Cubs starter Randy Wells didn’t last long in this one, but four Chicago relievers held the Mets scoreless for the last six innings of this one. Wells only went three innings, but Gee couldn’t get through more than five, and Anthony Rizzo’s fourth inning RBI double turned out to be the difference in the 5-3 Cubs win.
Gee got through the first two innings without much issue, and the Mets took an early 2-0 lead on RBI singles from Josh Thole and Gee in the second inning.
In the third, the Mets wasted a chance to score another run when Ike Davis ripped a double to right field with Lucas Duda on first base. Even though there were two outs, Duda hesitated as he rounded third and ended up staying there. Part of the blame for that has to go to third base coach Tim Teuful, who threw up the “run home” sign too late to get the message to Duda clearly. Of course, the next batter Daniel Murphy grounded out, or else this wouldn’t be worth discussing.
The Mets still entered the bottom of the third with a 2-0 lead, but that changed rather quickly. Gee allowed a single to the lead-off man David DeJesus and then walked Starlin Castro. A pair of ground outs by Rizzo and Alfonso Soriano got a run in, but Gee missed his opportunity to get out of the inning when he walked Bryan LaHair and saw Luis Valbuena lace a double off the ivy in right field. LaHair couldn’t score on the hit, but Darwin Barney escorted him home with a single to give Chicago a 3-2 lead.
The Mets wasted no time striking back. In the top of the fourth, Wells saw his evening come to an early end after he walked Gee to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Lefty Scott Maine (no relation to John) entered and loaded the bases by walking Ruben Tejada after a Kirk Nieuwenhuis sacrifice bunt. Mets fans can be excused for hoping for a crooked number with David Wright coming to bat with ducks on the pond against a lefty, but Wright could only manage a sac fly (albeit a hard one) and New York came away with just the one run.
In the bottom of the frame, Nieuwenhuis dove hard but failed to catch Castro’s sinking liner that could have been the third out. Instead, the single put runners on the corners with two outs. Rizzo was up next and took advantage with a clutch RBI double that added an exclamation point to his Cubs debut and put the home team up 4-3.
Hard luck struck the Mets in the sixth. After Ronny Cedeno pinch hit with a lead-off single, Tejada and Wright both struck deep drives into the outfield against Cubs lefty James Russell. However, Soriano and DeJesus were able to turn the long flies into outs, and the Mets came away with nothing.
Chicago tacked on a run in the eighth when Reed Johnson hit the ball hard to shortstop with two runners on base and one out. Tejada was able to get in front of the ball, but his throw to second went offline and Darwin Barney came around to score as a result.
Right before the run-scoring play, Miguel Batista nearly had Steve Clevenger picked off of first base, but umpire Manny Gonzalez saw that Davis missed the tag. Ike didn’t see things that way and became enraged, forcing Gonzalez to send him to the showers.
Although the Mets led off the ninth against Cubs closer Carlos Marmol with a David Wright walk, the next three were retired in order and Chicago came away with the victory.
Turning Point: Rizzo’s big hit gave Chicago the lead for good in the fourth inning, but one could argue that things started to go downhill as soon as Duda stopped at third base. Of course, the real reason for the loss was the Mets’ failure to score against the Cubbie bullpen.
Game Ball: The Mets bullpen allowed just one unearned run in the three innings they pitched. Jeremy Hefner, Tim Byrdak, Justin Hampson and Batista did a good job, but the Mets just couldn’t find the big hit to tie the game up.
Next Game: Tomorrow at 2:20 PM the Mets try to escape Chicago with a win as Jon Niese heads to the mound against Jeff Samardzija.
