Arrieta struggles, Cubs' win streak ends at 5

NEW YORK -- The road woes continue for Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta, this time at Citi Field on Monday night. Arrieta lasted five innings and allowed four runs as the Cubs lost to the Mets, 5-2.

Chicago’s winning streak was snapped at five games.

• Box score

Before Monday’s game, Arrieta had a 6.40 ERA in seven starts away from Wrigley Field. At first it looked as though his luck was going to change. He got off to a good start, keeping the Mets hitless for the first three innings and retiring seven straight entering the fourth.

“The main thing was fastball execution. He was getting the secondary stuff over for strikes,” manager David Ross said. “He threw a couple of changeups that were pretty good. The cutter was good. He didn’t have great command of the breaking ball.”

That’s when it got away from Arrieta, as he allowed three runs on three hits. James McCann hit an RBI single, and Kevin Pillar highlighted the scoring with a two-run double.

"He made me look like a Little Leaguer up there,” said Pillar, who struck out in the second inning. “And then I got back to … focusing on my strengths, not so much how he was going to pitch me, and was able to get myself in a good count and get a good pitch to hit."

In his fifth and final inning, Arrieta allowed a monster home run to Dominic Smith to make it a four-run game.

“I think some of that command stuff -- that bite that he had early on -- seemed to be missing on the back end of tonight’s start,” Ross said.

Arrieta made no excuses about why he faltered in the fourth inning, pointing out that the damage was done with two outs. Though he felt he should have been able to pitch deeper in the game, he instead lost his third consecutive decision.

“Some of it was self-inflicted,” Arrieta said. “I started out really sharp. I felt great. I felt good throughout the game. A couple of walks in there -- they were unnecessary. The McCann single -- it wasn’t hard contact. It just wasn’t a well-located fastball. He was able to sneak the ball up the middle. The Pillar double broke it open.”

The Mets added to their lead an inning later against right-hander Tommy Nance. Brandon Drury singled to center field, scoring Pillar.

Arrieta’s counterpart, David Peterson, had the best outing of his career, pitching six shutout innings and allowing one hit. That hit came in the third inning, when Eric Sogard singled to center field, but Sogard was picked off at second a few minutes later.

“Everybody wants to get hits,” Ross said. “I didn’t see a frustrated group tonight. … [Peterson] made some pitches just off the barrel a little bit. … I didn’t see anything crazy wrong with tonight’s game. [The Mets] really pitched a good game, made some defensive plays. We just came up a little short.”

After Peterson left the game, Chicago made things interesting. In the seventh inning, against Trevor May, Anthony Rizzo and Patrick Wisdom hit back-to-back home runs to make it a three-run game.