CHICAGO — The Mets changed the script slightly Sunday, but the final scene to this horror show was all too familiar, with the opponent celebrating a victory.
Devin Williams wore the goat horns, blowing the save in the ninth before Nico Hoerner’s sacrifice fly against Craig Kimbrel in the 10th extended the Mets’ losing streak to 11 games with a 2-1 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
The losing streak matches the club’s longest since 2002.
A sputtering Mets lineup managed only 10 runs in the six games on the road trip. On this day the Mets went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Kimbrel threw a wild pitch to advance automatic runner Pete Crow-Armstrong to third base with nobody out in the 10th before Hoerner won it with a fly to right.
Ex-Met Michael Conforto tied it against Williams with a pinch-hit RBI double in the ninth. Tyrone Taylor didn’t field the ball cleanly in right field, allowing Ian Happ to score easily. Happ led off the inning with a single against Williams, who struggled in his previous appearance, allowing four earned runs over one-third of an inning against the Dodgers.
Tobias Myers, in an opener’s role of sorts, gave the Mets two scoreless innings before David Peterson entered for the third. Peterson pitched 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings in relief — his most effective outing since his first start of the season.
Peterson allowed a triple to the first batter he faced, Crow-Armstrong, but escaped the inning with help from Hoerner’s line-drive double play, on which Crow-Armstrong was caught off third base.
MJ Melendez — one of the few Mets showing life offensively — homered leading off the fifth. Melendez worked the count full against Javier Assad before clearing the ivy in right for his first Mets homer. Melendez began the day 4-for-10 since his recall from Triple-A Syracuse.
Peterson drilled Crow-Armstrong with two outs in the fifth, but Crow-Armstrong was thrown out by Luis Torrens attempting to advance to second.
Hoerner singled in the sixth and stole second with one out. Huascar Brazobán replaced Peterson after Michael Busch was retired. Brazobán walked two batters to load the bases before striking out Seiya Suzuki to preserve the one-run lead.
Matt Shaw singled leading off the bottom of the seventh inning, but was left stranded at second base — following Brooks Raley’s wild pitch — as Luke Weaver retired Dansby Swanson for the final out.
Weaver returned to pitch a scoreless eighth before Williams entered for the ninth.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
