Matt Harvey Left In Lurch By Mets' Offense, Bullpen
CHICAGO (CBSNewYork/AP) — Matt Harvey refused to let a hard-luck loss get him down.
Despite being letdown by both his offense and his bullpen, the New York Mets ace kept his comments upbeat and centered on the team — not himself — on Wednesday night.
Chris Coghlan drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Chicago Cubs a 2-1 victory over the Mets, wasting seven shutout innings from Harvey.
The Cubs, who have won three straight, scored twice in the final two innings as Carlos Torres (1-2) suffered the loss.
The Mets still are in first place in the NL East, but have lost three straight and have dropped six of eight on the road.
"After the last couple of weeks, we really needed that," Harvey said. "We're gonna be ready to play (Thursday). We've got a long stretch of games and we're all gonna stay positive and go out there."
The right-hander allowed only three hits and struck out nine by blended a blistering fastball with a heavy dose of off-speed pitches. But that was only good enough for a no decision — especially with the offense struggling.
"We're gonna put up runs," he said. "We're in a little bit of a rut right now, but, obviously, everybody goes through that. Tomorrow's the first day to come out of it."
Mets manager Terry Collins pulled Harvey after 100 pitches.
"That is what we're faced with right now: the health of Matt Harvey for the good of the team," Collins said. "We're just going to have to make sure that we try to keep him as healthy as possible. There's going to be a lot of people that disagree with it. We'll take care of him as best we can."
The Cubs tied the score in the bottom of the eighth. Addison Russell had a one-out single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Dexter Fowler.
With New York's bullpen short, Torres stayed in to start the ninth and gave up back-to-back hits to Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro before intentionally walking Miguel Montero. After Collins brought in Jeurys Familia with the bases loaded and no one out, Coghlan drew a walk to give the Cubs the win.
"It's always tough to lose a tough game like that, especially when you've had the outing . Matt pitched a great game," Collins said. "We're just not giving any of our guys any room to wiggle, but he was outstanding."
Hector Rondon (2-0) earned the win for the Cubs after pitching a scoreless ninth.
Cubs starter Jason Hammel allowed only two hits until the fifth inning when the Mets broke a scoreless tie.
A single by Curtis Granderson and a Daniel Murphy double in the sixth inning gave the Mets runners on second and third with nobody out. Michael Cuddyer grounded out to score Granderson before Hammel pitched out of trouble to limit the damage to one run.
New York's only other threat came in the first inning when they loaded the bases with one out, but failed to score as Hammel got Wilmer Flores top pop out to short left field and then struck out Kevin Plawecki.
"That was a big moment because you don't want to give up several runs and then have to face (Harvey)," Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. "Once he got by that moment, he really settled in and pitched wonderfully."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mets: Center fielder Juan Lagares was held out of the line-up for a second straight game with a slight strain on his upper right side. Manager Terry Collins said the club needs to make sure the issue goes away before the issue forces him out of the line-up for a longer period. . Right-handed pitcher Buddy Carlyle will be placed on the disabled list on Thursday after injuring his back on Monday night while covering a throw to first base. The Mets will call left-handed reliever Jack Leathersich up from Triple-A to fill the roster spot.
Cubs: Infielder Tommy La Stella is playing in extended spring training games in Arizona while he continues to deal with inflammation in his right rib cage. There is no timetable for his return.
UP NEXT
Mets: Jon Niese (3-2, 1.95) is 3-4 all-time against the Cubs and will be looking for his third win in his last four outings after giving up a total of three earned runs in his last three starts.
Cubs: Travis Wood (2-2, 4.96) is looking for his first win in May after taking back-to-back losses against the Brewers and Cardinals in which he gave up 10 earned runs and three home runs, matching his total in his first four starts.
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