Four-run sixth makes Colon a winner

When the announcement was made that Ruben Tejada was replacing Jose Reyes at shortstop for the top of the third inning Saturday at Citi Field, a sense of gloom washed over the crowd.

The Mets' half of the crowd, that is.

Yankees fans among the Citi Field-record 42,042 probably didn't mind that Reyes -- whom Alex Rodriguez just called "the world's greatest player" -- was going to miss the rest of this Subway Series game with a tight left hamstring.

With Reyes out and Bartolo Colon throwing six shutout innings, the Yankees beat the Mets for the second straight day, 5-2. The Yankees (50-31) have won seven in a row. The Mets (41-42) have lost three straight after a four-game winning streak.

Curtis Granderson hit a solo home run to break a scoreless tie in the Yankees' four-run sixth inning. Eduardo Nuñez -- Derek Jeter's fill-in -- went 3-for-4 with a home run and two doubles and is 7-for-8 in the series.

Reyes will have an MRI Sunday after feeling tightness while running out a first-inning infield hit. He will miss Sunday's game and possibly an unspecified number after that. "I really don't have anything to say until we get the MRI results," manager Terry Collins said. "Is it two days? Could be two. It could be five. I really don't know."

Reyes did not seem to be in any major discomfort before coming out of the game. After his hit, he started a steal attempt before turning around and making it back to first base as Nuñez dropped the throw to second. And he played the top of the second in the field; he was the middle man on a 4-6-3 double play.

Reyes didn't inform the team of the injury until the middle of the second inning. Once he did, Collins said, "I just went to him and said, 'You're out.' "

Reyes is batting .354 in his free-agent season. He has a history of leg injuries and had surgery in 2009 on his other hamstring. This does not seem nearly as serious. "It's not too much pain,'' he said. "I feel it a little bit. It's nothing. I've been through this before, so I know when it's worse. I don't want to get it worse there. So that's why I came out of the game."

Reyes was in good spirits after the game. Collins was not. Reyes' exit sucked the life out of the Mets and their fans. "You sensed it not only in the dugout, you sensed it in the stands," Collins said. "The air came out of the bubble."

Colon (6-3, 2.88 ERA) had something to do with that in his return from his own hamstring injury. The 38-year-old righthander, out since June 11, allowed five hits and no walks. He struck out six and left after 80 pitches with a 4-0 lead. "That's vintage Bart," Joe Girardi said. "What we've seen all year."

Dillon Gee (8-2, 3.47) was charged with four runs in seven innings. All of the Yankees' offense against him came in a five-batter span. After Gee grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the fifth, Granderson hit his 22nd home run into the Mets' bullpen in right-center with one out in the sixth. Mark Teixeira and Rodriguez singled and scored on Robinson Cano's triple into the rightfield corner. Nick Swisher's sacrifice fly made it 4-0. Nuñez homered off Tim Byrdak in the ninth.

Jeter (calf strain) played in his first of two rehab games for Trenton Saturday night and is expected to reclaim his job Monday in Cleveland. The Yankees are 14-3 since he went on the DL.

With their fourth win in five games against the Mets, the Yankees clinched the season series for the seventh time in 15 seasons of Subway Series play.

The Mets have won the season series twice and the teams have split the other six times.