Sure, the Mets finally scored a run, but nothing really changed this afternoon, as the Mets (40-40) lost to the Cubs (42-35) by a score of 6-1.
The Mets finally broke their 24-inning scoreless streak in the fourth inning when Curtis Granderson doubled home Jacob deGrom, who had doubled two batters before. However, the Cubs had already scored a run in the second off deGrom, so Granderson’s RBI tied the game at one.
deGrom was clearly not at his best this afternoon. He ended up throwing a ton of pitches — 115 in total — over just 5.1 innings. That’s the second-highest number of pitches deGrom has ever thrown in a major league game, yet just the fourth time this season that he has failed to go six or more innings.
The Cubs took the lead in the top of the fifth when Starlin Castro reached on an infield single, advancing to second on an error by Daniel Murphy. Anthony Rizzo, the next batter, singled home the run, giving the Cubs a 2-1 advantage.
The Cubs tacked on in the sixth when Jonathan Herrera, with Mike Baxter on base, homered to right field, making it 4-1. That was it for deGrom, who was pulled in favor of Logan Verrett. deGrom just didn’t have it this afternoon. His command, even with his fastball, was off. Even with great stuff, as we’ve seen with Harvey, if you don’t have fastball command, it’s tough to get hitters out efficiently.
Behind three runs, the Mets offense didn’t stand a chance. They came close to scoring again in the seventh, advancing Wilmer Flores to third with Curtis Granderson up to the plate. However, Granderson grounded out to end the inning. At this point, that qualifies as a rally for this offense…
Adding insult to injury, the Cubs added on two more in the top of the ninth off Alex Torres, as Miguel Montero homered to right, extending the Cubs’ lead to 6-1, which would be the final score.
Even against a struggling Cubs team, the Mets scored just one run in this entire series, 29 innings in total. With the pitching matchups this weekend against the Dodgers, could it actually get worse for the Mets?
Up Next
The Mets begin a three-game series against the Dodgers tomorrow night with Noah Syndergaard (3-4, 3.59 ERA) facing off against Clayton Kershaw (5-6, 3.20 ERA).
