NLCS Game Two: Daniel Murphy strikes early as Cubs drop second straight game

Cubs drop second straight game to Mets

There was a little bit of Deja Vu during today’s game when New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy launched his fifth postseason home run off Jake Arrieta in the first inning, helping his club grab the 2-0 advantage in the NLCS.

Outfielder Curtis Granderson made several great plays and got things going with a leadoff hit in the first inning, setting things up for veteran corner man David Wright.

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New York put together a successful hit and run which resulted in Granderson coming around to score on an RBI double courtesy of Wright who tallied his third RBI of the postseason.

Chicago Cubs rookie Kris Bryant recorded the first hit of the ballgame of starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard, but the North Siders would fail to string another hit until late in the game.

With the Mets already leading Arrieta by three runs, Granderson worked a five-pitch walk to lead off the home half of the third with Wright due up behind him.

Arrieta (2-1, 7.20 ERA) would get Wright to strike out swinging, but Granderson still managed to swipe his first stolen base of the inning on the same play. He would later steal third and robbed outfielder, Chris Coghlan of a solo home run in the second.

The man who homered earlier in the game, Murphy, was intentionally walked with Yoenis Cespedes standing on the on-deck circle, which came as a surprise.

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Cespedes jumped ahead in the count 2-1 until turning on a fourth pitch sinker and sending it to shortstop Javier Baez who was unable to make a play after bobbling the ball.

After being unable to solve the 23-year-old hurler whose nickname is ‘Thor’, Bryant pushed across a run on an RBI double off the left field wall, scoring Dexter Fowler from second to make it a three-run ballgame.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo failed to keep things going as he would strike out swinging on a 93 miles per hour two-seam fastball that was low and out of the strike zone.

This is not the situation this club wants to be in, but it’s not too late for them to turn it around now that the series will be heading back to Wrigley Field.

They’ll put young right-hander Kyle Hendricks on the mound opposite Jacob deGrom with another 7:00 p.m. central time start on TBS and WBBM 780 A.M. this upcoming Tuesday.

Next: Placing the Game 1 blame where it belongs