*Photo from bleedcubbieblue.com*
Jon Lester pitched 6 strong innings, Victor Caratini homered twice, and the Chicago Cubs swept the New York Mets with a 4-1 win Thursday night. The Cubs now have a 2 1/2 game lead on the second wild card spot, and have trimmed the deficit in the NL central to 1 /2 game behind the St.Louis Cardinals. The Mets have now lost 6 straight games, all at home, and have fallen to 5 games behind for the wild card.
However, it was the Mets that jumped ahead early. In the bottom of the first inning, JD Davis launched a solo homer to straight-away center field to put the Mets ahead 1-0. The Cubs quickly tied it in the top of the second inning when Caratini hit a solo jack to right field. It stayed 1-1 until the 7th inning, when Caratini stepped up and blasted the game winning 3 run homer to put the Cubs ahead 4-1 for good.
Jacob Degrom took the loss for the Mets, going 7 innings and giving up 4 runs on 5 hits. He struck out 7 Cubs. Degrom said of the loss that ''That one stings." Degrom had a 1.88 ERA since May, and he pitched a solid game, but he got very little run support, something he is all too familiar with. He fell to 8-8 with the loss.
Lester pitched 6 innings for the Cubs, giving up one run on 5 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 4 Mets hitters and improved to 11-9 on the season. Craig Kimbrel worked the 9th for his 13th save of the season. The Cubs have won 7 straight games at Citi Field dating back to last season. They also have won 5 straight road games, not too bad considering the Cubs are notoriously bad away from Wrigley Field.
The Mets head to Philadelphia for a crucial division series, where Zack Wheeler will take the mound for the Mets, and Aaron Nola will go for the Phils. The Cubs head back home for a crucial division series against the Milwaukee Brewers, where Jose Quintana will start against Chase Anderson.
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