Cubs solve Mets behind Lester, Rizzo

CHICAGO — When Jon Lester faced the Mets on July 3 in New York, the Cubs’ left-hander had the shortest outing of his career, serving up eight runs over 1 1/3 innings. Lester redeemed himself Monday, giving up one run over 7 2/3 innings, to help the Cubs finally beat the Mets.

Anthony Rizzo smacked a three-run homer to back Lester and lift the Cubs to a 5-1 victory over the Mets in front of 41,353 at Wrigley Field. The celebration may be a little livelier postgame for the Cubs, as the win ended New York’s string of eight straight wins over Chicago, which began with a sweep in last October’s National League Championship Series and continued with another sweep from June 30-July 3 at Citi Field.

Rookie Steven Matz took the loss, exiting after five-plus innings, and the Mets now have dropped seven of the lefty’s last nine starts. Wilmer Flores thwarted Lester’s shutout bid with a leadoff homer in the seventh.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDThird inning: In the four previous meetings with the Mets this year, the Cubs did not score more than three runs in a game. They matched that in one inning. With one out in the third, Javier Baez singled, his second hit of the game, and Kris Bryant was hit by a pitch to set up Rizzo, who battled Matz in a 10-pitch at-bat. According to Statcast™, Rizzo’s homer was clocked at 106.9 mph and traveled 423 feet. He now has 68 …

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