NEW YORK (Interstat) — Cam Schlittler overpowered the New York Mets in his Subway Series debut, carrying a one-hit shutout into the seventh inning as the New York Yankees breezed to a 5-2 victory Friday night at Citi Field.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. laced a two-run double off former Yankees closer Clay Holmes in a three-run third, and Ben Rice added his 14th homer in the ninth. Cody Bellinger had an RBI double and rookie Spencer Jones provided an RBI single for the Yankees, who improved to 2-5 on their nine-game trip.

In the opener of a three-game series, Schlittler (6-1) struck out nine and walked two over 6 2/3 innings keeping his AL-best ERA at 1.35 in his second major league season. He threw 106 pitches, his most in a regular-season game, and 71 were strikes.

The Yankees took control early against Holmes, who entered with a 4-3 record but struggled to find the strike zone consistently. After a quiet first two innings, the Yankees’ offense erupted in the third. Trent Grisham flew out, but Rice singled sharply to right field. Aaron Judge followed with a line-drive single to right, putting runners at first and second. Bellinger then drove a double to the right-field corner, scoring Rice and advancing Judge to third. Chisholm capped the rally with a ground-ball double to right, plating both Judge and Bellinger to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Holmes struck out Ryan McMahon to escape further damage, but the damage was done.

The Yankees added a run in the fifth. Chisholm drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a groundout by McMahon, and scored on Jones’ line-drive single to right. Anthony Volpe walked, but Austin Wells struck out to end the inning, leaving the Yankees ahead 4-0.

Schlittler was in complete command through six innings. He allowed only a second-inning single to Brett Baty, then retired 13 of the next 14 Mets batters. The lone baserunner during that stretch came on a walk to Marcus Semien in the fifth, but Schlittler stranded him by striking out A.J. Ewing. The right-hander mixed a fastball that reached the upper 90s with a sharp breaking ball, generating 16 swings and misses overall.

The Mets finally broke through in the seventh. Juan Soto, who had struck out twice earlier, launched a 1-1 pitch from Schlittler over the center-field wall for his sixth homer of the season, cutting the lead to 4-1. Schlittler then induced a groundout from Mark Vientos, struck out MJ Melendez, and walked Brett Baty before yielding a single to Semien. Yankees manager Aaron Boone summoned reliever Fernando Cruz, who got Ewing to fly out to right field to end the threat.

Schlittler exited after 6 2/3 innings having allowed two hits, one earned run, and two walks while striking out nine. Cruz worked a scoreless eighth, striking out Bo Bichette to end the inning.

Rice provided insurance in the ninth, leading off with a solo homer to right-center off Mets reliever Craig Kimbrel, his 14th of the season. Judge grounded out, Bellinger grounded out, and Chisholm singled before being picked off first base by Kimbrel to end the top half.

David Bednar took the mound for the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth, and the Mets made things interesting. Soto led off with a walk, but Vientos grounded into a double play started by Chisholm. Melendez singled to right, and Baty followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Melendez to make it 5-2. Semien then lined out to third baseman McMahon to end the game.

The Yankees finished with 10 hits, led by Rice’s 3-for-5 performance and Chisholm’s 3-for-4 night with two RBIs. Bellinger and Jones each drove in a run. Judge reached base twice, once on catcher’s interference in the first and later on a single. For the Mets, Soto homered and walked in his four plate appearances, while Baty had two hits and an RBI.

Holmes took the loss, falling to 4-4. He lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and four earned runs with eight strikeouts and two walks. Tobias Myers pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Mets, striking out one, and Austin Warren added 1 2/3 hitless frames with two strikeouts.

The game drew 40,004 fans at Citi Field and lasted 3 hours, 4 minutes. The Yankees improved to 28-17, while the Mets dropped to 18-26.

The pivotal moment of the game came in the third inning, when the Yankees strung together four consecutive hits to score three runs and seize control. After Judge’s single and Bellinger’s double, Chisholm’s two-run double essentially decided the outcome, as Schlittler made the lead stand with his dominant pitching.

Schlittler’s performance continued a strong stretch; he had allowed just one earned run in 11 2/3 innings over his previous two starts, including a win over Baltimore on May 4 and a no-decision at Milwaukee on May 9 in which he gave up no earned runs.

The Yankees had lost their previous game 7-0 at Baltimore on May 13, and had gone 3-4 on their road trip before Friday. The Mets entered having won four of their last five, including a 9-4 victory over Detroit on May 14.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of New York Yankees 5, New York Mets 4. Interstat’s ELO system had projected the Yankees with a 58.70 percent probability to win. The Yankees had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5.