Just hours after the sudden firings of Dave Eiland and Chuck Hernandez, the Mets began their four-game series at Wrigley Field by losing to the Cubs by a score of 7-4.

The Mets took an early 3-0 lead against Tyler Chatwood and his control issues, but he settled down and the Cubs’ bullpen shut the Mets down for the rest of the game.

Spot starter Walker Lockett started off strong with two easy innings, but he fell apart in the third and the Mets could never stage a comeback.

Offense

The Mets threatened early against Chatwood in just his second start of the season. Jeff McNeil grinded out a long at-bat and led off with an opposite-field single, and Pete Alonso singled to center. But Robinson Cano grounded into a double play and Michael Conforto grounded out to end the threat.

Chatwood experienced some control issues in the second, hitting Todd Frazier, making a throwing error, and walking Wilson Ramos to load the bases with no outs.

A run came in on a double-play ball hit by Carlos Gomez, as the Mets came out of the inning with just that one run.

McNeil led off the third with his second single of the game, and Alonso blasted his 25th home run of the season, a no-doubter that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead.

The next three Mets went down, helped out by a great catch on a liner hit by Frazier.

The Mets threatened again with two singles in the fourth, but yet another double play ended that rally, this time by J.D. Davis.

In the top of the fifth, the Mets faced Cubs top pitching prospect Adbert Alzolay in his MLB debut. Alonso drew a walk to get on base for the third time of the day, but the Mets went down quietly otherwise against the rookie.

Alzolay continued to mow through Mets hitters in his second inning, as Frazier, Ramos, and Amed Rosario all struck out in the sixth.

Alzolay kept rolling, throwing two more perfect innings and allowing no hits through the first four innings of his MLB career. He finally cracked in the ninth though, allowing a solo homer to Frazier and walking Ramos on four pitches.

The Cubs finally took Alzolay out for sidearmer Steve Cishek, who shut the door and recorded the save as the Mets fell to the Cubs 7-4.

Pitching

Lockett, who is known for being a ground ball pitcher, recorded three ground ball outs in an easy nine-pitch first inning.

Lockett looked even better in the second, getting two strikeouts with his curveball and changeup, as he absolutely cruised through the first six batters of the game.

However, Lockett completely imploded in the third, allowing six runs on five hits and only recording one out in the inning.

Brooks Pounders relieved him, and allowed Lockett’s inherited runner to score on a wild pitch, but he struck out two to end the inning.

The Mets then handed the ball to Wilmer Font, who walked the pitcher Chatwood to lead things off but then got three consecutive strikeouts, two of which came from his high-70s curveball.

Font stayed in for the fifth, and got into trouble by walking Anthony Rizzo and allowing a double to Willson Contreras. He intentionally walked the bases loaded with two outs to get to the relief pitcher Alzolay, who grounded out to second in his first MLB at-bat, allowing Font to escape the jam.

38 pitches deep, Font went back out for a third inning of work and handled it with no problem, getting two strikeouts and a Kris Bryant groundout. He allowed just one hit in three innings, and has allowed only one run in his last 13 innings.

Robert Gsellman came in for the seventh and allowed a solo home run to extend the Cubs’ lead to 7-3, their first run since that six-run third.

Stephen Nogosek then entered for his second big league outing, and pitched a nice one-two-three inning capped by his first career strikeout.

On Deck

The Mets will continue their four-game series with game two on Friday, a day game starting at 2:20 ET. Jason Vargas (3-3, 3.74 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets against the Cubs’ Yu Darvish (2-3, 4.65 ERA).

The game will be televised by SNY and MLBN and broadcast on WCBS 880 and ESPN-1050.