Quintana excellent, outdueled by Harvey in opener

NEW YORK — After a rough start to the season, Matt Harvey bounced back in a big way, tossing seven innings of two-hit ball to outduel Jose Quintana and help guide the Mets to a 1-0 series-opening victory on Monday at Citi Field.

“There’s a lot of emotion,” Harvey said. “It’s been awhile. … The idea is to do everything you can to help the team, and I felt like I wasn’t doing that very well. Today, to be able to go out in a one-run ballgame like that and be able to put up zeros, was very exciting.”

While Harvey had it going, so did Quintana, who allowed six hits over seven innings while striking seven. Quintana, however, made a key mistake: serving up a leadoff home run to Mets second baseman Neil Walker in the seventh on a 90-mph four-seam fastball.

“I felt really good today, tough game,” Quintana said. “That happens when you have a mistake around the zone, and that’s all.”

After giving up six runs in two innings over the weekend against the Dodgers, Jeurys Familia put that series behind him by setting the White Sox down in order in the ninth to pick up his 17th save of the season.

“I thought, to be honest, it’s that ‘get back on the horse’ thing,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “We felt we had to go to [Familia] today. There was no hesitation on my part. I don’t know how anybody else felt. When we got there, I just said, ‘This has got to be his time.'”

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDThird time’s the charm: Harvey entered Monday’s outing having allowed a .509 average when facing a batter for the third time. In the seventh, it seemed like that trend would continue after the 27-year-old walked Adam Eaton to lead off the inning and followed that up by surrendering a single to Jose Abreu. Melky Cabrera advanced the runners on a sacrifice bunt, but Harvey …

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