Oct. 21--The situation: After the Cubs twice had tied the game via long balls from Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler, the game moved to the sixth inning tied 2-2. Yoenis Cespedes opened the inning with a single to left -- the outfielder's second of three hits on the night -- off reliever Trevor Cahill and advanced to second on Lucas Duda's sacrifice. With Travis d'Arnaud at the plate, Cespedes got a big jump and stole third base, just ahead of the throw from Cubs catcher Miguel Montero. Cespedes stayed put when d'Arnaud grounded out to Kris Bryant at third for the second out and that brought up Michael Conforto.
What happened next: With the count 2-2, Cahill broke off an 82-m.p.h. curveball that Conforto swung at in the dirt for strike three. The wild pitch eluded Montero and while Conforto ran to first on the dropped third strike, Cespedes scored to put the Mets ahead 3-2. Wilmer Flores followed with a sinking liner to right that skipped past a diving Soler and reached the wall where it disappeared into the ivy. Flores was ordered back to third on the ground-rule double and the inning ended when Mets starter Jacob deGrom flew out to left.
The aftermath: Playing with the lead, the Mets kept coming and added two runs in the seventh on a Cespedes RBI single and a Duda groundout to take a 5-2 advantage. Mets relievers shut down the Cubs the rest of the way to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Wednesday.
The reaction: "It's not a bad pitch. I know I have to block that ball but it's not as easy as it looks. It hurts. That one went by and it really, really, really bothered me. I can't change that now. It's over and I have to move on." -- Cubs catcher Miguel Montero on the dropped third strike
The reaction II: "That was our fault. We permitted him to (steal third). That was a very big play. They've done little things well and taken advantage of us in different moments. It's a really closely contested game and they had the edge regarding some of the little things that they did." -- Cubs manager Joe Maddon
