*Photo from NBC Sports*
Yu Darvish is back. He pitched 8 tremendous innings, Javier Baez had 3 RBI, and the Chicago Cubs edged the New York Mets 5-2 in a key series for both teams as they jockey for wild card positioning. Darvish only walked one hitter, but it was his first walk in his last 6 starts. His last walk was on July 23. He said about the walk ''I tried to throw a strike, but I couldn't throw a strike."
The Mets struck first in the 4th inning, when Pete Alonso cranked a first pitch solo homer to right field. In the 5th, the Cubs finally got to Marcus Stroman and took the lead on an Addison Russell two run homer to center field. In the 6th, Baez added another two run homer to right field to make it 4-1 Cubs. In the 8th, Baez doubled in Nicholas Castellanos to make it 5-1. The Mets got their final run on a JD Davis solo shot in the 9th inning.
With the loss, the Mets have now lost 4 straight games, all at home, and now trail the Cubs by 3 games for the second wild card spot in the NL. Manager Mickey Callaway said that ''We're just not getting the timely hit or the big hit when we need it to keep us rolling. It will change." Stroman got the loss for the Mets, giving up 4 runs on 6 hits and two walks over 6 innings. He struck out 7 hitters. Alonso hit his 42nd homer of the year, becoming the first rookie in 81 years to break his team's season record.
Darvish allowed 5 hits, one walk, and one run over 8 dominating innings. He struck out 7 Mets hitters. He wasn't totally satisfied, saying that ''Stuff wasn't sharp enough, just game plan and pitch selection was - from me - perfect.'' Manager Joe Maddon liked his team's performance, saying that ''Mentally, situationally, we were a lot better today." Addison Russell liked it too, saying that ''I think winning the first game of this series is huge, it kind of gets people thinking like, this Cubs team is actually really, really good.'' Brandon Kintzler worked the 9th for the save.
The series will continue Wednesday night, where the Cubs will send Kyle Hendricks to the mound as they try to further distance themselves from the Mets. The Mets will look to snap their 4 game skid as they send Noah Syndergaard to the mound. Both pitchers threw shutouts in their last starts.
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