NEW YORK -- When Aroldis Chapman was fined for throwing over Mike Brosseau's head on Tuesday night, the Yankees' closer used a lack of fastball command as an alibi, pointing to the delayed start to his season. His appeal of a three-game suspension is still yet to be heard, but we may have seen new evidence to bolster that case.

Three outs from securing a victory against the Mets, Chapman issued a walk and surrendered a game-tying home run to J.D. Davis as the Yankees blew their second lead of the game. Pete Alonso ended it with a 10th-inning blast off rookie Albert Abreu, sending the Yanks to a 9-7 loss on Thursday at Citi Field.

• Box score

"We're going through a tough, tough moment," Chapman said through an interpreter. "I understand it's a short season and there's not a lot of time, but as far as our team, I think we should be able to be fine."

The Yankees held advantages of 4-0 and 7-4, seeing the latter evaporate as the duo of Chapman and Zack Britton faltered. Britton surrendered a two-run Amed Rosario single in the eighth and Chapman issued a leadoff walk that placed the tying run aboard in the ninth.

Pinch-runner Billy Hamilton advanced on a balk, the second time in six days that he has taken a base on Chapman, but the speedster pressed his luck and Kyle Higashioka caught him trying to steal third. That seemed to tip the scales in the Yanks' favor, but Chapman grooved an 0-2 pitch that Davis sent over the center-field wall.

In the 10th, Tyler Wade matched Hamilton's gaffe by running into a double play. Alonso launched Abreu's second pitch over the left-field wall. Since beginning the season with 16 wins in their first 22 games, the Yankees have lost 10 of their last 14.

"It's a tough one to lose, because we did a lot of good things today," manager Aaron Boone said. "We've got to build on the good things we did. We were set up there to close it out. It just didn't happen today, and we've got to turn the page real quick."

The Yankees have played three extra-inning games this year, all against the Mets, and Chapman has played a pivotal role in two losses. On Friday at Yankee Stadium, Chapman surrendered a game-winning homer to Rosario, four days before he buzzed Brosseau with a 101 mph fastball that prompted discipline.

"The good thing is, physically, I feel really good," Chapman said. "Now it's a matter of working on my fastball command. It's no secret that my fastball is my No. 1 pitch. Little by little, every day that goes by, it keeps getting better and better."

Staked to a lead
The Bombers were in the driver's seat early, pouncing on Robert Gsellman for four runs and four hits as they sent 10 men to the plate in the second inning. Two hits and a walk loaded the bases before Wade cashed the first run with an RBI single. DJ LeMahieu lifted a sacrifice fly and Luke Voit mashed a two-run double.

That provided a cushion for J.A. Happ, who fired 7 1/3 scoreless innings in his last start against the Mets. Todd Frazier snapped the string in the second inning, belting his first homer since rejoining the Mets, and Happ coughed up the lead in a three-run fourth.

"I think the box [score] looks different than last time, but overall, I feel pretty similar," Happ said. "In that fourth inning, I was one strike away from getting out of there. They put some good at-bats together and hit it where we weren't."

Happ rebounded with a perfect fifth inning, hoping to help preserve a pitching staff that must cover a seven-inning doubleheader on Friday in Baltimore and will not have an off-day until Sept. 13.

"We probably do feel like we let this one go," Happ said. "I think more often than not, we definitely get that game."

Pushing for more
Gio Urshela and Brett Gardner knocked in seventh-inning runs before Aaron Hicks added a run-scoring single in the eighth. Even after Britton and Chapman stumbled, the Yankees were nicely set up in the 10th with Wade stationed at second base as an automatic runner.

Wade said that he was thinking about stealing third base, but he instead bolted on LeMahieu's sinking line drive to right field, making him an easy target for Michael Conforto to double off.

"I just tried to be aggressive on a ball where I thought it was hit a little bit softer," Wade said. "I've got to do a better job of not turning my back to that ball and being too aggressive in a situation like that. That can't happen."