The New York Mets were three outs from sweeping a three game series from the Yankees at 'The House That Ruth Built.' With a 4-3 lead and closer Braden Looper on the mound, victory seemed to be just within their grasp. Looper and the Mets never got any of the three outs, however, as the Yankees rallied for two runs in the ninth to earn a 5-4 win. Jason Giambi's bases loaded single drove in the trying and winning runs for the Yankees.
The ninth inning was a classic rally. Tino Martinez drew a walk off Looper to start things off. Alex Rodriguez followed with a double down the left field line to earn his fourth hit of the game and put runners on second and third. The Mets then elected to intentionally walk Hideki Matsui to load the bases and pitch to Giambi who singled to end the game.
'Thank God, we needed this win big-time,' Giambi said after the game.
Yankees closer Mariano Rivera earned the win to improve to 4-2 while Looper took the loss for the Mets to fall to 2-3 on the season. He had converted 14 consecutive save opportunities before Sunday night's game.
The Mets had broken open a 1-1 tie with three unearned runs off of Yankees starter Randy Johnson in the seventh inning. With two outs, Chris Woodward hit a double to deep centerfield that Tony Womack misplayed. Ramon Castro walked and Woodward advanced to third base on a wild pitch on ball four. Marlon Anderson then hit a ground ball to second base that Robinson Cano booted to allow the go-ahead run to score. A slow grounder by Jose Reyes scored the remaining two runs when Giambi's toss to first got away from Tom Gordon.
The Mets bullpen yielded two runs in the bottom of the seventh before losing the game in the ninth. It wasted a strong outing by Mets starter Kris Benson who pitched six strong innings, allowing just three hits and one earned run.
The win for the Yankees means that the two New York teams split their six games this season with each team winning two-out-of-three on the road.
