Cubs Bombard Mets with 39 Runs in 3 Game Sweep
Well that felt good Cubs fans.
After a disheartening three game sweep at the hands of the rival Brewers, the Cubs came back and took out their anger on the lowly Mets, supplying a 3 game sweep of their own in impressive offensive fashion. Let’s take a look back at how the Cubs swept aside the Mets in preparation for their big series against the Red Birds this weekend.
Game 1 (Tuesday, September 12th): Cubs 8, Mets 3
The opener of this three game set matched Jose Quintana for the Cubs against Robert Gsellman for the Mets. The game started off a pitchers duel as the Cubs offensive struggles seemed to carry over from the Brewers series as the game remained scoreless into the 4th.
After a fielders choice to drive in Juan Lagares in the top half of the inning, Cubs fans were having flashbacks to that dreadful series against Milwaukee. But Kris Bryant would not let it be. After a Quintana sacrifice to tie the game, the reigning MVP would untie it for good with a towering 3-run shot in the bottom half of the inning.
Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ would add solo shots to extend the lead and Q went 7 solid innings surrendering only a pair of runs to this depleted Mets lineup.
Game 2 (Wednesday, September 13th): Cubs 17, Mets 5
On Wednesday night at the Friendly Confines, the Cubs exploded past the Mets by pounding out 16 hits. But this game was in doubt for the first third of the game thanks to a shaky start from Lester and some poor base-running.
After the first two innings of play the score was tied at 2 a piece thanks to a Jose Reyes 2-run shot and a couple of fielders choice RBIs from the Cubs. Both pitchers labored to get through those first two as hitters were putting together quality at bats on a picture perfect September night on the North Side. Then in the third, the Cubs “executed” one of the worst baselining plays of the season.
With Wilson Contreras at 2nd and Ian Happ at first with two outs, Hayward ripped a single up the middle. With Contreras lollygagging it home, Ian Happ decided to try and go to third on the hit. As Contreras looked on, Happ got tagged out without attempting a slide before Wilson crossed the plate costing the Cubs a run in the most frustrating of fashion.
Now to the good. The Cubs raked on Wednesday night. Albert Almora had himself a game off the bench. Alma entered the game in the bottom of the 7th with two men on and quickly emptied them thanks to a 3-run jack to left.
He then followed it up in the 8th with a bases-loaded triple to end his short but productive night 2–2 with a HR and 6 RBIs. That’s efficiency right there.
Zobrist, Bryant, Contreras, Baez, and Rivera each had multi-hit nights as well with Baez adding his 22nd bomb of the year. Overall, it was a low stress win with plenty to cheer about which all fans can get behind.
Game 3 (Thursday, September 14th): Cubs 14, Mets 6
The finale of this three game set saw a couple of firsts for the Cubs battery on Thursday night. Jen-Ho Tseng was making his first MLB start for the Cubs and throwing it to his AAA catcher from Iowa, Taylor Davis, who was also making his first big league start. The Mets did not provide a warm welcome for the pair.
Tseng lasted only 3 innings giving up 5 runs, including back-to-back home runs by Dominic Smith and Travis d’Arnaud. However, the bats were there to pick up the inexperienced duo.
Davis and Tseng made up for their inability to prevent runs by providing some of their own. Taylor Davis collected an infield hit that drove in a run on an error by Met catcher Travis d’Arnaud. On the following at bat, Jen-Ho Tseng drove in Jason Hayward on a ground out to short.
Trailing 5–3 in the third, Anthony Rizzo pulled one back with his 32nd HR of the year.
Then in the 4th the Cubs took the lead for good. Thanks to RBI hits from Jon Jay, Kris Bryant, and Rizzo again, alongside a sac fly from Happ, the Cubs were off and running with a 9–5 lead and wouldn’t look back.
The Cubs would add insurance thanks to a pair of RBIs from red-hot Albert Almora, and Jason Hayward got in n the action with a 3-run homer to right.
After an impressive and needed sweep at the hands of the sinking Mets, the Cubs will have their most recent biggest series of the year against long time arch nemesis St. Louis Cardinals who currently trail the Cubs by 3 games in the NL Central. It’s a nice lead to have, but as we learned last weekend, 3 games can disappear like that, let’s hope the reigning champs will fair better in this tilt.
Jason Schwartz is the Editor-in-Chief of BulletinBoard, a Chicago Bulls blog. Only his love for the Cubs would dare him to write elsewhere. You can find him on Twitter here.
