Mets Win NLCS Game 3 Over Cubs

By Josh Peelman | Oct 20, 2015

The New York Mets have been rolling this postseason behind the hot bat and play of Daniel Murphy. Tonight in a pivotal Game 3 for both teams, he continued to live up to the hype, most notably with his home run to mid right in the 3rd inning that gave the Mets the lead. The Mets went on the road and won 5-2 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field to take a commanding 3-0 series lead, which means they are only one win away from a World Series berth.

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The Cubs, coming into this game, had been struggling behind the plate going 29-of-63, which when batting averages are averaged out, equivilates to overall .159 batting average as a team. The Mets have been doing a slight bit better going 25 of 58, good for an overall .224 batting average as a team when all the batting averages are averaged.

The difference so far scoring wise going into Game 3 had been the play and scoring ability of Daniel Murphy, who was 3-for-7 with one walk, two home runs, and three RBI, which is almost half of the eight runs the Mets have scored in this series. In addition, according to the Associated Press, coming into the game Murphy was one game shy of matching Carlos Beltran’s record of hitting a home run in five straight postseason games.

The real question tonight was whether the Cubs pitching staff could finally slow him down. The Cubs decided to go with Kyle Hendrick’s (0-0, 5.79 PS ERA), a right hander who played quite well during the regular season, but was yanked out of his previous start in the NL Divisional Series versus the St. Louis Cardinals after only 4 2/3 innings because he gave up three runs, all of which were home runs.

Jacob deGrom

once again gave up several base hits, but only two of them, solo home runs scored. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets decided to turn to Jacob deGrom (2-0, 1.38 PS ERA) whose clutch strikeouts in dangerous situations in Game 5 of the NLDS helped them secure placement in the NLCS less than week ago against the Dodgers. Tonight he continued to give up several hits, but continued to get outs when it mattered.

The Mets went up early 1-0 in the first inning after a single by David Wright was followed soon after by a clutch double to deep left by Yoenis Céspedes to score the run. The Cubs would quickly respond though with a solo home run just over the wall in left center in the bottom of the 1st by Kyle Schwarber to tie the game at 1-1.

Daniel Murphy responded in kind, as he has done so many times this postseason, with a home run of his own in the top of third over the wall in right. That home run tied the MLB Postseason record held by Carlos Beltran.

The Cubs had yet another answer in the bottom of the fourth with a home run by Jorge Soler to right center to tie the game at 2-2. The Mets came right back two innings later in the 6th with several hits and a strike three swing and miss wild pitch that scored Céspedes.

October 20, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; New York Mets manager

Terry Collins

(10) argued the call with umpire Ted Barrett (65) in the sixth inning against the Chicago Cubs in game three of the NLCS at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Immediately following that, in a play that was very controversial, Wilmer Flores hit a ball to left that got by right fielder Soler, and rolled into the ivy, prompting Dexter Fowler to raise his hands in an attempt to convince the umpire to rule it a ground rule double because he couldn’t find it.

The umpire did end up calling it a ground rule double instead of a live ball which according to the rules of the ballpark is fair to do, thus leaving two guys on second and third for the Mets and no run scored. The pitcher Jacob deGrom would then follow all that up by flying out for the Mets ending the inning with just the one score by Céspedes.

The Mets would score two more runs in the 7th on a dropped catch error in left by Kyle Schwarber and a line out that led to a tag and score from third by Murphy. The Mets would go on to win by that score, 5-2.

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The Mets accomplished what they needed to do tonight which was to win a game that would almost certainly seal the deal on a trip to the World Series. The Cubs on the other hand lost yet another game they needed to desperately to win.

Next up is a matchup in Game 4 which is slated to have Steven Matz (0-1, 5.40 PS ERA) pitching for the Mets, and Jason Hammel (0-0, 6.00 PS ERA) pitching for the Cubs, with a trip to the World Series on the line for the Mets and elimination for the Cubs.

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