Mets Beat Yankees and Rivera With Two Runs in Ninth Terry Collins, the Mets" manager, admitted on Tuesday afternoon that he once allowed himself to worry about Matt Harvey, his young ace, before big occasions. He feared the fiery pitcher's emotions would boil over amid lofty circumstances. But Collins said he knew better now, after watching Harvey thrive one start after another. Rather, on Tuesday night, it was Collins who let his emotions erupt. He was ejected for arguing a call at second base between the sixth and seventh innings, and for that, he missed out on celebrating his team's most exciting win of the season. Trailing the Yankees by one run entering the bottom of the ninth, the Mets cobbled two runs off Mariano Rivera, who had converted all of his previous 18 save chances this year, to surge to a rousing 2-1 win at rainy Citi Field. "I got pretty excited," said a smiling Collins, who watched the winning hit from inside team's video room. Maybe not as excited as I got at second, but I got pretty excited. Harvey, as Collins and Mets fans have come to expect, was masterly, as he has been all year. But the struggling Mets" margin for error has been slim all year, too, and their leeway became minuscule Tuesday against Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankees" own ace. Yet, somehow, they wriggled from their constrictions to get their third straight win. Rivera, who has said he will retire after this season, was honored at the ballpark before the game, but his night ended sourly. He gave up an inning-opening double to Daniel Murphy and then a single up the middle to David Wright, which sent Murphy home to tie the score. Wright advanced to second when Brett Gardner's throw to the plate skipped past catcher Chris Stewart. Finally, on a 1-1 count, Lucas Duda pulled a cutter from Rivera into right field, sending Wright to home plate and his teammates streaming from the dugout. "I took a swing and shattered my bat to 50 pieces, and luckily it went over the second baseman's head," Duda said. The emotional swing was drastic for the Yankees. Rivera threw just nine pitches and did not record an out before taking the loss. "You can't have guys covering the whole field, unfortunately," Stewart said, "and they hit three balls where we weren't." The series has two more games remaining - Wednesday and Thursday night at Yankee Stadium - but this was the marquee matchup. Harvey has shot bursts of light into the Mets" current dark existence. Kuroda has been a steadying hand amid the Yankees" unexpected turbulence. And still, for a second consecutive night, there were large patches of empty seats around Citi Field. The official attendance was announced at 31,877. It was a smaller crowd than Monday's game and set a new low for a Subway Series game. Rain delayed the proceedings, and a hovering mist glistened around the lights as the first pitch finally approached. Harvey, 24, has never been consumed by a big occasion; he has become the big occasion. Fans on the main concourse handed out placards depicting his face before the game. The catchphrase "Matt Harvey Day" seeped this week into the Mets" clubhouse banter. The game began 1 hour 31 minutes late, and Harvey set about sedating the Yankees, the club he followed as a child. He was his ruthless self, firing fastballs at 98 miles per hour and spinning sliders that reached 92. He threw an 87-m.p.h. changeup on a full count to Lyle Overbay to strike him out in the fourth. "He pitched very, very well, but I've seen him pitch better," Collins said of Harvey. Harvey's one glaring mistake came against Overbay, who pounced on the next changeup he saw to help the Yankees break through during the sixth. He smacked a single up the middle to score Gardner, who reached on a single and advanced on right fielder Marlon Byrd's bobble to start the inning. After closing the half-inning, Harvey slammed his glove inside the Mets" dugout. "It was a bad pitch," Harvey said of the changeup, which he left high and prone. I could tell when I let it go he was looking for it. It was a frustrating night for Harvey, particularly as Kuroda, 14 years Harvey's senior, proved a superb opponent. Kuroda lasted seven innings, allowing only four hits to go with seven strikeouts. Harvey went eight innings, giving up six hits while striking out 10. Kuroda got some critical aid from his defense. One night after making a leaping catch to take away a home run from Murphy, Gardner made a spectacular lunging grab while crashing into the wall in left-center field to rob Murphy a potential game-tying extra-base hit in the sixth. The inning ended when Tejada, who reached on an error and got to second on a passed ball, was picked off. This precipitated Collins" combative exchange. Adrian Johnson, the second-base umpire, initially motioned Tejada safe, but quickly changed his call. Replays appeared to show Johnson was correct, but that did not matter to Collins, who came storming out to the field, his hands waving above his head. Seconds later, Collins was ejected. On his way back to the clubhouse, he kicked an uprooted base that was being replaced by a member of the grounds crew. "I'm not saying he missed the call," Collins said. But I don't know if I've seen a call changed without help. But, Collins added, "It's pretty hard to argue for a guy that shouldn't have gotten picked off." Still, by the end of the night, it was the Yankees who were left shaking their heads. "There are days like this," Kuroda said after the game. He added, concerning Rivera, "He's obviously been big for this ball club, and he'll continue to help us throughout the season." The Yankees activated Joba Chamberlain (oblique strain) and designated the recently acquired left-handed pitcher David Huff for assignment. ... Andy Pettitte (strained trapezius muscle) threw a 75-pitch simulated game Monday and came out of it feeling fine, Manager Joe Girardi said.