The Mets (20-12) lost to the Cubs (16-15) by a score of 4-3 on Monday night at Wrigley Field.
Jacob deGrom pitched for the Mets and struggled. The sophomore allowed four runs in five innings, surrendering five hits and four walks, striking out five.
The Mets got off to a rough start in this one. Jacob hit Dexter Fowler to begin the bottom of the first, and ultra-prospect Kris Bryant made him pay with a shot into Wrigley’s new bleachers. Anthony Rizzo hit a solo shot on the next pitch, and after a walk to Jorge Soler, deGrom had faced four hitters, given up three runs, and retired none. The long-haired righty settled in after that to some extent, allowing just one more run on a base-hit from Addison Russell in the bottom of the fourth, but looked off his game for much of the night.
New York had a rough time against Jon Lester, despite the lefty not having his best stuff. The Mets scattered a few walks, but were unable to get anything going until the top of the fourth. Michael Cuddyer was issued a free pass, and a single from Lucas Duda put Cuddyer in scoring position. The veteran would come home on a single from rookie catcher Kevin Plawecki, cutting the gap to 3-1.
The Cubs got the run back in the next frame, but the Mets finally made some real noise in the top of the sixth. Lucas Duda crushed one out to center field for a solo shot and Wilmer Flores matched him with a drive to left, putting the Mets right back in the game at 4-3.
But the Mets would have no luck on this night. Hansel Robles, Sean Gilmartin, Buddy Carlyle, and Erik Goeddel combined to keep the Cubs off the board after deGrom’s departure, but the Chicago bullpen managed to hold the lead.
The Mets got a leadoff single from Cuddyer in the top of the eighth, but a screaming liner from Lucas Duda ended up right in the mitt of Anthony Rizzo at the bag for an easy double-play. The Mets got a leadoff baserunner again in the top of the ninth against Hector Rondon when Curtis Granderson worked a leadoff walk, but Dilson Herrera‘s bullet up the middle was snared by a diving Starlin Castro, and Johnny Monell‘s shot to the right side also met an unfortunate end, hitting the ground right in front of Russell and turning into a game-ending 4-6-3 double-play to end the ballgame.
Well that sucked. Those balls in the eighth and ninth were rockets. Willie Keeler is probably rolling in his grave.
Jacob deGrom was great against the Orioles after a couple rough outings, but gave us a dud again tonight. I’m sure he’ll figure it out again, but it’s been a shaky last couple weeks for the 2014 Rookie of the Year. The bullpen did a solid job to pick deGrom up, though.
Nice blasts from Luke and Wilmer. The Mets could use some power, and they got it tonight. Hopefully next time there will be guys on base. Although I did get pretty annoyed at my father for complaining that there was nobody on base for the second homer of a back-to-back… (There was about a 30% chance he was kidding).
The Mets should head into every series looking to win it or at least split it. They dropped a few after the winning streak, but took the sets against Philly and Baltimore. Let’s see if they can bounce back and take two of the next three— or better.
My word, the Cubs have some amazing young infielders. THOSE are hitting prospects.
Of course, we’re going to be countering with a pretty good pitching prospect tomorrow…
Up Next: The Mets will continue their series with the Cubs on Tuesday night at 8:05 PM. Noah Syndergaard will make his MLB debut against Jake Arrieta at Wrigley Field.
