Baty's heroic effort can't stop Cade Horton and Cubs from victory

Cubs 6 Mets 5 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 25-15

Mets streak: Lost 1

WP - Cade Horton (1-0)

LP - Tylor Megill (3-3)

SV - Porter Hodge (2)

Seat on the Korner:

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

It isn't often I go with a player on the losing team for the seat. But Brett Baty's two dingers and five RBI was easily the performance of the night. But try as he may, try as he might, he couldn't win it by himself tonight. If any of his teammates could have come up with a big hit at some point, perhaps the Mets could have pulled this out for him. But the Mets' hitting woes with runners in scoring position shouldn't punish Baty from a well deserved interview with Ralph.

Need to Know

• With the loss, the Mets are now 14-4 at home.

• Brett Baty's two home runs give him three in two days.

• The Mets were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position tonight, compared to 4-for-8 for the Cubs.

• Tylor Megill lasted 4 and 2/3's innings, and had a very uneven start. He struck out 7, but also gave up 7 hits and many of those were hard hit. He also walked two and gave up four runs.

• Cade Horton's major league debut was as the bulk guy for the Cubs, going 4 innings, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and no walks while striking out five. It was good enough for his first major league victory.

• Horton was the third Cub to debut against the Mets in New York. The first two did it in 1963.

• Dansby Swanson went 2-for-3 with a HR and two RBI.

• Huascar Brazoban and Genesis Cabrera combined for 2 and 1/3 scoreless innings, while Edwin Diaz pitched a clean 9th. However, Max Kranick gave up two runs in the 8th which gave the Cubs the insurance runs they needed.

• Seiya Suzuki first inning single snapped a 1-for-26 slump to drive in the first run off Megill. Suzuki would end up 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run.

Turning Point

In a game full of twists and turns, the final turning point was in the 9th inning after Porter Hodge walked Jeff McNeil to lead off the inning with Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto coming up. With the fans going crazy in anticipation of a walkoff, Lindor hit a room service one hopper back to Hodge for the double play to take the life out of the building.

Then Hodge would get Juan Soto to ground out routinely to end the game.

Three Keys

Soto Struggles

I don't want to pick on one guy, because the Mets were bad as a whole with runners in scoring position, and Soto has been hot lately. But tonight's 0-for-5 was a killer. He had many chances to turn the game around with a hit at any point, as he constantly came up with runners in scoring position.

But he grounded out to end the third inning with two runners on, and also struck out in the 7th with runners on first and second with one out before Pete Alonso ended that inning. Most everyone outside of Baty was at fault tonight, but 0-for-5 with a couple of glorious chances wasted is a tough pill to swallow.

They Hit 'em Faster Than You Throw 'em

Tylor Megill had some life on his fastball, striking out 7 in 4 and 2/3's, but when he was hit, he was hit hard. Suzuki's RBI single was 102.6 MPH. Dansby Swanson's RBI infield single in the first (that Baty almost caught on a line) was 99/1 MPH. Then on two pitches in the third, Suzuki's double and Michael Busch's single brought home a run, and they were hit at 96.2 and 98.6 MPH. Then Swanson's home run in the 4th was turned around at 106 MPH. There were no cheapies tonight.

Pop Quiz, Carlos ...

In his continued quest to prove that he's not merely a Quadruple-A player, Baty might be showing us that he's figured it out.

The oppo taco, his second one of those in two nights, is an especially good sign.

Now here's the question: With lefty Matthew Boyd starting for the Cubs tomorrow, does Carlos Mendoza play the hot hand, or the percentages? He won't have much time to answer that question with the high noon-ish start tomorrow.