By MIKE FITZPATRICK
AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) – Bartolo Colon’s early injury put the New York Mets in a major bind, but they won a battle of bullpens against the best relief corps in baseball and defeated the Kansas City Royals 2-1 on Tuesday night in a World Series rematch.

Yoenis Cespedes hit his 18th home run and Asdrubal Cabrera also connected for New York, which had lost three straight and six of eight.

Held to one hit and no other baserunners Sunday as lowly Atlanta capped a sweep at Citi Field, the Mets again had trouble generating offense. This time, however, a gritty Hansel Robles (1-3) and four other relievers bailed them out by combining for 8 2/3 stellar innings in the opener of a two-game set.

Robles relieved after Colon bruised his thumb after being hit by a line drive on his fourth pitch.

Ian Kennedy (5-6) allowed two runs over four innings.