Mets vs. Cubs recap: Between monsoons, Mets rain down on Cubs

When the Mets’ game against the Cubs started on Friday night, ten minutes later than usual because of rain, Jason Hammel had a 2.58 ERA for the season. By the time his night was over, between two lengthy rain delays, Hammel had a 3.45 ERA.

The Mets scored ten runs against Hammel on nine hits. Five of those hits were home runs. James Loney and Asdrubal Cabrera went back-to-back with solo home runs in the second inning, and the game took its first long pause for an incoming monsoon before the top of the third began.

When play resumed, the Mets picked up right where the had started. With two outs on the third, Neil Walker singled, Yoenis Cespedes drew a walk, and both runners scored on a double to left-center field off the bat of Loney. And in the fourth, with Wilmer Flores and Travis d’Arnaud on base via a walk and a single, Brandon Nimmo hit a bomb into the Cubs’ bullpen that was estimated between 435 and 442 feet.

After his attempt to break the record for shortest home run trot, the Mets fans sitting in damp Citi Field seats wouldn’t let him not come back out for a curtain call. It was one of the better regular season moments the park has hosted to date.

And the Mets tacked on in the fifth, as Cespedes led off with a home run, his twentieth of the year, and Cabrera went deep again, this time with Loney on base, to make it ten runs for the Mets.

As for Jacob deGrom, he came into the game with a 2.67 ERA and left it with a 2.62 ERA. Like Hammel, he pitched two innings before the first rain delay and came back after it. But he didn’t allow a hit until Kris Bryant hit a solo home run with one out in the top of the fourth, and only allowed two others—both singles—to begin the sixth inning, just before the second rain delay started.

In total, deGrom struck out seven and walked just one. He owes Jerry Blevins a steak for keeping his ERA pristine, as the lefty took over once the rain delay ended and got out of the sixth without allowing either inherited baserunner to score.

Hansel Robles yielded a run on a sac fly in the seventh, but the bullpen did just fine aside from that. Seth Lugo, who made his major league debut when he entered the game in the eighth, struck out two, allowed a couple of singles, and hit one batter over the last two innings of the game. And his fastball averaged 93.8 miles per hour and topped out at 97.3, according to Brooks.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: James Loney, +24.9% WPA, Jacob deGrom, +12.5% WPA
Big losers: none
Teh aw3s0mest play: James Loney doubles in two run in the thid, +12.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Kris Bryant hits a solo home run in the fourth, -5.4% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +13.3% WPA
Total batter WPA: +36.7% WPA
GWRBI!: James Loney