Mets blown out by Cubs but remain one game ahead of Reds, D-backs for the final NL wild card
Mets starting pitcher Jonah Tong leaves the game during the third inning against the Cubs on Wednesday in Chicago. Credit: AP/Paul Beaty
CHICAGO – After the Mets were forced to use six relievers Tuesday, manager Carlos Mendoza said this time of year requires "all hands on deck.”
On Wednesday, that deck was sinking. And then set ablaze.
The Mets fell victim to another rough outing by Jonah Tong, another offensive blackout, and more sloppy defense as they got walloped by the Cubs, 10-3 at Wrigley Field.
The bullpen situation, heavily taxed after getting 23 outs on Tuesday, meant that Mendoza had to turn to Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea, both of whom pitched Sunday in a piggyback outing, to get outs (they did, but in less than stellar fashion). With just four games left, the Mets must find a way despite that beaten up relief corps and no clear option to start against the Marlins Saturday.
“We’ll piece it together,” Mendoza said of the Mets precarious pitching situation, adding they could still use Holmes and Manaea since Holmes threw 14 pitches and Manaea 16 – essentially mimicking the bullpen they would throw between starts.
“It’s not easy, especially with what’s happened the last couple of days,” Mendoza said. “This is something that’s going to be day to day, whether they start, [if] we need them out of the bullpen. We’re going to try to put our best guys out there.”
A day after completing a season-best five-run comeback, the offense, as it often has done, looked lifeless, managing just four hits.
The saving grace was that the Reds, trailing the Mets by one game entering Wednesday, lost to the Pirates, 4-3, in 11 innings. The Diamondbacks, who also entered the day one back, fell to the Dodgers, 5-4, in 11 innings late Wednesday night.
Tong couldn’t make it out of the third after loading the bases with no outs. Ian Happ then pulled a 1-and-1 changeup down the rightfield line to put the Cubs up 2-0. Moises Ballesteros chipped in an RBI single of his own, this one past a diving Mark Vientos.
Seiya Suzuki then lined a two-run double by Vientos, who was slow to react, giving the Cubs a 4-0 lead and ending Tong’s night without an out in the third. Pete Crow-Armstrong’s one-out sacrifice fly off Richard Lovelady put the Mets down by five.
Tong allowed five runs and seven hits with two walks and one strikeout in two-plus innings, and has a 7.71 ERA after being fast-tracked to the majors on Aug. 29.
“I didn’t get the job done,” Tong said. “I thought they figured it out in the second and then they just got to me in the third.”
Lovelady let up a 396-foot solo homer to Shaw to lead off the fourth. That started the unorthodox bullpen carousel, as Holmes began to warm up.
Alvarez, whose two-run homer gave the Mets their final lead Tuesday, added another two-run shot Wednesday, drawing the Mets to within 6-2 in the fifth.
Holmes finally entered the game in the fifth, after Lovelady walked the leadoff batter; Holmes got the first two outs and was almost out of the inning when Crow-Armstrong hit a ball to third that Vientos threw away to drive in a run and land Crow-Armstrong on second. Holmes then sailed a wild pitch over Alvarez and failed to cover home in time, allowing Crow-Armstrong to score from second to give the Cubs an 8-2 advantage.
Mendoza turned to Manaea in the sixth, but the lefty allowed a single to Shaw and then hung a sweeper that Busch slammed deep into the rightfield stands for a 10-2 lead.
By then, the Reds had lost, but “you can’t worry about that,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got to play better. We didn’t play good again today and it doesn’t matter what all the other teams are doing. It starts with us. We’re better than that.”
Soto homered off Aaron Civale in the eighth, his 43rd.
“It’s not a lack of effort,” Lindor said. “Everyone is putting in the time…We know how to play the game. We know what to do. We’ve just got to get it done.”
Notes & quotes: The Mets Wednesday reinstated Taylor (hamstring) from the injured list and designated Jose Siri for assignment. Siri, whom the Mets traded for in November, missed most of the season with a broken tibia, but struggled in 16 games, slashing .063/.167/.125... Kodai Senga will remain in Florida for at least the rest of the regular season after he showed little improvement during his 45-pitch live batting practice Tuesday; his velocity was still down at around 93-mph on his fastball. “He feels he’s healthy but it’s just not clicking,” Mendoza said.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
