Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets lost to the Cubs 3-1 Tuesday night in a game played in near-freezing temperatures.

Tensions of the Mets’ struggles boiled over tonight as the game featured ejections of starter Taijuan Walker and Luis Rojas.

The pitching, especially the bullpen with 4.1 scoreless innings, kept the Mets in the game once again, though, allowing just three runs on four hits. (Six walks from Walker and a couple errors from J.D. Davis allowed eight more base runners, but the damage was limited).

The offense couldn’t score outside of a J.D. Davis homer as the offense has now sunk to the bottom of the majors in runs scored per game.

On the Mound

Taijuan Tuesday didn’t have great results.

Walker couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning tonight. Walker pitched more or less fine through the first three innings. He allowed just three walks over the first three frames. One of them came around to score on a J.D. Davis error–a double-clutched throw that arrived on a hop that Pete Alonso couldn’t corral.

The fourth inning, with two outs no less, is where things unraveled. Jason Heyward singled and stole second base on a close play the Mets eventually challenged to no avail. (More on that in a minute). Eric Sogard singled Heyward home on the next pitch, naturally.

Walker lost the strike zone after that and allowed three straight walks–the final one to Willson Contreras that forced home the third run of the game for the Cubs. On his way off the mound before being replaced by Robert Gsellman, Walker made sure home plate umpire John Libka knew he thought he called some pitches wrong. He got tossed.

Gsellman, thankfully for Walker’s stat line and the Mets’ chances in the game, struck out Anthony Rizzo.

You’re always going to get tossed calling balls and strikes, which Walker and eventually Rojas did. But after some inconsistent calls, paired with Bruce Dreckman completely missing a call at first base later in the game, it’s reasonable for Rojas to chirp up and give the umpire his piece of mind.

(The Mets couldn’t challenge the above play where Alonso was ruled off the bag because they used it earlier on a close stolen base call. But Bryant never touched the bag, and Alonso’s foot eventually came back and touched the bag).

Jacob Barnes followed with his best outing of the season, lasting two innings and only allowing one hit, which he weathered with a double play from the next batter. (Barnes was on the mound for the Bryant atrocity, too, and that led off the bottom fifth inning.)

Jeurys Familia allowed an infield single in a scoreless seventh, and Trevor May followed with a 1-2-3 eighth to give the Mets’ bullpen–mainly the depth pieces–a wonderful night of 4.1 scoreless innings.

At the Plate

However, another night, another lackluster showing at the plate for the Mets.

The highlight of tonight–because it was the only run–was a J.D. Davis bomb that opened up the fifth inning.

One of their best chance to score came later in that inning as they had first and third with two outs, but Dom Smith grounded out to end the inning. (Smith had two of the team’s six hits tonight, but unfortunately one didn’t come there.)

Their next chance came in the bottom of the ninth as they got the bases loaded (via two walks and a bloop hit) against Craig Kimbrel. The Cubs’ closer was able to get Brandon Nimmo to ground out and Francisco Lindor to strike out, though, to get out of the jam..

Nimmo went 0-for-5 tonight and lost his 24-game streak of reaching base safely.

The Mets’ six hits tonight came from Smith (two), Davis (two) and one each from pinch hitters Jonathan Villar and Luis Guillorme as the offensive players who have struggled this year (Lindor, Conforto, McNeil, etc.) continued to struggle.

The Mets have now scored more than four runs just two times in 12 games. They’ve totaled 25 runs in the other 10 games.

Yet, they’re still 7-5 and in first place by a game and a half.

On Deck

The Mets are scheduled to play another frigid game at Wrigley Field tomorrow in the second bout of a three-game series.

David Peterson, who notched a career-high 10 strikeouts his last time out, takes the mound for the Mets against Zach Davies, who is having a less-than-stellar start to the year.

Davies pitched to a 2.73 ERA in 12 starts for the Padres in 2020 after five solid years with the Brewers. In 2021, though, Davies has allowed 13 earned runs in 11.1 innings (three starts). His Statcast page is… not pretty. He’s getting hit equally by righties and lefties.

Perhaps the Mets’ bats can get going against Davies in their game starting at 7:40 p.m. EST Wednesday on SNY.