Harvey delivers on October stage
Defensive gems back Mets pitching in NL series opener.
Matt Harvey delivered his first huge performance on the October stage. Daniel Murphy has been providing them all postseason.
“I wanted this game bad,” Harvey said Saturday night after pitching the New York Mets to a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the NL Championship Series opener.
After eliminating St. Louis and rolling into New York with 12 wins in 13 games, the Cubs and their young sluggers were stopped cold on a chilly night at Citi Field. Trying to end a championship drought that dates to 1908, they remained four wins from capturing their first pennant in seven decades.
Meanwhile, the Mets have a mind to make some history of their own.
“If Harvey wasn’t pitching, it would have looked a lot better. He was outstanding tonight,” Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. “His stuff is always good, but the command was outrageous tonight.”
Game 2 in the best-ofseven series was scheduled for Sunday night, with Chicago ace Jake Arrieta facing rookie Noah Syndergaard.
Left fielder Yoenis Cespedes cut down a runner at the plate, and Curtis Granderson had two RBIs for New York. Travis d’Arnaud homered off the giant Mets apple in straightaway center field.
“I’ve never seen that before,” Murphy said.
Helped by Cespedes’ strong throw, Harvey struck out nine and worked into the eighth for the first time in more than two months — brushing aside all that late-season hoopla about his innings limit as his 2015 total reached 202.
“I talk to this guy every day. I know exactly what he’s made of,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He wants the baseball. … That is not just a mask that he’s putting out. This kid likes to compete.”
Jeurys Familia got four outs for his third playoff save, and the East champs solved the wild-card Cubs for the first time all year. The Mets went 0-7 during the season and had dropped nine in a row to Chicago overall.
New York is looking to advance to the World Series for the first time in 15 years, the longest absence in franchise history but one the Cubs and all their pained, loyal followers certainly scoff at.
Murphy connected off losing pitcher Jon Lester for his fourth homer of the playoffs and made a diving play at second base for the final out.
“I freaked out when I caught it, and then you’ve got to make the throw,” Murphy said. “I just happened to be in the right spot.”
Kyle Schwarber was the only one of those rookie boppers who showed off his power for the Cubs, hitting a mammoth homer that chased Harvey with two outs in the eighth to make it 4-2.
“Once again, put our team behind the 8-ball against a really good pitcher,” Lester said. “Just trying to get your feet wet and trying to figure out what’s going on, and boom! You’re down 1-0.”