Bassitt, Bats Fall Flat in 5-2 Loss to Cubs

The Mets returned from their six-game road trip on Monday for a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field. Chris Bassitt, who has been exceptional since the All-Star break, struggled and was pulled after only 3 1/3 innings in a 5-2 loss.

The Mets had an opportunity to jump out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. A single from Francisco Lindor and walks from Jeff McNeil and Daniel Vogelbach loaded the bases for Mark Canha with two outs. After taking the first pitch for a ball, Canha took three straight strikes to leave the bases loaded and end the inning.

The Cubs were able to take advantage of the Mets’ missed opportunity in the top of the second inning. With two outs, Rafael Ortega turned on an 0-2 curveball over the plate for a solo home run to give the Cubs an early 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, Bassitt got burned again by the long ball. He walked Alfonso Rivas to lead off the inning, and two batters later allowed his second homer of the night to Zach McKinstry to extend the Cubs lead to 3-0.

Bassitt almost never walks hitters to lead off an inning, but in the fourth, he walked the lead off hitter for the second consecutive inning. Just as they did in the third, the Cubs made Bassitt pay for the free baserunner to start the inning. Ian Happ drew the lead-off walk and moved to second when Pete Alonso missed Bassitt’s pickoff throw. Alonso made a nice diving stop to retire the next batter, but Ortega followed with an RBI single for his second RBI of the night. A fielder’s choice moved Ortega into scoring position, and Rivas blooped an RBI single to make it a 5-0 lead for Chicago and end Bassitt’s night early.

Bassitt finished his night going just 3 2/3 innings and allowing five earned runs on five hits and two walks with just two strikeouts. It was his second shortest outing of the season, only better than his June 8 start in San Diego where he only lasted 3 1/3 innings. He had thrown at least five innings in all 14 starts since that outing against the Padres.

While Bassitt’s night unraveled after the first inning, Assad found his groove after throwing 24 pitches in the first inning. He worked through the second and third innings allowing just a walk to Lindor. He ran into trouble in the fourth inning when he allowed singles to Canha, Eduardo Escobar, and James McCann to bring in the Mets’ first run, but he struck out Brandon Nimmo on three near-perfect down and in cutters to leave two runners on base.

The Mets had the 2-3-4 of their lineup due up in the fifth inning with Assad’s pitch count rising, but he retired them on just six pitches which gave him a chance to work into the sixth inning. After a two-out triple by Escobar on a ball that Ortega misplayed, Assad struck out Tyler Naquin to keep the lead at 5-1 for the Cubs.

Bassitt’s short night meant the Mets’ bullpen was in for a long night, but they were up for the task. Tommy Hunter was the first reliever to enter the game for New York. He retired the final batter in the fourth inning then followed with a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. Trevor May, who returned from the COVID-related IL today, followed with a perfect inning of his own with two strikeouts. In the seventh, the Mets turned to Mychal Givens. Givens threw the Mets’ third consecutive perfect inning, and the bullpen had retired 10 hitters in a row.

Givens went back out for a second inning of work in the eighth, and the Cubs finally reached base against the Mets’ pen. McKinstry and Seiya Suzuki hit back-to-back singles to start the inning and put runners on the corners with nobody out, but poor base-running helped them get out of the inning unharmed. Givens struck out Franmil Reyes, and McCann threw out Suzuki stealing second for a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play. After an intentional walk, Givens struck out Patrick Wisdom to end the inning and strand the two baserunners.

The Mets’ best chance to come back came in the bottom of the eighth inning. Trailing by four, the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out to start the inning. Canha, who hit his first career grand slam on Saturday in Miami, came to the plate, but he struck out after a seven-pitch battle. Escobar followed, and the Cubs turned to left-hander Brandon Hughes to turn Escobar around to what had been his much stronger side for the first five months of the season before his recent hot stretch. Escobar hit a shallow fly ball to center field that wasn’t deep enough to bring a run in. With two outs and no runs in, Darin Ruf pinch-hit for Naquin and flew out to right field to end the inning.

Joely Rodríguez pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to send the Mets into their last at-bat down by four. After the first two hitters were retired, Lindor hit his 23rd home run of the season to cut the lead to 5-2. The solo shot gave him 92 RBIs on the season, tying a career-high that he set in 2018 with Cleveland.

The Mets wouldn’t pull any closer, as the Cubs closed out the 5-2 win to take the series opener.

Players of the Game: The Bullpen

The bright spot for the Mets on Monday was undoubtedly the work done by the bullpen. The uncharacteristic short outing from Bassitt forced Buck Showalter to get into his bullpen early, and they stepped up by throwing 5 1/3 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. The only Cubs to reach base came in Givens second inning of work, and he still managed to work through the inning without any runs scoring. The Mets’ bats struggled to get anything going on Monday, but the bullpen gave them plenty of time to get back into the game.

On Deck

The Mets and Cubs will play the second game of their three-game series at Citi Field on Tuesday night at 7:10 p.m. ET. Jacob deGrom (5-1, 1.66 ERA) will make the start for the Mets against Adrian Sampson (1-5, 3.76 ERA) for the Cubs.

DeGrom was brilliant once again in his last start in Pittsburgh, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out eight hitters over seven shutout innings. He has thrown quality starts in each of his last five outings.

The game will be broadcast on SNY, and the radio call will be on WCBS 880.