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Mets defend home turf against Yankees

David Murphy single put Mets ahead in eighth

DANIEL MURPHY emphatically flipped his bat to the ground while he ran to first on his RBI single to centerfield. Take that Brett Gardner.

Murphy had the go-ahead hit in the eighth after being denied a homer by Gardner two innings earlier, and the New York Mets rallied to beat the rival Yankees, 2-1, last night for their second straight home win after losing eight in a row.

"I was fairly angry after he took that from us," Murphy said.

David Wright hit his first home run at Citi Field this year leading off the seventh. Murphy came through against David Robertson (3-1) to hand the Yankees their first loss in 23 games when leading after six innings.

Murphy's drive to left-center in the sixth was caught above the wall by Gardner to end the inning. The Yankees also threw out a runner at home plate in the eighth just before Murphy singled to centerfield.

Brandon Lyon (2-2) pitched a scoreless eighth in relief of an impressive Jonathon Niese.

Bobby Parnell pitched the ninth for his eighth save. His first save against the Yankees was a coming of age of sorts in manager Terry Collins opinion.

"If you're going to pitch in this city and you're going to be a closer in this city you've got to pitch in big, big-time situations," Collins said. "This isn't a playoff game, but this is the Subway Series and this means a lot to a lot of people."

With the Mets entering at 11 games under .500 and the Yankees playing without several of their injured All-Stars, the Subway Series seemed to have lost much of its luster. There were plenty of empty seats throughout Citi Field and the 32,911 fans were awfully quiet for a game between these clubs.

That could change come tonight, when the Mets send young ace Matt Harvey to the mound against the Yankees' most consistent starter, Hiroki Kuroda, in the second of four straight games between the teams.

"We Harv going tomorrow, it provides us some momentum," Wright said. "If we're going to climb our way back into the thing and start heading towards .500 we're going to have to win these close games . . . hopefully we can ride this momentum into tomorrow with Matt's start."

In more interleague: * 

At Washington, Jason Hammel (7-2) struck out eight and allowed just two runs in his longest start of the season and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Nationals, 6-2. The Nationals played without Bryce Harper, who has swelling in his left knee.

* At Detroit, Justin Verlander (6-4) struck out 13 in seven innings and Jhonny Peralta had four hits to lead the Tigers over the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5.

* At Cincinnati, Joey Votto hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, lifting the Reds over the Cleveland Indians, 4-2.

* At Houston, Brandon Barnes hit a last at-bat, two-out RBI ground-rule double in the 12th inning to lift the Astros to a 3-2 win over the Colorado Rockies.

* At Chicago, Jeff Samardzija threw a complete game, two-hit shutout and Julio Borbon hit a two-run home run and the Cubs beat the White Sox, 7-0. Samardzija (3-6) pitched the Cubs' first complete-game shutout since Randy Wells shut out the Giants on Aug. 29, 2011.

* At Toronto, Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, Colby Rasmus and J.P. Arencibia each had a two-run shot and the Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves, 9-3. Encarnacion went 2-for-5 with five RBI as the Blue Jays improved to 3-0 in interleague play.

* At Los Angeles, Jerry Hairston Jr.'s RBI single scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, Adrian Gonzalez went 4-for-4 and scored four runs, and the Dodgers rallied to beat the Angels, 8-7, in the Freeway Series opener. The Angels' eight-game win streak ended after they blew a five-run lead in the first of two games at Dodger Stadium before the series shifts to Anaheim for two more.

* At Milwaukee, Joe Mauer wound up with a home run instead of a double after umpires went to video replay, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Brewers, 6-3. The Twins led 4-3 when Mauer led off the seventh inning against Tom Gorzelanny with a long fly to leftfield. Mauer stopped at second base, and the umpires went to review the drive. The ball hit the padding atop the fence and then appeared to strike a back wall, making it a home run.

* At Kansas City, Yadier Molina homered and drove in four runs to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the slumping Royals, 6-3. Molina hit a two-run homer in the first, doubled home a run in the third and his sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Pete Kozma.

* At St. Petersburg, Kelly Johnson hit a pair of three-run homers and the Tampa Bay Rays handed the Miami Marlins their sixth straight loss, 10-6.

* At Seattle, Aaron Harang (2-5) threw a four-hitter, Jason Bay hit his first career leadoff homer and Michael Morse added a three-run shot as part of a four-run first inning as the Mariners beat the San Diego Padres, 9-0.

* At Oakland, Josh Donaldson hit a two-run homer to back a strong start from Dan Straily (3-2), and the Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants 4-1 in the Bay Bridge Series opener.

* At Phoenix, Tyler Skaggs, just called up from the minors, struck out nine in six scoreless innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks held on to beat the Texas Rangers 5-3 in the opener of a doubleheader. Skaggs (1-0) was recalled from Triple A Reno after scheduled starter Ian Kennedy cut his right index finger washing dishes.

Noteworthy * 

Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal will be reinstated today from a 50-game suspension for a positive testosterone test that called into question just how good his rookie numbers were. Beyond saying he made a "mistake," Grandal has never told team officials why he took PEDs. Grandal was part of San Diego's second-half resurgence in 2012, hitting .297 with eight home runs and 36 RBI in 60 games.