It wasn’t the varsity punishing the junior varsity from the night before but the second Subway Series game had a familiar result: The Yankees beat the Mets.
With Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson supplying Yankees muscle, Phil Hughes providing a quality start and manager Joe Girardi’s masterful employment of four relievers, the Yankees copped a 4-2 victory over the Mets in front of a sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd of 48,575.
“Starting pitching is the key to baseball and Phil kept a long line of good starts going,’’ said Teixeira, whose two-out, two-run homer off Dillon Gee in the sixth erased a 2-1 Mets lead.
Say what you want about the Mets’ anemic lineup, and it has been brutal the past two games (10-for-63; .159 overall and 1-for-8; .125) in the clutch. But Hughes pitches when the schedule dictates and he won for the fifth time in the last six decisions and is 6-5.
“I didn’t think he was as sharp as he was in Detroit,’’ Girardi said of Hughes’ complete-game effort a week ago today. “But he battled his rear end off.’’
In the last eight games, Yankees starters are 6-1 with a 1.84 ERA.
Against the Mets, the Yankees continued to roll. They have won six of the last seven Subway Series games and 16 of 23.
In what has become Hughes fashion, the Mets’ two runs were delivered by homers. Ninth-place hitter Omar Quintanilla homered to right in the third and David Wright crushed a bases-empty homer deep into the Mets’ bullpen in the sixth.
“I am a fly ball pitcher and it’s going to happen,’’ said Hughes, who has given up at least one home run in each of his 12 starts and 15 this season. “Thankfully they were solo homers and I stayed away from the big inning.’’
The Yankees’ 12th victory in 16 games hiked their record to 33-25 and kept them a half-game behind the AL East-leading Rays. The Mets’ fifth loss in six games dropped them 31⁄2 games back of the first-place Nationals in the NL East. They fell to 32-28.
With Ike Davis hitting .162 for the year and having five homers, the Mets are missing a big bat to go with Wright. Davis went 1-for-2 with two walks.
“We have to have somebody step up and get hits,’’ manager Terry Collins said. “We are pretty much riding David. Singles don’t get it done in this park.’’
Asked about acquiring a power bat, Collins said, “Ike Davis has as much power as anybody in the ballpark tonight. We have to get him going.’’
When Josh Thole singled with one out in the seventh, Girardi called for the left-handed Boone Logan to face the lefty-swinging Quintanilla and retired him on a fly to deep center.
Enter Cory Wade, who eventually faced Scott Hairston and he blooped a single to right that put runners at the corners with the Yankees leading, 3-2. But Wade ended the threat by getting Andres Torres on a stress-free fly to left.
Wade got the first out of the eighth and lefty Clay Rapada the final two.
“We have guys doing things they haven’t done in their careers,’’ Girardi said of pitchers such as Wade and Rapada working late in games.
When Rafael Soriano took the mound for the ninth he had a 4-2 cushion thanks to Granderson’s 18th homer leading off the eighth against Bobby Parnell. The homer stopped a 0-for-18 slide for Granderson.
Soriano added a bit of anxiety to the deal but left runners on the corners when pinch-hitter Jordany Valdespin ended the deal on a fly to left and posted his ninth save in as many attempts.
Today, the Yankees send Andy Pettitte to the mound looking for the sweep. The Mets counter with Jonathon Niese. Based on the first two games, Niese shouldn’t expect any more support than Mets hitters have provided in the first two games.
george.king@nypost.com