CHICAGO — The Mets had a rough first inning Saturday, thanks to Tylor Megill’s worst frame of the season, and the day didn’t get any better in the second.
Starling Marte grounded out in that second inning, and when the Mets returned to play defense, the 35-year-old outfielder wasn’t among the nine players.
Marte exited with right knee soreness, according to the Mets, putting a potential crimp in a lineup that has executed at a high level for the past week.
Overall it was an afternoon worth forgetting for the Mets, who lost 8-1 to the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
The Mets lost for a second time in three games but will still have an opportunity for a fourth straight series victory on Sunday.
The Mets have been cautious with Marte this season, building in off days to protect his legs.
Most recently that occurred Monday in Texas, with the Mets beginning three games on the turf at Globe Life Field.
With Marte’s knee an issue on this day, DJ Stewart moved to right field — he began the day in left — and Tyrone Taylor entered as a defensive replacement in left.
After missing significant playing time last year, Marte has managed to stay relatively healthy this season, with 66 games played.
He began the day with a .279/.330/.418 slash line with seven homers, 30 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.
Megill’s day was a mess.
The right-hander, in his worst outing of the season, allowed six earned runs on five hits and three walks over three innings with six strikeouts.
The performance raised Megill’s ERA to a season’s worst 4.81.
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It marked a second time in his last three starts he didn’t complete five innings.
Megill got blitzed in the first inning, when the Cubs sent nine batters to the plate and scored five runs.
Megill threw 38 pitches in the inning and was precipitously close to getting yanked before recording the third out, as lefty Danny Young warmed up in the bullpen.
Two of the first three batters Megill faced (Nico Hoerner and Cody Bellinger) walked before Seiya Suzuki delivered an RBI single.
Ian Happ’s RBI ground out brought in the inning’s second run, and with two outs, Megill allowed three straight hits.
Christopher Morel delivered an RBI single that gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead before Dansby Swanson’s double brought in another run.
Former Mets prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong smashed an RBI triple that placed the Mets in a 5-0 hole before Megill retired his former batterymate Tomas Nido to conclude the inning.
Megill walked Bellinger in the second, but escaped without any further damage, striking out three batters in the inning.
But Morel homered in the third inning to extend the Cubs’ lead to 6-0.
Megill struck out three in the inning, but was replaced by Young after the Mets batted.
Francisco Alvarez launched his second homer in as many games to pull the Mets within 6-1 against Jameson Taillon in the fifth.
Before this series, Alvarez — who spent seven weeks on the injured list — hadn’t homered since March 30.
Nido smashed an RBI double against Adrian Houser in the sixth that increased the Mets’ deficit to 7-1. It was the first hit in a Cubs uniform for Nido, who signed with the team on Wednesday following his release from the Mets two days earlier.
The Cubs’ eighth run scored on Bellinger’s infield single and Pete Alonso’s throwing error on the play.