They played their wild card in Game 2 — with a much steadier hand to close it out — and salvaged a doubleheader split with the Mets on an otherwise brutal day for the home team at Yankee Stadium.

A funky Nestor Cortes Jr. delivered a solid spot start and Chad Green did what his bullpen mates couldn’t earlier in the day, protecting a lead with three scoreless innings, to close out a 4-2 win Sunday night.

Cortes gave up one run over 3 ¹/₃ innings — the same length Gerrit Cole provided the Yankees in Game 1 — to cool off the Mets, who had erupted with a six-run seventh inning off Aroldis Chapman and Lucas Luetge for a 10-5 win in the opener.

Green — who threw two pitches in Game 1 but did not stay in to close the game because Boone wanted to keep him as a leverage/length option for Game 2 — came on to begin the fifth inning protecting the 3-2 lead.

Wandy Peralta warmed up in the Yankees bullpen for the seventh inning, but Green handled it himself by striking out the side to finish a clutch 35-pitch performance.

For only the second time in their last nine games, the Yankees scored first in the nightcap. Gio Urshela gave them the lift with a three-run home run to the short porch off Mets starter Corey Oswalt for the 3-0 lead in the second inning.

Dominic Smith knocked Cortes out of the game in the fourth inning with a one-out double to right field. Aaron Boone brought on Darren O’Day to face Pete Alonso, who crushed his second home run of the twin bill to get the Mets within 3-2.

O’Day then walked a pair of batters but escaped the jam with a fielder’s choice and a big strikeout of Jonathan Villar to strand the tying run 90 feet away.

The Yankees tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning off the Mets bullpen. Aaron Loup walked a pair of batters, one of which came in to score on a Miguel Castro wild pitch with two outs to make it 4-2.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Greg Joyce