The Cubs discovered Monday it’s much better to receive a gift than to give one.
And they found a willing donator in Shea Stadium, where the New York Mets kicked the ball around like they were playing hackey sack to hand the Cubs a 6-4 victory.
Three Mets errors in the seventh and eighth innings paved the way to the comeback victory, the Cubs’ second straight after a record 14 consecutive losses to start the season.
“The first two weeks we got no breaks,” said starter Frank Castillo (1-3). “Hopefully, we can start capitalizing on those type of things.”
The errors that haunted the Cubs for much of the losing streak haunted the Mets this time.
“I think now that about the same number of errors we’ve made have been made against us,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “As bad as we played before, we just didn’t get the hits.”
Scott Servais doubled in two runs in the Cubs’ fourth to give Castillo a 2-0 lead, and after Doug Glanville got into scoring position in the sixth on a balk, Servais singled him in to make it 3-0.
But Castillo began to tire in the sixth, walking Todd Hundley with the bases loaded and giving up a two-run double to Butch Huskey as the Mets pulled ahead 4-3.
Huskey gave the Mets the lead, and then gave it away. His throwing error on Brian McRae’s sacrifice bunt in the seventh sent Dave Hansen home with the tying run, and when John Olerud couldn’t handle Ray Ordonez’s throw on a Glanville grounder, McRae scored to put the Cubs on top 5-4.
Terry Adams recorded the save with 2 1/3 shutout innings, the second for the Cubs reliever in two days after none in the first 14 games.
