Cubs 6, Mets 3—Mets buried in first inning as Cubs complete sweep

The Mets’ struggles against the purported soft portion of their schedule continued Wednesday at Citi Field, as the team was essentially put away in the top of the first inning, as the Cubs completed a dominant sweep of the struggling first place Mets—the first sweep the Mets have suffered in a series of more than two games this season.

David Peterson got the start and was abysmal, walking the first three batters of the game to load the bases. Peterson went to a full count on a fourth straight hitter and got Patrick Wisdom to strike out, but then surrendered back-to-back opposite field two-run doubles to Yan Gomes and P.J. Higgins. Peterson would get pulled after those six batters and an interminable 29 pitches (12 strikes). The first two batters would reach against Trevor Williams to make it a six run first for Chicago.

Williams would finally settle in and provide the standard stabilizing innings he has for most of this season, eating up 4.1 innings while striking out 8—one shy of the single game record for a Mets reliever held by Tug McGraw. Unfortunately the Mets offense would not be able to overcome the early hole.

Tomas Nido homered for the second straight at bat to put the Mets on the board in the third, and the second run would score on a Patrick Wisdom error in the fifth. The team got two on with two out in the seventh against Rowan Wick, but Brandon Nimmo grounded out to the pitcher to end the threat.

Pete Alonso added another late solo home run in the eighth to cut the deficit to three, but that would be as close as the Mets would get. Jeff McNeil would get hit leading off the ninth, and Eduardo Escobar would drive one to the wall in right center that raised momentary hopes of another dramatic 2022 comeback, but Michael Hermosillo would make an excellent catch at the wall, and Luis Guillorme would then hit into the Mets third double play over the final five innings to end the game.

The loss drops the Mets to 6-7 in September as they continue to cling to a narrow 0.5 game lead over the Braves in the N.L. East thanks to the Braves’ loss to the Giants earlier in the day.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: None
Big Mets loser: David Peterson, -36.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: -36.0% WPA
Mets hitters: -14.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jeff McNeil hit by pitch leading off the ninth inning, +4.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Yan Gomes two-run double in the top of the first, -16.9% WPA