NEW YORK -- The Cubs had right-hander Taijuan Walker on the ropes, but they ended up losing to the Mets, 3-2, at Citi Field on Tuesday night.

• Box score

Joc Pederson led off the first inning with a single before Kris Bryant was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. Javier Báez and Anthony Rizzo struck out, and Willson Contreras singled to load the bases. But Chicago couldn’t take advantage of the situation, with Ian Happ striking out to end the threat.

Chicago got to Walker two innings later when Báez hit a two-run homer to give Chicago a 2-0 lead. But after that, Walker allowed one hit the rest of the way and retired the last 12 hitters he faced before leaving the game after seven innings. Walker ended up striking out 12 batters in the game.

“[Walker] was on tonight and settled in. We got him for two [runs],” Cubs manager David Ross said.

Walker's feat was doubly impressive considering he was dealing with a stomach bug over the last couple of days.

"To be honest, at the beginning of the game, his body language was kind of weird. He was low-energy,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said. “And then the next thing you know, he was the same Walker that we see every outing, and he goes seven strong innings."

Cubs starter Alec Mills pitched 4 1/3 innings and couldn't hold on to the lead. In the bottom of the third, New York tied the game on a two-run single by Pete Alonso.

Mills allowed a one-out single to Jonathan Villar in the fifth before being lifted in favor of left-hander Rex Brothers, who had problems throwing strikes. Before anyone knew it, the Mets had the bases loaded with no outs. Alonso hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Villar and giving New York a one-run lead.

The Cubs had a chance to tie the game in the ninth inning off reliever Seth Lugo. With pinch-runner Jake Marisnick on first base, pinch-hitter Eric Sogard hit the ball to the right-center-field gap for a hit. Marisnick made it to third easily, but third-base coach Willie Harris took a chance and sent Marisnick home. Marisnick was thrown out at the plate on a perfectly executed relay play.

After Jason Heyward walked, Sergio Alcántara struck out to end the game.

• Bryant exits with hand contusion after HBP

Asked if it was a mistake for Harris to send Marisnick, Ross said, “Mistakes are kind in hindsight. If he is safe, you are not going to say it was a mistake. I would say he erred on the side of aggressiveness. I think Willie is an aggressive baserunning coach. That’s kind of where I fall. We’ve talked about it.

“I thought it was a good send. It was a great play by [second baseman Luis] Guillorme. I thought he made one heck of a relay to [catcher James] McCann. One hop. He made it look a lot easier than I thought it was. Guillorme made a blind spin and turn. It was a nice play by them.”

With the loss, the Cubs have lost two straight games and dropped their record to 38-29. Wednesday won’t be any easier, when Chicago faces arguably the best pitcher in the Major Leagues in Jacob deGrom.

“We don’t give pep talks around here,” Ross said. “The Mets have a good pitching staff. They are good. We are going to run into some good pitching coming up. We understand that. You guys write about [it]. It’s part of a tough schedule. We are playing a really good team with good pitching. This is part of baseball.

“We talk about the ups and downs. It’s a good team on the other side -- first place in the East. We are going to go out and compete the way we do every single night. We try not to change anything that we do. … [The opposing pitchers] are capable of having good nights. They are all capable of having bad nights. Just like us. We’ll go out and compete our butts off tomorrow.”