NEW YORK — For a while now, the Mets have lived in the seemingly impervious bubble of a team all but guaranteed to make the playoffs. Sure, Atlanta isn’t going away any time soon – but September, with its cushy schedule and the expected return of a few key injured players, had all the makings of a postseason tune-up.
Kick the tires. Change the oil. Get ready for October.
Wait. Is that a check-engine light?
The Mets Tuesday remained mired in offensive futility, producing very little against the lowly Cubs and falling, 4-1 at Citi Field, to drop the first two games of the series. In an ongoing stretch of 16 straight games against sub-.500 teams, they are now 5-6 and, just as worryingly, they’ve scored three runs or fewer in all those losses. The Cubs came into the game with a staff 4.28 ERA, sixth-worst in the National League, but for the second straight day, completely stymied a Mets team that has now scored three runs in 18 innings. Tuesday, they had just three men reach scoring position.
The Mets ended their night white-knuckling their 1 ½ game division lead over Atlanta, which played a late West Coast game against the Giants.
The offense managed just two singles, both from Jeff McNeil, against starter Adrian Sampson (2-6), who earned just his second win of the year, squandering a quality start from Jacob deGrom. Luis Guillorme got an eighth-inning single that went nowhere, before the Mets finally scored on Pete Alonso's 34th homer in the ninth, a shot into the second deck..
DeGrom (5-2) allowed three runs, all earned, and four hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts over six innings, marking his fourth double-digit strikeout game this year. He has 56 total, four shy of Tom Seaver’s franchise record. Excluding openers, deGrom now shares the record for most consecutive starts having allowed three earned runs or fewer – tied at 39 with Jim Scott, who last did it in 1914; DeGrom is 19-6 in that stretch.
The Mets came inches away from taking a lead in th first when, withMcNeil on first and two outs, Alonso hit a long drive to left that veered inches foul – a ball so close to a home run, that Alonso was well into his trot around the bases when he was called back. He eventually walked, but Sampson retired a slumping Daniel Vogelbach on a ground out. Vogelbach, acquired at the trade deadline as one of the Mets’ answers to their designated hitter quandary, is 5-for-42 (.119) with one RBI and no extra-base hits in his last 16 games. It's a lineup hole that has cost the Mets as of late, especially with Darin Ruf’s continued struggles at the plate. Mark Vientos, the Mets’ highly-touted rookie, pinch hit for Vogelbach in the ninth and flied out to center.
The Cubs opened the scoring in the second, when Ian Happ drove deGrom’s full-count fastball 407-feet to right for his 17th homer and a 1-0 lead r.
They tacked on two runs in the fourth, after the first two batters reached on singles, Michael Hermosillio bunted a ball in front of the plate, and James McCann’s throw hit him in the back – causing Buck Showalter to argue that since Hermosillio was on the grass when he was hit, he should be out. The umpire disagreed and the next batter, Yan Gomes, hit a sacrifice fly to right to score the first run and advance the secondary runner. Next, Patrick Wisdom bunted toward a charging Alonso, whose throw home was too late to gun down the run at the plate.
Seth Lugo allowed a solo home run to David Botte with two outs in the seventh for the Cubs' fourth run.
