Harvey stellar, but Mets lose third straight, 2-1

The Mets wasted a spectacular start from Matt Harvey, losing 2-1 to the Chicago Cubs.

Game Recap:

In the top of the first, the Mets looked to take an early lead by loading up the bases with one man out. Unfortunately for them, they left all three runners on base when Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki flew out and struck out, respectively.

Luckily for the Mets, Matt Harvey was a man on a mission and kept the Cubs scoreless through five innings.

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Curtis Granderson led off the top of the sixth and started the offensive commotion for the Mets. After he singled to right, Daniel Murphy followed with a line drive double over the third base line.

With the Cubs conceding a run on a ground ball, Michael Cuddyer did just that, driving in Granderson giving the Mets a 1-0.

In the bottom of the frame, the Cubs threatened with men on the corners, but Harvey induced a groundball to Starlin Castro which ended the inning.

The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the eighth. With Carlos Torres in to relieve Harvey, he allowed a single to Addison Russell before tossing a wild pitch, which advanced Russell to second. Dexter Fowler singled to right field, scoring Russell, which also gave Harvey a no decision.

After the Mets failed to capitalize on a leadoff baserunner in the top of the ninth, Carlos Torres stayed in to pitch the bottom of the nine but allowed all three hitters to reach base, one by way of an intentional base on balls.

Jeurys Familia was asked to clean up the mess Torres left and answered by striking out the first batter he faced.

It all went downhill after this.

With Chris Coghlan up and the bases loaded, the Cubs completed the comeback, thanks to a five-pitch walk.

Highlights:

Matt Harvey pitched seven stellar innings, allowing three hits to go along with nine strikeouts and two walks. His ERA is now 2.31.
Daniel Murphy was the only Met to accumulate more than one hit in the game. Murphy finished with two hits in three plate appearances.
The 5-6-7 hitters – Wilmer Flores, Kevin Plawecki, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis – went a combined 0-for-12 with six Mets left-on-base.

Thoughts:

Offense, where art thou? The Mets offense that was prevalent during the 11-game winning streak has completely vanished over the past few weeks.

They had a handful of chances to drive in runs, but came up short on the clutch end. The team went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and that’s not going to cut it.

Matt Harvey, coming off a rather unusual outing, came to play and dominated the youth-filled Cubs lineup. But, Carlos Torres couldn’t hold the game for him and the offense, as stated earlier, couldn’t provide the insurance to seal the victory for the team.

With the Washington Nationals now 1.5 games behind in the division lead, the Mets will need to wake up.

Up Next:

Jon Niese will take the mound in the Thursday matinee to avoid the sweep against Travis Wood.

First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.