Recap: Yankees 6, Mets 1

Mark Teixeira carried on with his impressive week at the plate, clubbing a pair of upper-deck home runs off Mets starter Jacob deGrom to lift the Yankees past their crosstown rivals, 6-1, on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. 

Sending Tex Messages: Teixeira drilled his first homer of the contest with a runner on in the bottom of the first, crushing a fastball from deGrom over the right-field wall to put the Yankees up 2-0 early. Teixeira then went deep to right again in the third, just keeping another two-run drive fair to stretch the advantage to 5-0. 

Pineda's Gem: Coming off a mediocre outing in St. Petersburg Sunday, it was anyone's guess how Michael Pineda would perform against an improved Mets lineup -- seeing as the Mets had won 11 consecutive prior to Friday. Pineda held the visitors to just one run and five hits in 7 2/3 innings, however, destroying any doubt about his effectiveness with seven strikeouts and no walks.

Ellsbury's First Long Ball: Leading off the Yanks' half of the third after a trio of scoreless innings from Pineda, Jacoby Ellsbury gave the Yankees some more breathing room with a home run of his own -- a liner into the first section in right Curtis Granderson could only watch. It was Ellsbury's first four-bagger of the year, though his 20 hits still top all Yankees hitters. 

He Does it on Defense, Too: You would think his two blasts off an ace like deGrom would be enough to please Teixeira on the evening, but evidently, the Yankees first baseman wanted to excite defensively as well. With the Yankees up 6-0 in the top of the fith, Teixeira made a nice diving stop to rob Daniel Murphy of a double -- knocking the ball down with his glove before flipping to Pineda for the assist. 

Welcome Back, Grandy Man: Granderson, who hit .245 for the Yankees from 2010-2013, went 2-for-4 in his second return to the Bronx -- scoring the Mets' only run in the sixth on a Lucas Duda sac fly. He ended Pineda's start with a two-out double in the eighth, but was also a strikeout victim in the first.

Next Up: The Yankees and Mets continue this weekend series Saturday when the lone matinee of the set is played -- beginning at 4:05 p.m. ET and airing live on Fox Sports 1. CC Sabathia (0-3, 4.35 ERA) will get the start for the Yankees hoping to build off a strong eight innings Monday, opposing young Mets phenom Matt Harvey (3-0, 3.50 ERA).