The New York Mets (59-74) salvaged their series in the Windy City by beating the Chicago Cubs (78-54) by a score of 10-3.

Pitching

Jason Vargas was good again. The lefty has been pitching well over his last four starts. He worked around a couple of hits in the first inning after being staked to a 4-0 lead.

He then gave a run in the second thanks to Ian Happ but settled in after that. He pitched a 1-2-3 third inning and a 1-2-3 fourth inning.

In the fifth, he ran into a little trouble by walking Kyle Schwarber and hitting Albert Almora. He got out of it though by getting Ben Zobrist to hit into a double play.

He retired his only batter (Anthony Rizzo) in the sixth inning to end his day. His final line was: 5.1 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 6 K.

Corey Oswalt came in for him and got two outs while also working around a walk.

Tyler Bashlor pitched the seventh inning and retired the side 1-2-3 with a couple of strikeouts. His breaking stuff has looked much better as of late.

Drew Smith came in for the eighth innings and record a 1-2-3 inning of his own, but did not record any strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Jacob Rhame, who was only on the roster as the 26th man for today’s pair of games, allowed a two-run homer to Victor Caratini, but managed to record three outs which is all the Mets needed to secure the victory.

Offense

The offense got going early. Amed Rosario and Austin Jackson got hits in the first and Michael Conforto walked to set up a bases-loaded spot for Todd Frazier. Frazier hit one to Toms River, New Jersey to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.

There was not much else until the seventh. With two on and two out, Amed Rosario drove in a run for his second hit of the day (he was also robbed of a hit earlier). Austin Jackson drove in a run to make the score 6-1. Then Jose Reyes tripled home two runs to put the icing on the cake.

However, the Mets once again wouldn’t be done there as Tomas Nido would reach on an error, advance to second on a Conforto RBI single, and then score on a Todd Frazier RBI single. Brandon Nimmo would deliver an RBI single to left field that would drive in Conforto in the next at-bat.

Nimmo recorded three hits in the game, while Rosario, Jackson, Bruce, Frazier, Wilmer Flores all recorded a pair. The only starting position player to not record a hit was Jeff McNeil, who scored two runs in the game anyways.

On Deck

The Mets will take the day off tomorrow as they travel to San Francisco to take on the Giants. Zack Wheeler (9-6, 3.46 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets against Andrew Suarez (5-9, 4.42 ERA). The game will start at 10:15 p.m. and be aired on SNY.