NEW YORK — Shortstop Starlin Castro’s two-out infield single in the 11th inning Wednesday night finally snapped a scoreless tie and lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 2-0 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field.
The Cubs (41-35), who won Tuesday’s series opener 1-0, have scored two runs or fewer in seven straight games. The Mets (40-39) have scored two runs or fewer in 11 of their last 13 games, a stretch in which they are 4-9.
Even by the recent standards of the Mets and Cubs, though, Wednesday’s game was a picture of offensive ineptitude. The two teams combined to strand 11 runners in scoring position in the first nine innings.
The Mets failed to score despite having runners on second and third with one out in the eighth, when shortstop Ruben Tejada was thrown out in a rundown following a failed suicide squeeze.
The Cubs had runners at second and third with one out in the ninth but failed to score. Chicago appeared headed for another ugly near-miss in the 11th, when center fielder Dexter Fowler drew a leadoff walk against right-hander Carlos Torres (2-4). Rizzo followed with a grounder to short but was safe at first when second baseman Wilmer Flores bounced the relay throw.
Third baseman Kris Bryant and left fielder Chris Coghlan followed with singles. Rizzo was held at third by third base coach Gary Jones on Coghlan’s single but Bryant overran second and was thrown out when Mets third baseman Daniel Murphy cut off the throw from left fielder John Mayberry.
But Castro ensured the mistakes by Jones and Bryant wouldn’t haunt the Cubs when he beat out his roller to third. Catcher Miguel Montero added an RBI single two batters later.
Right-hander Jason Motte (6-1) earned the win with a perfect 10th. Left-hander James Russell recorded the first two outs of the 11th before allowing a single to center fielder Darrell Ceciliani, after which right-hander Justin Grimm walked Flores before striking out catcher Kevin Plawecki to notch his first career save.
Mets right-hander Bartolo Colon and Cubs left-hander Jon Lester each threw seven scoreless innings.
Colon’s streak of starts with a decision ended at 27 — the longest run in baseball since Colon’s 30-start streak spanning the 2004 and 2005 seasons — after he allowed three hits and issued an intentional walk while striking out eight. Colon didn’t have a single scoreless outing during his streak of decisions.
Lester allowed five hits and one walk while striking out seven.
NOTES: Mets LF Michael Cuddyer, who left after six innings Tuesday due to a sore left knee, has mild swelling, according to an MRI performed Wednesday. He received a cortisone shot and could be available Thursday. … Since Wednesday was July 1, the Mets had to cut ex-OF Bobby Bonilla a check for just shy of $1.2 million. Bonilla and the Mets negotiated a buyout after the 1999 season in which the Mets agreed to defer his $5.9 million salary in 2000, at 8 percent annual interest, until 2011, when he received the first of 25 annual July 1 payments. In the end, that will net Bonilla $29.8 million. … Cubs 2B Addison Russell didn’t start for just the third time in the last 56 games. … Cubs 3B Kris Bryant, who didn’t debut until April 17 so the club could delay his free agency until 2021, is the first Cubs rookie to collect 10 homers, 40 RBIs and 40 runs scored by the end of June.