It was a rainy day at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but the crummy weather did not stop the New York Mets from winning 5-2 over the Chicago Cubs to take a 3-0 series lead in the National League Championship Series.
The victory was led by starting pitcher Jacob deGrom, who went seven innings and gave up two runs on four hits, a walk and two unexpected home runs. Even though he gave up those few runs, he pitched better than the opposing starter.
Kyle Hendricks got the ball to toe the slab for the Cubs. Hendricks finished four innings and gave up two runs on five hits and a walk. The 25-year-old has showed promise, but just did not have his best stuff on Tuesday.
Daniel Murphy continued his historic production at the plate this postseason, as he blasted a third inning solo home run to give the Mets, at the time, a 2-1 lead. Murphy is now hitting .417/.462/.1167 during the NLCS against the Cubs.
While Murphy was outstanding, so was mid-season acquisition Yoenis Cespedes. The outfielder finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. The two, three, and four hitters of the Mets lineup combined to go 8-for-14 with three RBI and five runs scored.
Chicago knotted the game at 1-1 in the first inning as rookie Kyle Schwarber hit a home run to left field. The home run tied the game after Cespedes ripped an RBI double.
In the third, it was Murphy who hit his sixth home run of the month and increased his batting average to .357 during the postseason.
Murphy's fifth straight postseason game with a home run ties the record set by Carlos Beltran in 2004, when he was with the Houston Astros.
A few hours after Cubs manager Joe Maddon slotted Jorge Soler in the starting lineup, the youngster hits a 424-foot home run to tie the game once again, 2-2.
The sixth and seventh inning was all New York. The Mets used a wild pitch to their advantage, along with an RBI single from Cespedes and a Lucas Duda ground out to first base that allowed Murphy to slide in safe at home. After the two innings, New York held a 5-2 lead, which stuck.
It was Jeurys Familia who recorded his fifth save of the postseason and third in the series against the Cubs. Familia owns a 0.00 ERA along with a 0.35 WHIP over the 2015 playoffs over 8.2 innings pitched.
Meanwhile, Trevor Cahill took the loss for Chicago as he struggled in the sixth frame. The 27-year-old has a rough 4.15 ERA over 4.1 innings thrown this postseason.
The Mets and Cubs will battle for Game 4 of the NLCS on Wednesday. Chicago needs to avoid a loss to stay alive, while New York would like to get a victory, wrap up the series early and advance to the World Series.
Rookie left-hander Steven Matz will toe the slab for the Mets in Game 4 and the Cubs will toss Jason Hammel to the mound in a do-or-die situation.
"Being up 3-0, we're very, very fortunate, because the Cubs have played great," New York's manager Terry Collins said. "We've got to come out tomorrow and Steven Matz has got to give us a game."