Healthy, quality pitching an issue for Cubs, Mets

Francisco Lindor will likely return to the New York Mets this week.

But unless the five-time All-Star shortstop suddenly has figured out how to pitch, he may not be much help for the Mets, last in the National League East.

New York will look to snap out of its latest skid Monday night when the Mets host the Chicago Cubs in the opener of a four-game series.

Right-hander Kodai Senga (0-5, 9.00 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga (4-6, 4.26).

The Mets suffered a second straight lopsided defeat Sunday, when the host Philadelphia Phillies rolled to a 6-2 victory in the rubber game of a three-contest series.

The Cubs haven't played since Saturday, when they fell to the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 8-6. The series finale between the teams was rained out Sunday and is scheduled to be made up on Aug. 6.

Rain is also in the forecast for New York on Monday night.

A rainout might temporarily aid the Mets, whose rotation is in tatters behind right-hander Nolan McLean, who is scheduled to start Tuesday's game.

Right-hander Freddy Peralta gave up a career-high 10 runs over just 2 2/3 innings Saturday, when the Phillies beat New York 15-3. Left-hander David Peterson, making his first start since May 26, allowed five runs (four earned) over four innings on Sunday.

Peralta, Peterson, Senga and Sean Manaea have combined to post a 5.59 ERA this season. But with Clay Holmes out indefinitely with a broken right fibula and fellow righty Christian Scott sidelined with a right hip impingement, the Mets have little choice but to hope the quartet of pitchers behind McLean (3.67 ERA in 15 starts) can regain their form.

"They know that they have to be better -- that's where it starts, we expect more out of them and they expect more out of themselves as well," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "I have no doubt they've got the talent and they're more than capable of helping us turn this thing around."

Lindor, who hasn't played since April 22 due to a strained left calf, is expected to participate in a simulated game in New York on Monday after going 0-for-4 with a stolen base for Triple-A Syracuse in his second rehab game on Sunday.

"He's getting close," Mendoza said.

The loss Saturday to the Blue Jays represented another dip in a roller coaster season for the Cubs, who are also having trouble cobbling together enough pitching.

Chicago squandered a 5-0 sixth-inning lead Saturday, when relievers Trent Thornton, Caleb Thielbar and Jacob Webb combined to give up eight runs while combining to record just five outs between the seventh and eighth innings.

Thornton, Thielbar and Webb have all moved up the pecking order in the bullpen last week, when closer Daniel Palencia went on the 15-day injured list with a right flexor strain.

The front of games is also a work in progress for the Cubs, who have three members of their Opening Day rotation -- Matthew Boyd (knee, shoulder), Cade Horton (Tommy John surgery) and Jameson Taillon (left hamstring strain) -- on the injured list. Only Boyd, who resumed a minor league rehab assignment Saturday, is close to returning.

Chicago authored a pair of 10-game winning streaks while going 20-3 from April 14 through May 8. But the Cubs are a major league-worst 13-25 since, a span in which they've won as many as three straight games just once.

"Every season throws stuff at you," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "And you've just got to roll with it and you've got to be ready for it and you've got to adjust to it."

Senga took the loss last Tuesday, when he returned from an eight-week stint on the injured list due to lumbar spine inflammation and allowed four runs over four innings as the Mets fell 5-3 to the host Cincinnati Reds.

Imanaga, who was initially slated to start Sunday, didn't factor into the decision in his most recent start on June 15 when he allowed one run over 5 2/3 innings in the Cubs' 5-4 home victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Senga is 1-2 with a 6.91 ERA in three career starts against the Cubs. Imanaga is 1-2 with a 10.34 ERA in three starts against the Mets.

--Field Level Media