QUEENS, N.Y. — Christopher Morel launched a two-run home run off Mets closer Edwin Diaz to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 3-1 victory on Monday night at Citi Field after being no-hit for the first seven innings by Luis Severino.
“It’s baseball, right?” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s frustrating with a great outing like Sevy’s, but you have to get ready for tomorrow.”
Making just his sixth start with the Mets after signing from the Yankees over the winter, Severino carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning before a Dansby Swanson single broke up his historic bid. He allowed one run on one hit with five strikeouts, two walks, and a hit batter on 101 pitches.
“I was feeling good,” Severino said. “The fastball command was outstanding. Even the breaking pitches, the sweeper, the movement was really good.”
Diaz, normally untouchable, allowed a one-out Mike Tauchman double before Morel crushed his fourth home run of the season in the top of the ninth inning to relegate the Mets (14-14) to their sixth loss in their last eight games.
The Mets got runners on first and second after Cubs reliever Hector Neris walked Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil with one out, but DJ Stewart and Brett Baty struck out.
After getting through seven hitless innings, Severino walked Michael Busch to lead off the eighth before Swanson broke up the no-no with a clean single to left over the head of shortstop Francisco Lindor to put runners on the corners with no outs and the Mets nursing a one-run lead.
“For me there, all I was just thinking about winning the game,” Severino said. “So I was just thinking, ‘OK, it’s over so let’s get a win here and throw good pitches and get out of this inning.”
Following two fielders’ choices, the Mets’ advantage was gone — a broken-bat roller from Nick Madrigal just slow enough to beat out an inning-ending double play attempt that scored Busch from third.
Third baseman Joey Wendle, who was brought in for defensive purposes, had a play at home to eliminate the run but opted to try for the more convoluted double play.
“Initially I thought the ball was hit a little bit harder than it was,” Wendle said. “By that point, I had already set my feet and committed to trying to turn the double play… Obviously looking at the replay, I had the opportunity to get him at home.”
The run eliminated Brandon Nimmo’s lead-off home run in the bottom of the first off Cubs starter Jameson Taillon to give the Mets a slim lead for the majority of the night. But the New York offense was equally as perplexed with Taillon, who was just as difficult to crack as Severino was.
The Chicago southpaw went 7.1 innings, allowing a single run on four hits while striking out one and walking one on just 78 pitches.
“He was throwing a few more off-speed pitches but he located well,” Nimmo said. “He was getting some soft contact. He was just silently having a good night and hitting locations and keeping guys off-balance. Tip your cap to him as well. He had a great night.”
Severino yielded his first base-runner of the night when he walked Ian Happ with two outs in the fourth inning but got Morel to ground out on the very next pitch to remain hitless.
Both Severino and Taillon needed eight pitches apiece to get through the fifth inning — the Mets’ righty was up to 59 pitches at that point while Taillon tossed just 48.
Severino got through the sixth inning on 10 pitches, which saw McNeil’s running throw from second narrowly beat Pete Crow-Armstrong’s dash to first base for the second out of the inning. Yan Gomes then lined out to McNeil to end the frame.
The efficient pitching saw the first five-and-a-half innings of the night take less than an hour; 59 minutes to be exact.
“That was probably as good as I’ve seen him, especially using his fastball,” Mendoza said. “In, out, up, down. It was electric.”
Severino hit Tauchman to lead off the top of the seventh before Alonso knocked down a hard Happ grounder down the first-base line to get the fielder’s choice at the bag.
McNeil caught Morel’s soft liner to second for the second out and with Tauchman on his way to third thinking it was going to fall, the Mets got an easy inning-ending double play to keep Severino’s night clean at 79 pitches.
“We know he has nasty stuff,” Nimmo said of Severino. “So when he locates well and is able to stay on his gameplan and execute, then he’s really tough to hit. I just felt like he was in a really good rhythm.”
