Cubs Rally Past Mets For 6-5 Win, 4-Game Sweep
CHICAGO (AP) — Dexter Fowler scored the tiebreaking run on a passed ball in the seventh inning and also homered, and the Chicago Cubs rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the New York Mets, 6-5, on Thursday, completing a four-game sweep.
Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Matt Szczur each had RBI hits as the Cubs recorded their first four-game sweep of New York since August 1992.
Anthony Recker had a pair of solo home runs to pace the Mets, but the backup catcher's failure to hold onto a slider from reliever Hansel Robles in the seventh allowed the go-ahead run to score.
With runners at the corners and two outs, Robles' pitch just off the plate deflected off Recker's glove and rolled toward the first base dugout as Fowler scored easily from third.
Pedro Strop (1-2) pitched 1 1-3 hitless innings for the win. Hector Rondon pitched the ninth for his eighth save.
Mets starter Jonathon Niese (3-3) allowed six runs (four earned) in 6 1-3 innings to take the loss.
Recker started the scoring with a solo shot in the second inning. Two innings later, Wilmer Flores and Recker had back-to-back drives for a 3-0 lead.
The Cubs got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homer by Fowler, but the Mets stretched the lead to 5-1 in the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run single by John Mayberry Jr.
A four-run lead appeared safe the way Niese cruised through the first four innings — one hit allowed and just 39 pitches thrown — but the Cubs sent nine men to the plate in the bottom of the fifth and tied the score at 5.
Niese gave up four hits in the inning, but just two were hit hard and a throwing error by Flores at shortstop prolonged the inning and led to an unearned run. Bryant drove in the tying run with a bloop single to right field.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mets: CF Juan Lagares missed his third straight game with a strain of the upper right side, but is expected to return on Friday ... RHP Buddy Carlyle (back spasms) was placed on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to May 12).
Cubs: 2B Tommy La Stella (strained oblique) was sent to Double-A Tennessee on Thursday for a rehab assignment and will be in the lineup on Friday.
UP NEXT
Mets: RHP Bartolo Colon (6-1, 3.30) will attempt to become the majors first seven-game winner in the opener of a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. RHP Kyle Lohse (2-4, 7.03) goes for the Brewers.
Cubs: The homestand continues with three games against the Pittsburgh Pirates. RHP Kyle Hendricks (0-1, 4.65) still is looking for his first win of the season. He faces LHP Jeff Locke (2-2, 4.71) in the opener on Friday.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.