Mets’ Bats Remain On Fire In 11-1 Thrashing Of Cubs

Despite having a loss on the ledger for the first time in over a week coming into Friday’s game, the New York Mets (36-38) showed no signs of slowing down in a 11-1 blowout win over the Chicago Cubs (36-40) at Wrigley Field.

The Mets, who are averaging an absurd 6.35 runs per game since June 1, helped themselves out in that department once again today with an offensive explosion against, to date, one of MLB’s best starting pitchers in Shōta Imanaga, who entered the contest with the third-lowest ERA (1.89) and sixth-highest fWAR (2.2) among qualified National League starters.

He was in for a rude awakening against New York, however, as he quickly allowed Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo to reach base before J.D. Martinez greeted him with a three-run home run in the first inning, providing the Mets with a 3-0 lead just three batters into the game.

New York only made matters worse for the 30-year-old left-hander during the ensuing innings as Francisco Alvarez and Nimmo both homered in the second, making it 6-1 after the Cubs tacked on one run in the bottom of the first. A Jose Iglesias single, one of his four hits on the day, further extended it to 7-1 in the third before the Mets chased Imanaga in the fourth inning and put up an additional four runs that made it 11-1, helping to raise his ERA over a full point to 2.96.

Jose Quintana was stellar for the Mets once again with Alvarez behind the dish, going 6 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts, both of which are season-highs, on four hits while allowing an unearned run. His ERA on the season is down to 4.58 after reaching as high as 5.44 in May.

Adam Ottavino and Drew Smith, both of whom have dealt with their fair share of hardships this year, combined to throw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief with five strikeouts.

STAT OF THE GAME

Seven of the Mets’ nine starters recorded a hit on Friday while four members of that group collected multiple. Their performance marked the third time in the last five games that New York put up double-digit runs after doing so three times over the entirety of the season prior to that span.

PLAYER OF THE GAME 

Iglesias went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs and now owns a slash line of .438/.486/.500 over 32 at-bats with the Mets. The team is 8-4 in games he’s appeared in.

ON DECK

Tylor Megill (2-3, 3.23 ERA) takes the bump looking for his second-consecutive win after twirling five innings of two-run ball against the San Diego Padres last Sunday. He will be opposed by Jameson Taillon (3-3, 3.08 ERA), who has allowed just two earned runs across 12 innings over his last two outings. The game will air on both FS1 and SNY at 2:20 p.m. ET.

 

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