades were announced, so pulling off a wild win on a day in which the club bid goodbye to two teammates was doubly satisfying for the Yankees.
"It's been a little bit tough because we lost good people in the trades," Castro said, "but we don't have any control over this. We've just (got to) continue grinding out like we did today. We're going to miss those guys, but we'll try to go out there, have some fun and play hard."
The Mets (54-51), who are 2 1/2 games behind the Miami Marlins in the race for the National League's second wild card, acquired outfielder Jay Bruce from the Cincinnati Reds and left-handed pitcher Jonathon Niese from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
A win would have been extra gratifying for the Mets, who squandered a 5-3 lead in the eighth inning. They technically had a 25-man roster Monday but were without the services of injured shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (left patellar tendon) and outfielder Yoenis Cespedes (right quad strain). As a result, manager Terry Collins had to use pitcher Steven Matz to pinch-hit in the sixth inning.
"It's something you've got to do and get through it," Collins said. "We were in good shape. We got ourselves where we wanted to be."
Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom (6-5, 2.56 ERA) is scheduled to oppose Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (7-3, 3.16 ERA) on Tuesday.
DeGrom threw seven shutout innings in his most recent start last Thursday. However, he didn't get a decision after closer Jeurys Familia blew the save by allowing two runs in the top of the ninth inning of a 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
Tanaka took his first loss in more than six weeks last Wednesday, when he gave up four runs over five innings as the Yankees fell 4-1 to the Houston Astros. He was 4-0 with a 2.84 ERA in seven starts dating back to his previous loss, June 11.
Following the Tuesday game, the teams will play a two-game set at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday.
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