FINAL SCORE: Mets 8 - 3 Cubs
The New York Mets are moving on the World Series for the first time since 2000 after completing the sweep of the Chicago Cubs with an 8-3 victory in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night.
The Mets wasted no time getting on the board in the top of the first and batted around en route to four runs. Lucas Duda blasted a three-run home run to deep center off Jason Hammel that scored Curtis Granderson and Yoenis Cespedes for a 3-0 lead. Cespedes would leave the game an inning later with left shoulder soreness.
Travis d'Arnaud then followed with a solo shot over the right-field wall and New York went back-to-back to start out the game up 4-0.
Duda came through again in the top of the second, again in a two-strike count, but this time against Travis Wood. He ripped a two-run double to the gap in right that scored David Wright and Daniel Murphy for his fifth RBI of the night.
The Cubs finally got to Steven Matz in the bottom of the fourth and loaded the bases with no outs. However, Chicago was only able to muster one run on an RBI groundout to first by Kyle Schwarber. Chicago threatened again with two on and two out for Kris Bryant in the fifth, but Bartolo Colon came on in relief and struck out the rookie to end the inning.
Colon ended up picking up the win, while Hammel was charged with the loss.
In the eighth, Daniel Murphy made history with a home run in his sixth consecutive postseason game, which is a new MLB record. This one was off Fernando Rodney and scored David Wright, who had walked after Rodney started the inning with two strikeouts. Though Murphy had just 14 home runs in the regular season, he now has half of that number in the playoffs. For his efforts, he was later named the NLCS Most Valuable Player.
Bryant responded in the bottom of the frame with a two-run home run of his own to deep left field off Tyler Clippard that scored Jorge Soler to cut the deficit to five.
However, Jeurys Familia recorded the final three outs in the ninth to clinch the NL pennant.
The Cubs are now still without a World Series championship since 1908 and were unable to make the Back to the Future movie prophecy of a sweep in the 2015 Fall Classic come true. Instead, the Cubs were officially swept in the NLCS on Back to the Future Day, Oct. 21, 2015.
However, the future of Chicago does look bright, and the experience that the younger players were able to gain in this postseason will go a long way in the upcoming years.
The Mets now have five days of rest before Game 1 of the World Series when they will face either the Kansas City Royals or the Toronto Blue Jays. The Royals will host the Jays with a 3-2 series lead in Game 6 on Friday, starting at 8:07 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
New York will start the Fall Classic with a completely rested pitching rotation, which means the AL winner will need to go through Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey in the first three games.
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