With one exception, the turnstile count, the numbers game was unkind to the Cubs Sunday.
Sunday’s total of 25,523 tickets sold lifted the Cubs to 2,004,160 this season at Wrigley Field, the 11th season they have sold more than 2,000,000.
The folks didn’t see much. The Cubs lost 9-2 to the Mets. Mark Grace and Lance Johnson had hitting streaks snapped at 16 and 13 games, respectively. And Steve Trachsel’s pitching record fell to 6-11 because of one poor inning, the Mets’ three-run fifth.
Trachsel fell behind on the first pitch to six of the eight Mets he faced in the fifth. He surrendered a leadoff homer on a 2-0 count to Butch Huskey, followed by four singles.
“It’s common knowledge that hitters do better when the first pitch is a ball,” Trachsel said. “Every hitter knows that. But they hit good pitches in that inning. The only mistake I made was on the home run to Huskey. The other hits came off good pitches. When I make good pitches and they hit them, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
While Trachsel paid for his one bad inning, Bobby Jones, returning from a back injury, struggled but escaped without giving up a run in his 24-pitch first inning. He walked Johnson and Grace and, after a double play, was touched for a single by Sammy Sosa.
After that, Jones blanked the Cubs on three hits through the seventh. The score was 4-0 when both starters left after seven innings.
“Anytime I can pitch seven scoreless innings, I have to be very pleased,” said Jones (14-8), “especially after my time off. I can’t remember walking two batters in the first inning before.”
The Cubs’ two runs came in the eighth, when RBI hits by Sosa and Dave Hansen made the score 5-2. An “ugly” ninth, as manager Jim Riggleman described it, donated four more runs to the Mets.
