NY Mets lose 9th straight, drop to 7-13 in ugly Cubs blowout

The Mets lost 12-4 to the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field, falling to 7-13 on the season. It is their 9th consecutive loss — the longest losing streak the franchise has endured since 2004.

The game was over before most people finished their first inning coffee. Kodai Senga allowed 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st on an RBI single by Seiya Suzuki and a 3-run home run by Moisés Ballesteros. Nico Hoerner added a 2-run shot in the 2nd to make it 6-3. A Brett Baty error in the 4th let another run in. By the time Senga exited after 3.1 innings, the Cubs had scored 7 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. His ERA now sits at 8.83 through 3 starts.

The offense gave them something to work with early. Marcus Semien doubled home Francisco Alvarez in the 2nd, and Tyrone Taylor followed with a 2-RBI single that trimmed the deficit to 4-3. But Taylor was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double, killing the inning with runners still available. The kind of play that defines a team in a spiral.

The bullpen didn’t hold it there. Huascar Brazobán got through his 0.2 innings cleanly, but Sean Manaea gave back 5 runs in 4 innings — a Matt Shaw RBI double, a wild pitch that scored a run, and a Dansby Swanson sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 10-3 through 7. Ian Happ capped it with a 2-run homer in the 8th.

14 Hits, 4 Runs

The Mets finished with 14 hits — the same number as the Cubs. Bo Bichette, Francisco Lindor, Luis Robert Jr., Carson Benge, and Mark Vientos all had knocks. MJ Melendez went 2-for-3 with a walk. The problem wasn’t contact. It was sequencing, execution, and a rotation that has not given this team a chance to breathe in over a week.

In the 8th, Lindor singled, Robert Jr. doubled, and Alvarez drove in a run to make it 10-4 — the only damage the Mets could manage against a Cubs bullpen that wasn’t particularly sharp. Tommy Pham pinch hit in the 9th and lined out to end the game.