Mets vs. Cubs Recap: Chicago beats Mets twenty-five or 6 to 3

On the night of Foreigner's Citi Field postgame performance, it was Chicago who won behind the pitching of Edwin Jackson and a three-run triple from David DeJesus (and of course, you the reader lost, as you got my shoehorned, incorrect Chicago reference as the title of this recap. The Mets should've scored one more run. Sorry!). Shaun Marcum struggled early with his command, leaving a number of hangers over the heart of the plate in the first two innings and the soft-tossing righty was unsurprisingly tagged for six runs in total on the evening.

The Cubs' offense got going with two outs in the first when Nate Schierholtz cranked a solo home run into the Pepsi Porch, staking Chicago to a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Marcum got himself into more trouble. After singles from Anthony Rizzo and Dioner Navarro, a Luis Valbuena walk filled the bases with nobody out and Darwin Barney's single up the middle cashed in the first run of the frame, putting the Cubs ahead 2-0. With the bases still loaded and nobody out, Marcum got the pitcher Edwin Jackson to strike out looking but it was DeJesus who would come through a batter later with the back breaker – a bases-clearing, three-run triple that landed in front of the right center field fence and over the outstretched glove of Juan Lagares. With that, five runs had crossed the plate and the Mets had dug themselves into an early hole.

It would take until the bottom of the third for the Mets to get on the board. Leading off the inning, Lagares got DeJesus back by driving a triple of his own into the same right center field alley that DeJesus had hit his triple earlier. Unfortunately, in going after the ball, the Cubs' center fielder crashed into the fence and fell to the ground writhing in pain. DeJesus would leave the game with a nasty looking shoulder injury and it sounds like he'll head to the disabled list. After Shaun Marcum and Jordany Valdespin popouts, Daniel Murphy lined a single into center, plating Lagares for the Mets' first run. The scoring ceased for both teams until the top of the sixth, when Marcum allowed doubles in the inning to Anthony Rizzo and Luis Valbuena, giving the Cubs their sixth run of the evening.

In the seventh inning, the Mets had what looked to be their best chance to close the gap. With lefty reliever James Russell having relieved Edwin Jackson, Collin Cowgill stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter and doubled to lead off the inning. After Justin Turner pinch hit for Jordany Valdespin and lined out to shortstop for the first out, Cowgill moved over to third on a wild pitch and Daniel Murphy singled him in, cutting the Cubs' lead to four runs. The next batter was David Wright, who singled himself, putting runners at first and second with Lucas Duda stepping to the plate. Duda's had his troubles with runners in scoring position this year but in this case, the big guy delivered, lining a single into left center field. Daniel Murphy scored from second base to make it 6-3 but David Wright, aggressively testing the arm of Cubs' left fielder Alfonso Soriano, was thrown out trying to go first to third. Instead of having runners at the corners and one out, the Mets ended up with a runner at first with two outs and Marlon Byrd struck out to end the inning, stifling what looked to be a promising rally.

Despite the Cubs throwing out Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg in the eighth and ninth innings, the Mets were retired in order both innings. For the Mets, it's their second loss in a row and the fifth defeat in their last six games. They also fell to a season-worst 14 games under .500 on the season.

SB Nation Coverage

* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Bleed Cubbie Blue Gamethread

Win Probability Added

(What's this?)

Big winners: David Wright (6.9%), Daniel Murphy (3.1%)
Big losers: Shaun Marcum (-33.6%), John Buck (-10.6%)
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Lagares' third-inning triple (4.8%)
Teh sux0rest play: David DeJesus' base-clearing triple (-13.7%)
Total pitcher WPA: -30.8%
Total batter WPA: -19.2%
GWRBI!: Nate Schierholtz