The New York Mets tried to end their losing streak in Chicago today, but the Cubs are an offensive machine right now.
The New York Mets managed to score some runs today, but they also played the same kind of sloppy, ugly baseball that put them in their current position as they dropped the first game of their three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, 12-4, to extend their losing streak to nine games. The loss made the streak the Mets' longest one in 22 years, so they’ve now truly hit rock bottom.
The wind was blowing out at Wrigley in this one, and that dictated much of what happened during the day. The Cubs put the Mets in a deep hole right away with a four-spot in the first, with the key blow being a three-run homer from Moises Ballesteros.
The Mets did manage to cut the lead to one in the second, but that was as close as they got. Marcus Semien finally woke up offensively with an RBI double, and a single from Tyrone Taylor drove home two more.
But Nico Hoerner countered with a two-run shot in the bottom of the second to make it 6-3, and the Mets were basically done after that. Kodai Senga had his second straight disastrous start for New York, and an error by first baseman Brett Baty allowed another run to score in the fourth to make it 7-3. Senga gave up seven runs in 3-1/3 innings, six of them earned, and his ERA is now an unsightly 8.83.
Chicago starter Edward Cabrera wasn’t stellar, but he didn’t have to be. He scattered eight Mets hits over six innings, and in the seventh the Cubs scored three more to make sure this one stayed done in the windy conditions. Sean Manaea was the pitching victim as he tried to pick up Senga, but an RBI double by Matt Shaw, a wild pitch by Manaea and a sac fly to left by Dansby Swanson scored the runs to make it 10-4.
The Mets scored a run that ended up being meaningless in the eighth on an infield hit by Francisco Alvarez, but Ian Happ ended any hopes of a big wind-blown rally with a two-run home to left to produce the 12-4 final count.
The Mets couldn’t produce any power, but they did get plenty of hits. They wound up with 14, and over half of them were the hardest hit balls of the game with an exit velocity of at least 105 mph. Defensively they were terrible again, though, as Baty and Tyrone Taylor both made errors to go with a botched double-play ball by Semien as the lowlights in the field continued.
At some point the losing streak has to end, but it’s hard to see how given the brand of baseball the Mets are playing right now. The Cubs have now scored at least ten runs in three straight games, and tomorrow the Mets will try to stop the bleeding as Freddy Peralta gets the start against Jameson Taillon for the Cubs.