CHICAGO—Daniel Murphy homered in a record-tying fifth straight post-season game Tuesday to help the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 5-2 and move within one win of a World Series berth.
Yoenis Cespedes scored a go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the sixth inning and added two runs-batted-in for the Mets, who took a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.
The Cubs, seeking their first World Series title since 1908 and their first appearance in 70 years, will try to fend off elimination when they host game four on Wednesday, when the Mets will be trying to book a return to Major League Baseball’s title showcase for the first time in 15 years.
Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom improved to 3-0 in the post-season after working seven strong innings and was feeling confident.
“Hopefully we can win it tomorrow and get some days off heading into the World Series,” he said.
The Boston Red Sox, in the 2004 American League Championship Series, are the only team to erase an 0-3 deficit to win a seven-game series, getting past the New York Yankees on their way to ending their own World Series drought.
“Of course you think about those things, you think about the parallels, think about the fact that that happened against a New York team,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
“We think about all that stuff, but it’s up to us to go out and play and execute.”
DeGrom allowed two runs on four hits, walked one and struck out seven, recovering from a shaky first inning in which Chicago’s Kyle Schwarber launched a 3-2 pitch to the left field bleachers for a solo homer.
That pulled the Cubs level at 1-1 after Cespedes’ two-out double had plated a run in the top of the frame.
“Not fun to have a first inning like that, especially after we put up a run the last thing I want to do is go out there and give it up,” deGrom said. “After that I just tried to settle down and just tried to get early outs.”
Murphy gave New York a 2-1 lead in the third with his two-out, solo homer to right-centerfield.
He joined Carlos Beltran of the 2004 Houston Astros as the only players in post-season history to homer in five games in a row.
– Good at-bats –
“I’m definitely seeing it well,” he said. “I thought the offense today did a good job of just having good at-bats up and down the lineup.”
Chicago rightfielder Jorge Soler collected his third playoff homer to knot the score at 2-2 in the fourth.
But the Mets went ahead for good in the sixth when Cespedes scored from third base with two outs on what should have been an inning-ending third strike by left fielder Michael Conforto.
The ball eluded catcher Miguel Montero for a wild pitch. Cespedes sprinted home and Conforto reached first base.
Wilmer Flores then hit a ball to right field that dropped in front of Jorge Soler and disappeared into the ivy covering the Wrigley Field walls for a ground-rule double.
New York added two more runs in the seventh, after Cubs leftfielder Schwarber misjudged a Cespedes one-out fly ball that dropped for a single, scoring David Wright.
Murphy, who had reached base on an infield single, advanced to third on the throw and made it 5-2 when he came home on first baseman Lucas Duda’s grounder to first.
Maddon said the Cubs wouldn’t change their approach for game four.
“Business as usual,” he said. “Come out, get ready to play and just take it from there.”