The Chicago Cubs have seen this story before. Strong starting pitching from Jacob deGrom and yet another home run by Daniel Murphy has the New York Mets one win away from the World Series as they took Game 3 of the NLCS, 5-2.
Once again, the Cubs couldn’t mount much offense against the Mets pitching. As if Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard weren’t already tough enough, deGrom continued his excellent postseason, holding the Cubs to two runs and four hits over seven innings, along with seven strikeouts. The Cubs worked deGrom for 29 pitches in the first inning, which had to be encouraging. But deGrom settled down and pitched deep into the game, putting the Cubs into a familiar predicament.
Also familiar was a home run from Murphy, his sixth of the postseason. And with home runs in five consecutive playoff games, he tied a record previously set by Carlos Beltran, who went deep in five straight for the Astros during the 2004 postseason. Murphy is now batting .364 with a 1.322 OPS during this playoff run.
Returning to Wrigley Field and warmer temperatures in Chicago did give a boost to the Cubs’ offense. Jorge Soler hit a home run in the fourth inning to tie the score at 2-2, giving the Cubs hope at getting back into this series.
However, two innings later, a pair of crucial mistakes put the Mets back on top and snatched any chance at victory away from the Cubs.
Yoenis Cespedes led off the sixth with a single and following a sacrifice bunt by Lucas Duda to move him to second, the Mets center fielder stole third base to put himself in scoring position. After getting Travis d’Arnaud to ground out, Cubs pitcher Trevor Cahill almost escaped the inning without giving up a run. He even struck out Michael Conforto for what appeared to be the third out. But Cahill’s curveball bounced in the dirt and got away from catcher Miguel Montero, allowing Cespedes to score and give the Mets a 3-2 lead.
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But the Cubs still couldn’t mount any more offense against deGrom and the Mets capitalized in the seventh inning. Following a David Wright double and Murphy infield single, Cespedes drove in Wright with a single to left field. Murphy then scored on a groundout by Duda, increasing the Mets’ lead to 5-2. In the bottom half of the inning, deGrom set the Cubs down in order and the outcome seemed all but assured.
Dexter Fowler hit a one-out double in the eighth off Tyler Clippard, giving the Cubs another chance to put some runs on the board. But neither Schwarber nor Kris Bryant could drive him in. That was really the last opportunity the Cubs had, with Jeurys Familia coming on to pitch the ninth inning. As he has been through the postseason thus far, the Mets’ closer was unyielding, pitching a 1-2-3 inning to close out the ballgame for a 3-0 series lead.
It obviously doesn’t look good for the Cubs, now in a position where they have to win four straight. And even if they do break through against Steven Matz in Wednesday’s Game 4, the trio of Harvey, Syndergaard and deGrom will follow and the Cubs haven’t been able to do anything against them. But Cubs fans will optimistically point to 2004 when the Red Sox — also led by Theo Epstein in the front office — came back from an 0-3 deficit to defeat the Yankees. Until the Mets get that fourth win, you can say the Cubs have a chance. But history obviously isn’t on the Cubs’ side here.
Jason Hammel will start Game 4 of the NLCS for the Cubs. First pitch is scheduled for 8:07 p.m. ET, and TBS has the broadcast. Will the Mets finish off the sweep or can the Cubs keep hope alive?
