Mets left fielder Lucas Duda watches his game-winning RBI single in the Mets’ 2-1 victory over the Yankees. (AP)
Mariano Rivera threw the first pitch at Citi Field Tuesday night and the last, but who could have anticipated a Mets celebration near second base as a backdrop in the ninth inning?
Lucas Duda’s broken-bat RBI single left Rivera and the Yankees stunned. Somehow, the Mets pulled another rabbit from their hat, this time with a 2-1 victory over the Yankees before 31,877 — an all-time low for a Subway Series game — at Citi Field.
David Wright’s RBI single in the ninth tied the game against Rivera before Duda won it with a single moments later. Daniel Murphy, robbed earlier in the game by Brett Gardner, led off with a bloop double against Rivera, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch as part of a pregame tribute to the Hall of Fame closer.
The Mets (20-29) won their third straight. The Yankees lost their third straight for the first time this season. The Subway Series will resume tonight in The Bronx, with Jeremy Hefner facing David Phelps.
Matt Harvey’s indoctrination into the Subway Series was a smashing success. The stud right-hander received a no-decision after allowing one run on six hits over eight innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Hiroki Kuroda fired seven shutout innings in which he allowed four hits and struck out seven with no walks. The right-hander showed no effects of the bruised right calf he sustained last week after getting hit with a batted ball in Baltimore.
Gardner’s defensive heroics prevented the Mets from tying the game in the sixth. Murphy hit a shot to the gap in left center that Gardner caught crashing into the fence, forcing Ruben Tejada to retreat to first base. A night earlier, Gardner went above the fence in left-center to rob Murphy of a two-run homer.
After Gardner’s catch last night, the Mets still had a chance to tie the game in the sixth, but Tejada was picked off second base by Kuroda to end the inning. Second-base ump Adrian Johnson originally ruled Tejada safe, but changed his call, bringing a protest by manager Terry Collins, who was ejected for the second time in eight days.
Collins got exactly what he expected from the 24-year-old Harvey, who seemed unfazed facing the team he rooted for growing up in southeast Connecticut.
“His makeup makes him a lot older than a second year player,” Collins said before the game. “He’s extremely prepared, wants out there, wants on this stage, wants in this game tonight and he doesn’t shy away from anything, so he’s a little different from the normal second year guy.”
Lyle Overbay’s RBI single in the sixth put the Mets in a 1-0 hole, after Marlon Byrd mishandled Gardner’s leadoff single, putting the Yankees’ leadoff hitter on second. Harvey was officially charged with an earned run because of a Robinson Cano grounder to first — in official scorer Howie Karpin’s estimation Gardner would have advanced to second on the play had Byrd not committed the error, and scored on Overbay’s single.
Ike Davis, shifted to No. 8 in the batting order, finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. The struggling first baseman has struck out five times in the first two Subway Series games.
Tejada’s throwing error in the fifth allowed Ichiro Suzuki to reach first leading off the inning before Harvey retired the next three batters to keep the game scoreless.
Harvey had to work through the third, after allowing a leadoff single to Reid Brignac. Chris Stewart and Kuroda then whiffed in succession before Gardner singled. Harvey then struck out Cano on a 90-mph slider to end the inning.
The Mets’ best shot against Kuroda early came in the first, when Murphy and David Wright singled consecutively with one out before Duda and Byrd were retired.
Duda hit a shot off Kuroda’s glove in the fourth for a single, but advanced no further.
mpuma@nypost.com