October 20th 2015 -- NLCS Game 3 -- Mets 5, Cubs 2

Tuesday night at Wrigley field it was Jacob deGrom versus Kyle Hendrick in game three of the NLCS and once again behind Daniel Murphy and the outstanding pitching of deGrom the Mets take a 3 games to none lead with a 5-2 win. Once again the Mets got going in the top of the 1^st.  Curtis Granderson walked, he was thrown out trying to steal 2^nd. David Wright followed with a single to left, then Yoenis Cespedes doubled in the gap in left scoring Wright for a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the 1^st, Kyle Schwarber clubbed his 2^nd homer of the series, a solo shot off deGrom and the game was tied at 1. In the top of the third, it happened again. Daniel Murphy continued his improbable post season hitting a solo homer to center his 3^rd homer of the series, his 5^th in 5 games and 6^th of the post season for a 2-1 Met lead.  Murphy is now tied for the all-time post season mark for home runs in consecutive post season games tying Carlos Beltran with the Astros in 2004. In the 5^th, deGrom yielded another solo shot, this one by Jorge Soler and the game was tied again at 2. Hendrick left after 4. In the 6^th off Trevor Cahill the Mets took the lead once again. Cespedes singled, Lucas Duda sacrificed him to 2^nd. Cespedes then stole third. Travis d’Arnaud grounded out. With 2 out Cahill struck out Michael Conforto but the ball got away from Miguel Montero and Cespedes scored on the dropped third straight to make it 3-2 Mets.  The next batter, Wilmer Flores hit a liner to right that Soler dove for and missed. The ball rolled to the wall and got stuck in the ivy. It was ruled a ground rule double and prevented Conforto from scoring.  deGrom batted next and flew out to left.  In the 7^th with 1 out Wright doubled.  Murphy ran out a squib infield hit. Cespedes hit a double off the wrist of Schwarber in left scoring Wright and leaving it 2^nd and 3^rd.  Duda then grounded to 1^st and brought home Murphy and it was 5-2 Mets. The heart of the Met order did the heavy lifting in this one. Wright went 3 for 4 with a walk, double and 2 runs scored; Murph went 2 for 5 with the homer and 2 runs scored. Cespedes went 3 for 5 with a double two RBI and a run scored.  deGrom was spot on once again notching the win going 7 innings allowing just 4 hits the 2 runs (2 solo homers) walking 2 and striking out 7.  He’s now 3-0 in the post-season. Hendrick takes the loss. Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless 8^th.  Jeurys Familia notched his 4^th post-season save in the 9^th. The Mets now just need 1 win in their next three to clinch a trip to the World Series. Wednesday night it’s game 4 of the set.  Steven Matz (0-1 5.40) goes for the Mets, Jason Hammel (0-0 6.00) goes for the Cubs.