The New York Mets (27-30) lost to the Chicago Cubs (33-23) today and got swept at home by their friends from the Windy City.
Pitching
Steven Matz pitched for the Mets and had arguably his best start of the season (or at least one of the best). Matz faced some trouble in the third but kept the Cubs off the board thanks to his own defense. Matz gave up a couple runs in the seventh partly due to him and partially due to his team’s defense, which allowed Javier Baez to steal home and Willson Contreras to score on a Ben Zobrist sacrifice fly hit to the second baseman, Luis Guillorme.
Matz’s final line read as follows: seven innings, five hits, two runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts. Matz pitched into the seventh for the first time this season and has been improving over his last few starts.
Paul Sewald came in for the eighth inning and pitched two scoreless innings, giving the bullpen a much-needed breather. Sewald struck out a pair in his two innings and only gave up one baserunner.
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Offense
The Mets offense struggled to get anything going against Jon Lester. Lester held them hitless for 5.2 innings but they had their chances in this game. The Mets left seven runners on and went hitless with RISP.
In the loss, Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo reached base twice in the game, while Jose Bautista, Kevin Plawecki, and Amed Rosario all reached base once.
Meanwhile, the only players to record hits in the game were Conforto, Plawecki, and Rosario.
On Deck
The Mets will have a much needed day off tomorrow before starting up a two-game series with the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. Jason Vargas (2-3, 8.53 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets against Alex Cobb (1-7, 6.80 ERA) of the Orioles. The game starts at 7:10 p.m. and airs on SNY.
