The Kansas City Royals are getting a healthy dose of National League baseball on their first trip to Citi Field.

While some of them are familiar with that style of play, they are a bit out of practice with it.

Royals manager Ned Yost found the perfect time to use pinch-hitter Jason Maxwell, and he responded with the tiebreaking homer in the 12th inning to lift Kansas City to a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.

Kansas City squandered a two-run lead in the eighth inning, but got back to a winning way just one day after its nine-game winning streak was broken.

”I got ready like three different times,” the newly acquired Maxwell said of his fifth major league pinch-homer and first of any kind since joining the Royals last week from Houston. ”I think it helps that I have experience in this situation. My first home run was a pinch-hit grand slam, and I hit three pinch-hit home runs last year.”

Maxwell homered deep into the left-field seats leading off the 12th for the Royals, who improved to 8-2 in extra innings after losing in the 11th on Friday.

Maxwell hit a 3-2 pitch from David Aardsma, who had fallen behind 3-0. The New York bullpen had been perfect after starter Jeremy Hefner left after six innings, but Aardsma couldn’t retire the first batter he faced.

”You can’t get behind like that because then you have to give him something to hit,” Aardsma said.

The Mets lost hours after putting All-Star third baseman David Wright on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. Wright hurt himself running out an infield hit Friday night and is expected to miss 3 to 5 weeks.

”It’s disappointing,” he said. ”I kind of came to the realization that I wasn’t going to be able to play today and probably not the next day. I will hopefully get this thing healthy as quickly as I can and get back on the field.”

Kelvin Herrera (4-5) earned the win with three innings of relief in which he walked one and struck out three without giving up a hit.

”I was able to throw breaking balls for strikes, and my changeup was really good,” he said. ”I pitched 3 1-3 (innings) in the minors earlier this year, but this was my longest outing here. You have to be ready to pitch whenever you’re asked.”

Greg Holland got the final three outs in the 12th for his 29th save in 31 chances and 22nd straight.

Aardsma (2-1), filling in while closer Bobby Parnell is sidelined with a sore neck, blew the save in the ninth inning Friday night before the Mets came back to win on Eric Young Jr.’s homer.

”Role has nothing to do with that,” Aardsma said. ”It’s my pitches. It’s attacking first pitch. Up here I’m not thinking of anything about any role, I’m just trying to execute my pitches, and I didn’t do that.”

The Mets, 9-3 in interleague play, provided the comeback Saturday by scoring two runs in the eighth on Josh Satin’s two-run single against Aaron Crow.

Bruce Chen put the Royals in position to win, pitching six strong innings. He gave up four hits, struck out eight and didn’t walk anyone in his fourth start of the season – all since July 12 – to lower his ERA to 2.03. He is 1-0 with three no-decisions as a starter and has gone exactly six innings in each outing.

Chen even singled and scored a run in the Royals’ three-run third.

”That three-run inning ended up being really huge for us, and I was glad to be a part of it,” Chen said. ”It felt really weird running the bases, I haven’t done that in a long time.”

Chen’s only blemish was Daniel Murphy’s home run leading off the second inning.

George Kottaras got that run back to start the Royals’ three-run third by homering off Jeremy Hefner, who was originally scheduled to pitch Sunday. Because of bullpen injuries, the Mets are going back to a five-man rotation until Jonathon Niese returns from a shoulder injury.

Hefner also worked six innings, allowing three runs, eight hits – including the 20th homer of the season. He walked no one and struck out six.

Hefner is 0-3 with two no-decisions in his past five starts. He gave up a total of 21 runs in his previous three outings.

After Murphy gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the second with his ninth homer, the Royals came right back to grab the lead.

Kottaras’ fifth homer just eluded leaping Marlon Byrd in right field. Chen, Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer followed with singles to load the bases, bringing up usual designated hitter Billy Butler, who made a rare start at first base.

Hefner struck out Butler, but Alex Gordon gave the Royals their first lead of the series with a sacrifice fly to deep right. Miguel Tejada added an RBI single, the second of his three hits.

— Associated Press —

Eric Young Jr. homered with two outs in the 11th inning and the New York Mets overcame a blown lead to beat Kansas City 4-2 on Friday night, snapping the Royals’ winning streak at nine.

Young slammed a 3-1 pitch from Luis Mendoza (2-6) over the right-field fence for his first career game-ending hit and just his second home run of the season. It scored Omar Quintanilla, who had walked.

The Mets led 2-0 on a first-inning homer by David Wright, but New York’s beat-up bullpen couldn’t protect it as Kansas City scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to tie it.

The Royals, whose surge matched the team’s fifth-longest winning streak, were trying for their first 10-game run since they won 14 straight in 1994.

Carlos Torres (2-2), New York’s scheduled starter for Saturday, worked two innings for the win in the 4 hour, 7 minute marathon.

— Associated Press —

James Shields watched Lorenzo Cain race back to the wall in left-center field, leap in the air and snatch Trevor Plouffe’s drive away just before it landed in the bullpen.

The Kansas City right-hander thrust his arms in the air, Royals relievers erupted in jubilation and Cain bounded back toward the dugout with no worries about a groin injury that had kept him on the bench earlier this week.

It’s been a long, long time since the Royals were winning like this, and they’re enjoying every minute of it.

The Royals won their ninth straight game, stretching their longest winning streak in more than a decade by beating Minnesota 7-2 Thursday behind Billy Butler’s hitting and Cain’s highlight reel catch in center field.

The Royals last won nine straight when they opened the 2003 season at 9-0. The last time Kansas City won more in a row was a 10-game string in 1994, STATS said. After completing the three-game sweep of the Twins, they have opened a road trip 6-0 for the first time since 1980, when they went to the World Series.

”We’ve got great energy, youthful energy on our club,” Royals manager Ned Yost said, sitting in his office just a few feet away from a raucous clubhouse celebration. ”Our guys, they love winning. They get into it.”

Butler had two hits and drove in two runs. Justin Maxwell had a hit and an RBI a day after being acquired in a trade with Houston.

Shields (6-7) gave up two runs on five hits and five walks in six innings for the Royals, who swept the three-game series and are showing potential to be a factor late in the season.

Scott Diamond (5-10) gave up seven runs and nine hits in five innings. Justin Morneau homered and doubled, but the Twins couldn’t take advantage of a sluggish start from Shields.

Shields needed 116 pitches to get through six innings. But against a Twins offense that doesn’t hit for power, doesn’t hit with runners in scoring position and doesn’t steal bases, he was never really in trouble.

Plouffe misplayed a potential double-play ball at third base to load the bases in the second inning, and Mike Moustakas and Maxwell drove runs in to get the Royals on the board. Eric Hosmer added a sacrifice fly in the third inning for a 3-0 lead.

Morneau, who hit .175 with four homers and five RBIs in all of July, went deep to straightaway center field to make it 3-2 in the third.

Shields was laboring in the fifth and the Royals were clinging to a 5-2 lead when Plouffe sent a sky-high fly ball toward the bullpen in left-center field. After a long run, Cain leaped at the wall and snatched the ball just before it was about to go over the fence, taking away what would have been a two-run homer.

”He’s been doing that all season long,” Shields said. ”You’ve got to tip your cap to Lorenzo. He was off the last couple days. To come back and do that is phenomenal.”

Cain exchanged a high-five with Miguel Tejada and shouted ”Let’s go!” as he ran back to the dugout, and Butler followed with a two-run single in the top of the sixth for some breathing room.

”I was pumped up,” Cain said. ”I robbed a home run. That was exciting. It got the team excited and in that same inning we got the bats going. It was a big momentum boost.”

It’s been that kind of fun for the Royals of late, but they sure could use some cooperation from the Tigers and Indians in the AL Central.

Despite running off the longest active winning streak in the majors, they have made up little ground in the division. The Tigers had won nine of their last 10 heading into the day and Cleveland was 8-2 in that span to keep Kansas City at a comfortable distance.

”We’re playing some really good baseball and we believe in ourselves right now,” Shields said. ”Going into this last two months, this is kind of the baseball we need to play.”

— Associated Press —