Yankees Start Slow, Then Defeat Mets

In the final game before the All-Star break, Alfonso Soriano tripled home one run and scored another in a three-run seventh inning as the New York Yankees rallied to beat the New York Mets, 4-1, Sunday night at Yankee Stadium.

Shane Spencer opened the seventh against reliever Turk Wendell (3-3) with a shot to third that bounced off Desi Relaford’s chest for an error. The Yankees put on the hit-and-run on the first pitch, and Paul O’Neill singled to right to send Spencer to third.

Scott Brosius hit a sacrifice fly to give the Yankees the lead, and Soriano followed with a triple to left-center that scored O’Neill. Chuck Knoblauch’s sacrifice fly drove in Soriano to make it 4-1.

For the second game in a row, the Yankees were hitless for the first five innings, this time against replacement starter Glendon Rusch.

The Mets scored first when Todd Zeile hit his sixth homer of the season with one out in the sixth against starter Randy Keisler.

Singles by Jay Payton and Vance Wilson sandwiched around a walk to Relaford loaded the bases, but reliever Ramiro Mendoza (6-2) got Rey Ordonez to tap in front of the plate and catcher Jorge Posada turned it into an inning-ending double play.

With two out in the sixth, Derek Jeter tied it with his eighth homer.

“I knew what was going on,” Rusch said of the mini no-hitter. “It was the sixth inning. You go about business the same way. He’s a great hitter, especially when the ball is up.”

When Williams and Martinez followed with singles, Wendell relieved Rusch, who took the assignment when scheduled starter Rick Reed woke up with neck spasms. Wendell got Posada to fly out to end the inning.

“We were hoping for 75 pitches,” Valentine said about Rusch. “He took 69 into the sixth. To have a guy not even scheduled to pitch have a no-hitter with two out in the sixth, he can really be proud of that.”

Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth to tie Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki for the major league lead with his 29th save.