CHICAGO — The Mets’ best reliever this season wilted in a crucial spot Sunday, flushing the Mets’ dreams of a rare road-series victory along with it.
Seth Lugo watched Javier Baez blast a slider into the right-field bleachers in the eighth inning at Wrigley Field, undoing Jacob deGrom’s fine afternoon of work (albeit one that probably needed to be an inning longer) on Pete Alonso’s record-setting day.
It ended as a maddening 5-3 loss to the Cubs, snapping the Mets’ two-game winning streak and giving them a split in the series. The Mets have not won a road series since sweeping the Marlins three games in the first week of April.
Lugo, in his second inning of work, allowed a single to Kyle Schwarber leading off the eighth before Anthony Rizzo walked with one out. After a visit to the mound from Phil Regan, the interim pitching coach, Lugo worked ahead to 0-2 in the count before Baez connected. Overall, Lugo threw 42 pitches.
In a thin bullpen, Lugo had become Mr. Dependability, pitching to a 1.10 ERA since April 7. But Sunday was also his second straight multiple-inning appearance — he had fired two shutout innings on Friday.
DeGrom, over 97 pitches, limited the Cubs to two earned runs on eight hits with nine strikeouts over six innings, following the gem he pitched in Atlanta last Tuesday, when he carried a shutout into the ninth inning before surrendering two homers in the win.
The right-hander has allowed two earned runs or fewer seven straight starts after a mediocre early-season stretch.
Alonso’s shot into the center-field seats leading off the fourth was his 27th homer, breaking the franchise rookie record established by Darryl Strawberry in 1983. Alonso tied the mark on Saturday.
The Mets added on against Cole Hamels in the fifth. Tomas Nido’s leadoff homer gave the Mets a 2-1 lead before deGrom matched Hamels with an RBI single. Juan Lagares scored the Mets’ third run on the deGrom hit.
Hamels had delivered an RBI single against deGrom in the second, after Jason Heyward and David Bote had singled in succession. Anthony Rizzo’s RBI single in the fifth sliced the Mets’ lead to 3-2, but Rizzo was thrown out trying to reach second, ending the inning.