Cubs, buoyed by late rally, look to down Mets again

The Chicago Cubs were a lot happier with the unpredictable nature of baseball Monday night than the New York Mets were.

The Cubs will look to build off their late-inning comeback when they visit the Mets again on Tuesday night in the second game of a four-game series.

Right-hander Javier Assad (2-0, 2.00 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Cubs against left-hander Sean Manaea (1-1, 3.33).

Christopher Morel hit a tie-breaking, two-run homer in the ninth inning Monday night for the Cubs, who were no-hit by Luis Severino through seven innings before beating the Mets 3-1.

The Cubs had just two baserunners -- via Ian Happ's fourth-inning walk and Mike Tauchman's seventh-inning hit by pitch -- against Severino before Michael Busch walked leading off the eighth with New York up 1-0. Dansby Swanson followed with a broken-bat single over shortstop. Busch went to third on Matt Mervis' fielder's-choice grounder and scored when Nick Madrigal hit into a forceout.

Tauchman doubled off Edwin Diaz with one out in the ninth, and Morel homered one out later.

The Cubs' comeback was made possible by Jameson Taillon, who nearly matched Severino. Taillon gave up two hits in the first inning, including Brandon Nimmo's leadoff homer, but allowed just two more for the night.

The right-hander walked one and struck out one while throwing just 78 pitches in 7 1/3 innings -- the fewest pitches by a Chicago starter who lasted at least 7 1/3 innings since Hall of Famer Greg Maddux threw 73 pitches in 7 1/3 innings on May 13, 2006, against the San Diego Padres.

"You're getting no-hit, it doesn't look good, but you're one run away from it being a different game," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "And we got a great pitching performance tonight that fortunately got us through the other team's great pitching performance."

The single by Swanson was the only hit allowed by Severino, who became the first Mets pitcher to surrender one hit over at least eight innings without earning the win since Matt Harvey gave up one hit over nine innings in New York's 1-0, 10-inning win over the Chicago White Sox on May 7, 2013.

The Mets, who didn't record an extra-base hit after Nimmo's homer, threatened against Hector Neris in the ninth, when Pete Alonso led off with a walk and Jeff McNeil coaxed a five-pitch walk with one out. However, Neris struck out pinch hitters DJ Stewart and Brett Baty to hand New York its sixth loss in eight games.

"It's baseball, right?" Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "We got the momentum back in the ninth, we got two guys on. But yeah, it's frustrating, obviously. A great outing by 'Sevy,' but got to get ready for (Tuesday)."

Assad didn't factor into the decision in his latest start, when he gave up one run over 5 2/3 innings in the Cubs' 3-1 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday. He is 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in two career games (one start) against the Mets.

Manaea also got a no-decision the last time he took the mound. He tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings -- but gave up four hits and four walks -- in the Mets' 8-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday. He is 0-1 with a 4.67 ERA in four games (two starts) against the Cubs.