NEW YORK -- The Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets 2-0 in 11 innings on Wednesday night. Here's a quick look at the game.
How it happened: Starlin Castro beat out an infield hit scoring Anthony Rizzo in the top of the 11th inning. Miguel Montero followed with a run-scoring single. Both starting pitchers kept the opposition off the board as Jon Lester and Bartolo Colon pitched well, each going seven innings. Lester got out of a couple of jams after giving up leadoff doubles in the second and fifth innings. The Mets blew a squeeze play in the eighth as both teams made mistakes on the base paths. The Cubs bullpen threw four shutout innings with Justin Grimm earning his first career save.
What it means: It's a big win after it looked like the Cubs would give the game away by making several mistakes -- but the Mets made bigger ones and the visitors prevailed.
The two runs scored extended a streak to eight games of scoring less than three, but the Cubs are 3-5 in those eight so they're are hanging in there. The franchise record of scoring less than three is nine, set in 1988. Twice they had chances late in the game as Jonathan Herrera bunted into a double play in the eighth, and then after a double steal in the ninth -- setting up men on second and third -- Castro flied out and Mike Baxter grounded out. Herrera hit into another double play in the 10th inning and the Cubs were 1-for-9 with men in scoring position until Castro beat out the grounder in the 11th. Jorge Soler is due back soon, but until then it's on the players they have to break out of the slump. Still, a win's a win and the Cubs have bounced back after a five-game losing streak by taking the first two in this series.
Scoreless streak: Going back to Sunday's contest in St. Louis, Cubs pitchers have thrown 23 consecutive scoreless innings including back-to-back shutouts.
What's next: The series finale between the two teams takes place on Thursday afternoon as the Cubs go for the season sweep when Jake Arrieta (7-5, 2.94) faces Jacob deGrom (8-5, 2.15).
