Yo-less Mets’ bats quiet, Bartolo Colon hits rut as Cubs win rubber game

6:16 PM ET

CHICAGO — The New York Mets are not the same team with Yoenis Cespedes missing from the lineup.

With manager Terry Collins feeling compelled to give Cespedes a break after he played three straight games with a balky right quadriceps, right-hander Kyle Hendricks mostly had his way with the Mets.

Hendricks twice struck out the side, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Mets, 6-2, in Wednesday’s rubber-game matinee at Wrigley Field.

Bartolo Colon surrendered a pair of homers to Anthony Rizzo and lasted only 4 1/3 innings. It was Colon’s shortest start of the season other than a June 21 outing against the Kansas City Royals during which he was struck with a comebacker in the right thumb and departed after four pitches.

Colon (8-5) was charged with a season-high-matching six runs on eight hits, two walks and one hit batter as his ERA climbed to 3.48. He has allowed a combined 15 runs in his past three starts after allowing 14 runs in the nine starts before that stretch.

Still, it’s not like the 43-year-old Colon is in any danger of forfeiting a rotation spot. The Mets already are shorthanded, with Collins acknowledging concern about the health of Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard and with Matt Harvey having undergone season-ending surgery on Monday.

“We don’t have …

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