Murphy HRs again; Mets beat Arrieta, Cubs for 2-0 NLCS lead

Somewhere between Pittsburgh and Chicago, Jake Arrieta lost his unhittable aura. Travis d’Arnaud had a home run and now the Mets have the chance to to take a commanding lead in the series.

Cubs: Hendricks (8-7) did not get a decision in the Division Series against St. Louis, allowing three runs and four hits in 4 2-3 innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. “It’s Kershaw, Greinke, Kershaw, Greinke, Lester, Arrieta”.

Arrieta, who wore short sleeves, had not given up a first-inning run in 25 consecutive starts since May 29.

He struck out eight, walked one and yielded only three hits, quieting another revved-up crowd at Citi Field as the night wore on.

New York reclaimed the lead for good in the bottom half on a two-out, RBI-single from Curtis Granderson.

So kaboom, 13 pitches into Arrieta’s night, it was Mets 3, Cubs 0.

Daniel Murphy has homered in four straight playoff games.

“I’m conditioned as good as anybody”, he said.

Noah Syndergaard started the game for New York and didn’t disappoint. After all, he was untouchable the last two months of the regular season, and won the most crucial game the team has seen to date in the one-game playoff against the Pirates. Regardless of how Arrieta feels, the results from his last two starts have to create a few concern for any future appearances this postseason.

The series shifts to Chicago and Wrigley Field for the next three games.

Instead of placing the blame entirely on himself, though, Wright did credit a few of the opposing pitchers, including the four big starters: Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke of the Dodgers and Arrieta and Jon Lester of the Cubs.

In many ways it was a repeat of last night, as the Cubs were not only slow from the start offensively, but had to try to battle back from behind the entire game. The New York Mets ended that fantasy, leaving this dream season only two losses away from being over. “If Harvey wasn’t pitching, it would have looked a lot better”.

“The coolest part of that is we’re winning baseball games and we’re up 2-0 so far”, Murphy said. For the playoffs, he’s hitting.

“That’s tough on hitters, especially in weather like this”, Mets manager Terry Collins said, noting his team’s blessed to have power pitchers in the starting rotation when most clubs just have them in the bullpen. The Cubs finished with just five hits – two by Dexter Fowler and Bryant, and an infield hit by Rizzo in the ninth. Posting three runs in the opening frame, David Wright finally broke his slump and put the Mets on the board with a RBI double. Yoenis Cespedes has just two hits, both singles, since his NLDS Game 3 homer, though he did drive in a run with a sharply hit ground ball to shortstop on Sunday.

With a right-hander on the mound for the Mets, the lefty-swinging Coghlan replaces right-handed-hitting Jorge Soler in right field.

Chicago is trying to reach a first World Series in 70 years and win the Major League title after a 107-year wait since their 1908 triumph.

The bruised big apple at Citi Field got a temporary band-aid. Yet, Maddon was doing his best to channel his inner Zen. Arietta has been 12-0 on the road since back in May in the regular season and he previously won against the Mets in July. Manager Joe Maddon speaks passionately about coming home to Wrigley and how everything could change in the next 24 hours. He’s the first in Mets history to accomplish the feat, and the only player with a longer streak in October was Carlos Beltran, who homered in five straight playoff games for the 2004 Astros.