Harvey Dominates on the Mound; Mets Take First Game from Cubs in NLCS

Courtesy Rob Tringal / MLB Photos

By Francisco Romero

Mets pitcher Matt Harvey allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in 7.2 innings against the Chicago Cubs and guided his team to a 4-2 victory in the first game (best-of-seven) of the National League Championship Series.

Not satisfied with his first playoff performance, Harvey wanted to make a statement this time around and a statement he made, “No, I think after the first go around I definitely wasn’t happy,” said Harvey during a postgame conference.  “I really wanted to be back out there as much as I possibly could, and getting the ball the first game, I really wanted to start things off the right way and get us rolling. Fortunately enough I had things working pretty well, and we were able to do that.”

Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy had front row seats to Harvey’s showdown,  “For the offense it kind of takes some of the pressure off a little bit when you see how good he is and how good he was tonight from the first pitch,” said Murphy.  “He threw some changeups to Dexter the first at bat that I think really had the lefties over there really aware of it. Like I said, threw some really good sliders, threw some really good curveballs. Knew when to throw his heat.”

The Mets went 0-7 vs. the Cubs this year, including 0-3 at Citi Field, but this time around the Mets came out ahead, “They have a good team. They have good pitching. We’re just going to continue to try to change the outlook by having some different guys in the lineup with Cespedes, and David’s back. We kind of like what we’re running out there, and we’ve just got to start swinging the bats because we’ve got a big challenge tomorrow night again.”

ALCS

In the American League Championship Series the Royals took a 2-0 led in the best-out-of seven games by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3.