Mets BABIP’d during 4-3 loss to Cubs

Dealing with a tight strike zone, and without his best stuff early on, Jacob deGrom was roughed up and the Mets were unable to recover as New York lost, 4-3, to the Cubs on Monday night in Chicago.

Game Recap:

DeGrom was shaky early on, serving up back-to-back homers to Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo and struggling to locate as the Cubs took a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

After the Mets hit back-to-back homers of their own in the sixth to cut the lead to 4-3, they were incredibly unlucky.

While the Mets’ bullpen kept the Cubs off the board for three innings, potential Mets rallies were snuffed out in both the eighth inning and the ninth inning.

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In the eighth, Lucas Duda hit a rope to first base that was caught by Anthony Rizzo and resulted in a double play. With a runner on first in the ninth, Dilson Herrera hit an absolute seed that looked like it was headed for the outfield, but Starlin Castro made a headlong dive to catch it while another potential rally short-circuited.

Highlights:

• Jacob deGrom wasn’t sharp, but he held tough to make it through five innings. Overall, deGrom allowed four runs on five hits, walked four and struck out five.

• Kevin Plawecki delivered an RBI single in the fourth.

• Lucas Duda and Wilmer Flores hit back-to-back homers in the sixth.

• Hansel Robles, Sean Gilmartin, Buddy Carlyle, and Erik Goeddel combined to toss three scoreless innings in relief.

Thoughts:

The Mets deserved better on Monday night.

The balls the Mets hit in the eighth and ninth that turned into outs and snuffed out rallies weren’t just ordinary liners, they were missiles. The first one, by Duda, was hit right at Rizzo. However, the ball Herrera hit in the ninth was only turned into an out because of an absurdly ridiculous play made by Starlin Castro.

For those saying in a negative fashion that the Mets have played .500 ball since their hot start, perhaps some perspective is in order. When both David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud went down with injuries – coinciding with the end of the team’s hot start – the hope was that the Mets would keep their heads above water. They’ve done just that.

Next up:

The Mets continue their four-game series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night at 8:05 p.m.

Noah Syndergaard gets the start for the Mets in his major league debut, opposed by Jake Arrieta for Chicago.