clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Final Score: Cubs 5, Mets 1—Lost in the fog

Seth Lugo was great, but the bullpen and the offense were not.

By Allison McCague
MLB: Chicago Cubs at New York Mets Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

Seth Lugo shined in his first appearance as a starter in 2018, throwing four scoreless innings and needing just 60 pitches to do so. Unfortunately for Lugo, Jose Quintana pitched six scoreless innings of his own and the Cubs’ bullpen bested the Mets’ depleted bullpen.

The Mets had Quintana on his heels in bottom of the third inning when they loaded the bases with just one out, but they failed to capitalize on the opportunity and the bats fell completely silent after that until Brandon Nimmo hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to prevent the shutout.

The Mets have several pitchers fresh up from the minor leagues in their bullpen and they were on full display tonight. Four of the five relievers used by the Mets yielded at least one run. Hansel Robles came in to relieve Seth Lugo and gave up two runs on a walk from Kyle Schwarber and a two-run homer off the bat of Ben Zobrist. The lefties Jerry Blevins and Buddy Baumann each yielded a run of their own in the two subsequent innings. The only Mets reliever unscored upon was Scott Copeland, who made a good showing for himself in his major league debut, giving up just one hit and striking out two in his 1 1⁄3 innings of work. Gerson Bautista surrendered yet another run in the ninth via base hits to Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, followed by a sacrifice fly by Willson Contreras.

Pedro Strop, after getting the last out in the eighth, was tasked with closing out the game, but allowed a walk to Michael Conforto with one out and then another walk to Jay Bruce with two outs. However, the Mets’ small rally was quashed quickly by Brandon Morrow, who was brought in to retire Amed Rosario for the final out.

The Mets fall back to .500 exactly one third of the way through the season.

Full recap to follow.

GameThread Roll Call

  1. MetsFan4Decades: 113
  2. stickguy: 84
  3. amazins8669: 71
  4. Allison McCague: 53
  5. mzvalaren: 39
  6. NateW: 36
  7. Jets Mets Devils Nets 16: 31
  8. BK_Machetero3191: 29
  9. Gina: 27
  10. AnneInFlushing: 24

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.

More From Amazin' Avenue