*Photo from the Rome Sentinel*
The New York Mets were aiming to end the Chicago Cubs win streak at 5 games. So they turned to Dominic Smith. Smith homered, Kevin Pillar drove in two runs, and the Mets topped the Cubs 5-2 on Monday night. Smith also scored on a James McCann single in the 4th inning.
Smith said "I just felt good. I went through my routine today, I had a purpose for it. If I’m balanced, I’m going to be a dangerous player in that box. I just have to get consistent with that. When I do, that’s when I go on my little hot streaks."
McCann started the scoring in the 4th inning with an RBI single to make it 1-0 Mets. Later in the inning, Pillar laced a two run double to left center field to give the Mets a 3-0 advantage. In the 5th, Smith cranked a solo homer to right field to extend the lead to 4-0 Mets. A Brandon Drury RBI single in the 6th made it a 5-0 lead for the Mets, which they held on to.
David Peterson, who entered the game with a 9.88 ERA, put in a stellar start for the Mets, allowing no runs on one hit and two walks, striking out 3 hitters in 6 strong innings pitched, improving to 2-5 and dropping his ERA all the way down to 5.60 on the season. Edwin Diaz struck out all 3 hitters he faced in the 9th for his 13th save of the season.
Smith said of Peterson's tough season that "We all love David, and he’s a bulldog out there. We’re all going to go through a little bit of failure in this game. This game is a humbling game. I think the biggest thing is what do you do after that failure, and how do you challenge that? And I think he did a great job tonight against a first-place team."
The Cubs got both their runs in the 7th inning. Anthony Rizzo started off the scoring with a solo homer to right field, which made it a 5-1 Mets lead at the time. Patrick Wisdom, the very next batter, cranked a solo homer to center field, with the back to back homers making it a 5-2 score, with the Cubs unable to score any more runs against the Mets bullpen.
Jake Arrieta got the start for the Cubs, taking the loss to drop to 5-7 this season. Arrietta allowed 4 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 3 hitters in 5 innings. Tommy Nance, Rex Brothers, Trevor Megill, and Dillon Maples also pitched for the Cubs.
Cubs manager David Ross said of the struggles hitting that "Everybody wants to get hits. I didn’t see a frustrated group tonight. Peterson made some pitches just off the barrel a little bit. I didn’t see anything crazy wrong with tonight’s game. The Mets really pitched a good game, made some defensive plays. We just came up a little short."
The Cubs and Mets continue their series tonight, with Alec Mills getting the start for the Cubs, and Taijuan Walker starting for the Mets.
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