Jason Bay gets 4 hits, New York Mets beat Yankees 5-3 to even Subway Series

Bay gets 4 hits, leads Mets past Yankees 5-3

NEW YORK — Jason Bay tied a career high with four hits and David Wright added a pair of RBI singles, backing a sterling performance by Mike Pelfrey and helping the New York Mets beat the New York Yankees 5-3 on Saturday night.

Pelfrey (6-1) allowed one run and six hits in six innings for the Mets, who scored all their runs with two outs. Angel Pagan had three hits and pinch-hitter Alex Cora contributed a key RBI single in the sixth at Citi Field.

The slumping Yankees left 13 runners on base in their fourth loss in five games, making it difficult to overcome another subpar performance by Phil Hughes (5-1).

Kevin Russo’s bases-loaded walk against Fernando Nieve trimmed the Mets’ lead to 5-2 in the eighth and brought manager Jerry Manuel out of the dugout. Francisco Rodriguez came in and allowed Derek Jeter’s run-scoring grounder before retiring Brett Gardner on a bouncer to third to end the inning.

K-Rod then pitched the ninth for his seventh save in nine opportunities, striking out Francisco Cervelli with runners at the corners to end the game.

The Yankees also wasted a chance in the seventh when Jenrry Mejia struck out Mark Teixeira and got Alex Rodriguez to ground out after they put runners on second and third with one out.

Hughes allowed four runs and eight hits over 5 2-3 innings in his first loss as a starter since May 9, 2009, at Baltimore. The right-hander was coming off his worst start of the season, a no-decision against Boston last Monday when he gave up five runs in five innings.

Bay scored three times in his 10th career four-hit game and first since June 23 for Boston at Washington.

The first Subway Series of the season concludes with a marquee pitching matchup Sunday night. Two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana is scheduled to face Yankees ace CC Sabathia in the rubber game of the three-game set.

Sabathia is 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA in four career starts against Santana, according to STATS LLC. Santana also was roughed up in his last start against the Yankees, allowing nine runs over three-plus innings in a 15-0 loss last June.

“It’s going to be fun and at the same time, it’s going to be challenging,” Santana said.

The Mets needed just one inning to better their total from Friday night’s 2-1 loss. Wright and Pagan had consecutive RBI singles in the first to stake Pelfrey to a 2-0 lead.

The Mets lost a shot for more when Wright was thrown out trying to reach third on Pagan’s hit, ending the inning.

Wright added another run-scoring single in the third, and Pagan doubled in Bay in the seventh.

Wright began the day mired in 4-for-33 slump over his last nine games, and was among the major league leaders with 57 strikeouts. New York also was batting .221 with runners in scoring position and two outs entering the game.

NOTES: Yankees manager Joe Girardi said it’s too early to tell if RHP Javier Vazquez will be able to make his next start. Vazquez bruised his right index finger while bunting Friday night. … Mets CF Carlos Beltran (right knee surgery) is running and swinging a bat in his rehab program in Florida, but Manuel said he hasn’t progressed to “full-out baseball activities” yet. … Yankees OF Curtis Granderson (left groin strain) was scheduled to begin a rehab stint with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night. … Mets 1B Daniel Murphy (sprained right knee) went 1 for 3 and drove in a run in his second rehab game for Class-A St. Lucie.

(This version SUBS 3rd graf to correct to 13 runners left on base instead of 14)