Mets Lose to Cubs
Despite his 0-7 record, Mets fans had good feelings for Shaun Marcum following his gutsy performance in that 20 inning game, going eight innings in relief and absorbing the loss after giving up a run in the 2oth. Well, all of those good feelings are now gone after Marcum fell to 0-8 after his latest lousy job against the Cubs Friday at Citi Field.
Nate Schierholtz hit a solo home run in the first inning to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.
Marcum allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases in the second inning with no outs. Darwin Barney singled to make it 2-0. With one out and the bases will loaded, David DeJesus launched a long drive to deep center that was just out of the reach of Juan Lagares. It went for a three-run triple to make it a 5-0 game.
The Mets got on the board in the third. Lagares led off with a triple to center. DeJesus slammed into the wall trying to make the catch and crumpled to the ground in agony. He was able to walk off the field, but it’s likely he has a separated shoulder or another serious shoulder injury. Lagares scored on a Daniel Murphy single with two outs to make it 5-1. David Wright walked but Lucas Duda struck out to end the inning. Of course he did — there was a runner in scoring position, after all.
The Mets certainly had their chances against Edwin Jackson, who came into the game with a record of 2-8. They got runners on first and second in both the fourth and fifth innings, but the Mets could not get the timely hits to drive them in.
The Cubs made it 6-1 on doubles by Anthony Rizzo and Luis Valbuena. That was all for Marcum. David Aardsma came on to get the last out.
So Marum went 5.2 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits. He has a 5.43 ERA to go along with that sterling 0-8 record. No one likes him anymore.
Pinch hitter Collin Cowgill led off the seventh inning against reliever James Russell with a double. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Murphy single to make it 6-2. Wright then hit his third single on the night (he also had three on Thursday) to put runners on first and second with one out. Duda singled to left to drive in Murphy to make it 6-3. Wright made a mistake trying to go to third on the play and got thrown out for the second out. Marlon Byrd struck out to end the inning.
Mets lose 6-3.