Yankees take tense fourth game

Derek Jeter: Hit a homer after the first pitch

Latest score: Mets 2-3 Yankees
(Yankees lead series 3-1)

The New York Yankees took a two-match lead in the Subway series after a close 3-2 victory at Shea Stadium against the Mets.

Much of the Yankees success was thanks to Derek Jeter, who homered with the very first pitch of the game, followed by a triple to leave his side on the brink of winning the 96th World Series.

Jeter became only the 16th player in World Series history to achieve the feat after Ricky Henderson did the same for Oakland against San Francisco in the fourth and final game of the Bay Bridges Series in 1989.

Silenced

Jeter was playing his first match as leadoff hitter and responded by hammering Mets' pitcher Bobby Jones into the silenced crowd.

A triple from Paul O'Neill was contested by the Mets fielders after they alleged he failed to touch second base on this way to third, but the umpires sided with the Yankees man and soon after, Scott Brosius' sacrifice fly put the Yankees up 2-0.

In the Yankees second inning, Jeter secured a triple, converted to a RBI after Luis Sojo's ground out, to put the Yankees into a commanding position at 3-0.

However, the Mets responded in the best possible way at he bottom of the third with Mike Piazza's two-run homer off Denny Neagle to leave his side trailing by one.

The match entered a stalemate with neither side gaining the upper hand, but when Yankee relief pitcher Mariano Rivera entered in the eighth, he pitched two shutouts for his 17th consecutive converted playoff opportunity.

Mets' reliever Glendon Rusch also had success when he struck out pinch-hitter Jose Canesco with two runners on base to end any threat of a score in the sixth.

Benny Agbayani, the Met's hero from the third game, was eventually struck out in the ninth to leave the Yankees one game away from the World Series.