Game Recap: Cubs fall to Mets despite Suzuki's two homers

David Banks - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 8 hours ago

CHICAGO - Now that the Wild Card round is set for the Chicago Cubs (89-70) at least in terms of who they will play, there are still some orders of business to take care of. Perhaps the most important order of business would be to secure the top Wild Card spot, as their magic number to achieve that position is two.

Should that happen, the Cubs would host the entire Wild Card series at Wrigley Field, which is a massive advantage for them. Other orders of business would be to get both Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga right heading into the playoffs, as they have been struggling as of late. Suzuki showed some signs of life, connecting for two homers and driving in four, but it was Imanaga who struggled as the New York Mets (82-77) tagged him for eight earned runs as part of an 8-5 series-clinching win.

There are just some teams that give pitchers problems, and the New York Mets are one of those teams for Imanaga, as he has made two career starts against them at home and has allowed 18 earned runs in those starts. Tonight was more of the same from Imanaga as the long ball and plenty of hard contact did him in as he was touched up for nine hits in his 5 2/3 innings.

Unlike the first two games of this series, where the Cubs jumped on the Mets early and often, it was the Mets striking first as a leadoff walk to Francisco Lindor to begin the game came back to bite Imanaga. Following a one-out double from Pete Alonso to put a pair of runners in scoring position, Mark Vientos popped out for what looked to be a double play as Lindor was thrown out by Dansby Swanson at the plate.

The only issue was that Swanson made the catch in foul territory and then fell into the protective netting, which, by rule, makes for a dead ball and allowed Lindor to score. Brandon Nimmo tacked on a single shortly after to give the Mets a 2-0 lead, and they never looked back as they led this one wire to wire. Not only did Lindor play a role in the Mets' first run, but he tagged Imanaga for the first of two New York homers in the third as the Mets opened up an early 3-0 lead.

Usually, a lead like that against the Cubs tends to be safe, at least during the second half, and with star rookie Nolan McClean, who is now 5-1 with a 2.07 ERA, the Cubs had a massive hole to climb. Despite his final line showing five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, he pitched much better than that as he carved up the Cubs offense to the tune of 11 strikeouts. Already facing a sizeable deficit, things got out of hand in a hurry for Imanaga in the fourth as Nimmo got things rolling with a one-out single.

Former Cub Luis Torrens followed that up with a single of his own, setting the stage for the big blow as Brett Baty delivered what would go down as the game-winning three-run shot to put the Mets on top 6-0. It may have taken the Cubs four innings to get their offense into gear, but once they started to go, things were looking up as Suzuki put the Cubs on the board with a solo shot in the fourth, followed by another one from Swanson in the fifth.

Trailing by four after the two homers, Imanaga did his best to get through seven, but once again it was Nimmo starting another Mets rally with a single. Imanaga came close to limiting the damage, only to have the Baty single keep the inning alive, resulting in the two-RBI double from Tyrone Taylor to make this an 8-2 game.

With McClean still on the mound to begin the seventh, it was the one-out walk to Ian Happ that gave the Cubs hope as the meat of their lineup was coming up. That includes the rookie Moises Ballesteros, who continues to prove he can hit, using a double to put a pair of runners on one out. After picking up his first homer in what seems like months earlier in the game, it was Suzuki delivering his fifth multi-homer game of the season, taking McClean back for a second time in the ball game to pull the Cubs to within 8-5.

From that point on, this became a battle of the bullpens. Unlike the rest of the series, where the bullpens have struggled, there was none of that in this one, as three combined hits were hit off the relievers, leading to another disappointing series loss heading to the postseason.