Pinch-hitter Justin Maxwell homered deep into the left-field seats leading off the 12th inning, and the Kansas City Royals overcame a late blown lead and got back to their winning ways with a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.
Kansas City, which had a nine-game winning streak snapped Friday night with a loss in the 11th, improved to 8-2 in extra innings.
Maxwell, acquired Wednesday in a trade with Houston, hit a 3-2 pitch from David Aardsma for his fifth career pinch-homer and first overall with the Royals. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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'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.
