Colon tops Cub ace as Mets ready broom

The Mets swept four straight games from the Cubs last October, and they suddenly – crazily — will have a chance to do it again on Sunday.

While that NLCS blanking to earn a trip to the World Series certainly was far more significant for the Mets, the possibility of doing it again this weekend might have been considered even more improbable

before the series began. With Bartolo Colon outdueling Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, the Mets took their third straight game from the MLB-leading Cubs, a 4-3 edging on Saturday night at Citi Field. Noah Syndergaard will oppose Jon Lester in a Sunday matinee for the chance to sweep the team with the best record in baseball (51-29), a swift reversal after the Mets (43-37) had scored only eight runs in dropping four straight games earlier in the week in Atlanta and Washington. “It’s important. You can believe you can compete, but then when you go out and do it, it means a lot,” Terry Collins said. “The confidence that it sends throughout the clubhouse, there’s no other way to do it except going out there and beat one of the real, real good teams three times. “We’ve done that, and we want to finish it off tomorrow.” Neil Walker (home r un) and Tr av i s d’Arnaud (2-for-3) drove in two runs apiece in support of Colon , who improved to 7-4 (with a 2.87 ERA) with six innings of two-run ball (100 pitches). Colon’s left leg stiffened running out a grounder in the fourth inning, but he said he’s been pitching through that issue since a start against Pittsburgh in mid-June.

“Sometimes he escapes words,” Collins said of Colon. “The way he goes about it, he just never ceases to amaze you.

“Tonight, one of the best, if not the best team in baseball, and he pitched great… Unfortunately his leg got a little stiff, but other than that, he’s remarkable.” Arrieta entered with a 28-3 record and a sterling 1.37 ERA over his previous 36 regular-season starts since June 21 of last season, although the righty ace also had allowed season-highs in runs (five) and walks (five) in an 11-8 victory in his previous start Monday in Cincinnati.

The Mets, who also had plated four runs against Arrieta in a 4-1 win in Game 2 of the NLCS last fall, reached him for four on eight hits over 5.1 innings. They grabbed a quick two-run lead two batters into the first inning, with Walker following a leadoff walk to rookie Brandon Nimmo by clocking his 15th homer of the season off of the right-field foul pole.

Colon, with the aid of a couple of nifty plays by first baseman James Loney, posted three zeroes before Anthony Rizzo tagged him for a two-run homer to center and a 2-2 tie.

“One thing about Bartolo, he’s not going to be (intimidated),” Collins said. “This is a matchup he’s had 50 times. This guy’s pitched, I couldn’t even begin to tell you against Cy Young Award winners in his career, himself included. He doesn’t get too emotional. He doesn’t care what the other guy does…He’s gonna be himself.”

Arrieta looked more like himself following the Walker homer and a subsequent double by Yoenis Cespedes in the first. Arrieta then retired the next 10 batters until Asdrubal Cabrera’s one-out single in the fourth. But after Alejandro De Aza worked a two-out walk, d’Arnaud replenished the Mets’ two-run lead with a bloop single to center. Eric Goeddel coughed up a solo homer to Ben Zobrist in the seventh to make it a one-run game. But Addison Reed fanned Kris Bryant for the final out of the inning and struck out the side in a scoreless eighth, before Jeurys Familia recorded the last three outs for his 28th straight save this season.

“After coming back from D.C., I think we realized we had to do a better job of grinding out at-bats and not waiting for things to happen,” Walker said. “These type of games, these last three days, this is the type of baseball we need to play, whether we’re winning or losing.

“We hit a little lull…but these last three days have been a very good indicator of what we’re capable of and how we need to play the rest of the summer.”