NEW YORK — Mets arms are stifling the Cubs’ bats, and the rest of the series is only going to get trickier for the Baby Bears.
Taijuan Walker put on a pitching clinic across seven innings in the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Cubs on Tuesday at a rocking Citi Field. Walker set a new career-high with 12 strikeouts over 92 dominant pitches. He finished his outing by retiring his final 12 batters against a potent Chicago lineup.
Walker, representing one of the three-headed dragons that make up the Mets rotation, has a 2.12 ERA through his first 12 starts and 68 innings pitched this season.
The Mets (34-25) have won the first two games of their four-game set against the Cubs (38-29) with no breathing room in sight for Chicago. Jacob deGrom and his major-league leading 0.52 ERA take the hill on Wednesday, followed by Marcus Stroman, who has been excellent this year, to close the series on Thursday. The Amazin’ rotation owns a 2.72 ERA, the best mark in the league.
The only blemish on Walker’s final line was the two-run home run he allowed to Javier Baez in the third inning. Walker achieved his season-high in strikeouts with 10 whiffs to end the sixth inning; he had not reached double digits in strikeouts since 2017, before his Tommy John surgery. And then the right-hander somehow became even more commanding. His 12th punch-out of the night was also his 600th career strikeout.
Seth Lugo picked up where Walker left off and recorded his first save of the season in only his sixth relief appearance of the year. Edwin Diaz, after pitching in three of the team’s last four games, had the night off. Lugo was dominant in the eighth inning, getting two strikeouts and using his vintage fastball to shut down the Cubs. But the situation became delicate in the ninth with just a one-run Mets’ lead.
Jake Marisnick lined a single off Lugo and then tried to score from first base on an Eric Sogard line drive to right-center field. Kevin Pillar gathered the ball and sent the throw in to Luis Guillorme, who fired a perfect bullet to James McCann to nab Marisnick at the plate.
Lugo, who looked gassed at 30-plus pitches, then walked Jason Heyward to put the go-ahead run on first.
But Lugo was exactly the man the Mets would want on the mound for a sticky situation. With his velocity decreased and the game on the line, Lugo stuck out Sergio Alcantara to end the game and collect his first save of 2021.
