DUDA DRIVES IN 7, METS CRUSH CUBS

Straily Pounded in Chicago Debut

NEW YORK, Aug. 16 (AP) – Lucas Duda hit a grand slam en route to tying a major league season high with seven runs batted in as the New York Mets pounded the Chicago Cubs 13-4 at Citi Field.  Five Mets batters had multi-hit games as the club banged out 16 safeties and drew eight walks.  Cubs starter Dan Straily, making his debut with the team after being acquired from the Oakland A’s in the Jeff Samardzija trade in early July, was bullied to the tune of eight runs on eight hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.  Three Chicago relievers surrendered another five runs in 4 2/3 innings of work.

The Cubs pushed across a run in the first against New York starter Jon Niese when Starlin Castro doubled home Javier Baez.  But the lead was short-lived.  In the bottom of the inning, the Mets scored four.  Curtis Granderson led off by drawing the first of three walks on the day and Daniel Murphy singled him to third.  David Wright fanned and Duda popped to third for the second out, but Travis d’Arnaud lined the first of four consecutive RBI singles for the Mets.  Matt van Dekker, Juan Lagares and Wilmer Flores completed the onslaught and New York held a 4-1 lead after one inning.

The Mets scored three more times in the second.  Granderson and Murphy led off with back-to-back walks.  After Wright struck out again, a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third and Duda doubled home both baserunners, then scored himself on d’Arnaud’s two-bagger.

The game appeared to be a laugher in the making, but the Cubs came back with three runs of their own off Niese in the third.  Anthony Rizzo led off with his 29^th home run of the season, tying Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds for the league lead.  Castro walked and Jason Ruggiano doubled him to third.  Arismendy Alcantara followed with a two-bagger of his own, cutting the deficit to 7-4. 

But that was as close as Chicago would get.  Duda’s one-out single in the bottom of the fourth brought home Murphy to make it 8-4 and the Mets blew the game open once and for all in the fifth, courtesy of Duda.  With Kyuji Fujikawa on the mound, Niese singled with one out and Granderson walked.  Neil Ramirez replaced Fujikawa and got the second out when Murphy grounded into a fielder’s choice with Neise being forced at third.  Wright walked, loading the bases and Duda followed with a blast into the bullpen in right field for a grand slam—the fourth of the year for the Mets—and a 12-4 lead.

The Mets added an unneeded insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Duda led off with a walk and scored two outs later on Lagares’ double, capping the 13-4 final.

Jeurys Familia tossed three scoreless innings of relief for New York to earn his eighth save of the year.

8/16/2014, ChN14-NYN14, Citi Field

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Cubs              1  0  3  0  0  0  0  0  0     4 10  0     9  0

2014 Mets              4  3  0  1  4  0  0  1  x    13 16  1     9  1

Cubs                 AB  R  H BI   AVG    Mets                 AB  R  H BI   AVG

Coghlan           lf  4  0  1  0  .283    Granderson        rf  3  3  1  0  .211

Baez,J            2b  5  0  1  0  .196    Murphy,Dan        2b  4  4  3  0  .302

Rizzo             1b  5  2  2  1  .309    Wright,D          3b  4  1  0  0  .272

Castro,S          ss  4  1  2  1  .293    Duda              1b  4  3  3  7  .233

Ruggiano          rf  3  1  1  0  .281    d'Arnaud,T        c   5  1  3  2  .259

Alcantara         cf  3  0  1  2  .227    den Dekker        lf  5  1  2  1  .238

Castillo,W        c   4  0  0  0  .233    Lagares           cf  5  0  2  2  .279

Valaika           3b  4  0  1  0  .229    Flores            ss  4  0  1  1  .294

Straily           p   2  0  0  0  .000     Familia          p   1  0  0  0  .333

 Fujikawa         p   0  0  0  0  .000    Niese             p   2  0  1  0  .154

 Ramirez,N        p   0  0  0  0  .000     Tejada           ss  1  0  0  0  .224

 Baker,Jo         ph  1  0  1  0  .167                         38 13 16 13

 Villanueva       p   1  0  0  0  .067

                     36  4 10  4

Cubs                             INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Straily          L 2-4           3.1  8  8  8  4  5  82  46  5.86

Fujikawa                         1.0  3  2  2  1  2  23  13  7.20

Ramirez,N                        0.2  1  2  2  1  0  19  12  3.53

Villanueva                       3.0  4  1  1  2  3  51  32  3.32

                                 8.0 16 13 13  8 10 175 103

Mets                             INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Niese            W 10-5          6.0  8  4  4  4  7 103  61  3.86

Familia          S 8             3.0  2  0  0  0  1  48  29  2.51

                                 9.0 10  4  4  4  8 151  90

ChN: Baker,Jo batted for Ramirez,N in the 6th

NYN: Tejada inserted at ss in the 7th

E-Tejada. 2B-Rizzo(17), Castro,S(41), Ruggiano(13), Alcantara(7),

Baker,Jo(6), Murphy,Dan(38), Duda(24), d'Arnaud,T(20), Lagares(21).

HR-Rizzo(29), Duda(14). RBI-Rizzo(73), Castro,S(56), Alcantara 2(16),

Duda 7(53), d'Arnaud,T 2(47), den Dekker(9), Lagares 2(31), Flores(17).

SB-Coghlan(4). K-Baez,J, Castillo,W 3, Valaika, Straily 2, Villanueva,

Granderson 2, Wright,D 3, d'Arnaud,T, den Dekker, Lagares 2, Familia.

BB-Coghlan, Castro,S, Ruggiano, Alcantara, Granderson 3, Murphy,Dan,

Wright,D, Duda, Niese, Tejada. WP-Straily.

GWRBI: den Dekker

Temperature: 74, Sky: clear, Wind: out to left at 5 MPH.

Attendance: 32,721

Game Time: 3:14