After giving up a one-out single to Kris Bryant, who seemed none the worse for wear after being hit in the hand with a pitch yesterday, Stroman surrendered a two-run homer to Javy Báez that landed in the well of the Home Run Apple to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.
Jonathan Villar started things off with a leadoff double for the Mets in the bottom of the first, but Hendricks struck out Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso back-to-back and then Dominic Smith lined out to Rizzo at first to end the threat.
The Mets’ best opportunity to score came in the fourth, when Hendricks walked Alonso and Smith back-to-back to lead off the inning—a rare occurrence for a strike-thrower like Hendricks.
Stroman was assisted by his defense again in seventh, when Sergio Alcántara hit a scorching liner that Pete Alonso did an excellent job to snag and then dove to first base, tagging the base with his glove to beat the speedy Alcántara to the bag.
Andrew Chafin, Ryan Tepera, and closer Craig Kimbrel each pitched a 1-2-3 inning in relief of Hendricks to secure the victory for the Cubs.
After pinch hitter Ian Happ reached on an error by Francisco Lindor to lead off the eighth, Jeruys Familia got Pederson to ground into a force out and induced a double play grounder from Kris Bryant to get out of the inning.
But the bench mob did not have any comeback magic in them tonight and the Mets drop this final game of a four-game set in Queens.