Bronx, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Mets turned the tables on the rival Yankees to even the Subway Series, swatting three home runs to back Matt Harvey's near complete-game effort in an 8-2 victory Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
Kevin Plawecki, Lucas Duda and Eric Campbell all took CC Sabathia deep in support of Harvey's (4-0) latest successful start since returning from Tommy John surgery. The ace right-hander yielded just five hits and two walks while striking out seven over 8 2/3 innings to win for the fourth time in as many outings this season.
The formula was virtually the same the Yankees used to record a 6-1 win in Friday's opener, when they tagged Jacob deGrom for three homers and received 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball from Michael Pineda to end the Mets' 11-game win streak.
Plawecki finished 2-for-4 and Juan Lagares went 4-for-4 with an RBI triple and three runs scored for the Mets, whose 14-4 start matches the 1986 World Series champion team for the best in club history.
Sabathia (0-4) wound up being rocked for seven runs on nine hits over five- plus innings to extend a winless stretch dating back to April 29 of last season.
"I just want to try and help the team win. I haven't been able to do that my three or four times out," Sabathia said. "This one stings a little more because I didn't give us a chance at all."
Mark Teixeira had three hits, including his eighth homer of the season and third of the series, for the Yankees.
Sabathia's biggest struggles came during a rough fourth inning in which the Mets strung together four straight two-out hits that produced four runs and snapped a 1-1 tie.
Lagares began the stretch by drilling a triple to deep center that plated Daniel Murphy. After Wilmer Flores followed with an RBI single, Plawecki hammered a Sabathia fastball into the seats in left for his first career major league homer that extended the lead to 5-1.
Sabathia endured more trouble in the sixth, which Campbell began with a line- drive homer to right and Lagares singled to end the Yankee starter's afternoon. A pair of wild pitches by reliever Esmil Rogers brought Lagares home and increased the margin to 7-1.
That was more than Harvey would need in an outing where he was overpowering at times and efficient all throughout. He was touched for a run in the third, when Stephen Drew doubled and scored on Jacoby Ellsbury's double-play grounder that followed a bunt single by Didi Gregorius, then set down 10 straight Yankees after issuing a walk to Brett Gardner later that inning.
"He's a horse," Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez said of Harvey. "He's got four plus-pitches, he throws them all for strikes, has a great demeanor out on the mound. The Mets are in good shape. He's a cornerstone of that franchise."
Teixeira ended the streak by belting his fifth homer in six games to start the bottom of the seventh, but Harvey retired the next nine batters prior to Teixeira's ninth-inning single and a walk to Brian McCann on his 107th pitch.
"I said before the game I was going to let him go 105 (pitches)," said Mets manager Terry Collins. "After he walked McCann, as much as I wanted to leave him in, as much as he wanted to stay in ... I just couldn't do it."
Duda had opened the scoring by homering on Sabathia's 10th pitch of the day in the first inning. The Mets tacked on their final run on consecutive singles by Lagares, Flores and Plawecki against Rogers in the eighth.
Game Notes
Harvey joined teammate Bartolo Colon with wins in each of his first four starts, with the duo becoming the first pair on the same team to do so since 2008. Arizona's Brandon Webb and Micah Owings and Cleveland's Cliff Lee and Scott Lewis all accomplished the feat that season ... Harvey is now 8-0 with a 2.15 ERA in 10 career April starts ... Teixeira has eight RBI in his last four games and 13 over his seven most recent starts ... Flores went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to eight games ... The Mets have won seven of the last 10 meetings between the crosstown rivals.
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