ement Brandon Nimmo keyed a three-run rally in the seventh that sent the New York Mets past the Cubs 4-3 on Thursday night in their first meeting since las

NEW YORK -- Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon thought his team played a pretty good ballgame. Starter John Lackey was not as forgiving.Getting beats one thing. When you feel like you kind of gave one away, let one go, thats a different kind of loss, Lackey said.Yoenis Cespedes socked a colossal home run , Jeurys Familia pitched out of a huge jam in the ninth inning and rookie replacement Brandon Nimmo keyed a three-run rally in the seventh that sent the New York Mets past the Cubs 4-3 on Thursday night in their first meeting since last years NL Championship Series.Chicago put runners on second and third with no outs against Familia, who got two strikeouts and a bases-loaded popup for his 27th save -- most in the majors. He screamed and pumped his arms repeatedly after Javier Baez popped up to end it.I think our last three at-bats were a little bit too anxious, said Kris Bryant, who fanned for the first out in the ninth. But hes supposed to do that. Thats why hes the closer on their team.Baezs throwing error at second base allowed Nimmo to score the go-ahead run, and the Mets overcame a 3-0 deficit to stop their four-game slide.New York, which swept Chicago last October to reach the World Series, had lost nine straight regular-season games to the Cubs dating to August 2014.We made one mistake on defense, but otherwise it was a pretty good game of baseball, Maddon said.Bryant hit a two-run homer for the major league-best Cubs. Baez added a solo shot off rookie Steven Matz before a scuffling Mets lineup finally pushed back in the opener of a four-game series between banged-up teams.Cespedes launched a solo drive in the sixth that soared into the third deck in left field, two or three rows deep.Travis dArnaud singled with one out in the seventh, chasing Lackey. Joel Peralta (0-1) walked slumping pinch-hitter Alejandro De Aza before Nimmo, starting for injured outfielder Curtis Granderson, singled on the ninth pitch of a gritty at-bat for his first career RBI.The walk to De Aza was the tough one, Maddon said. It was just one of those nights.The throw to third allowed Nimmo to reach second, and the Mets had two runners in scoring position. With the Cubs playing their infield in, Neil Walker hit an RBI chopper toward the middle against reliever Pedro Strop.Figuring he had no play at the plate, Baez threw to third in an attempt to get Nimmo. But the wide throw ticked off Bryants glove and rolled into foul territory, letting Nimmo cross the plate with a big smile on his face.KB was backpedaling to the base. It was tough for him to catch it, because he was moving the other way, Baez said. I went to third because I didnt think I had a chance at first, either.Erik Goeddel (1-0) struck out two in 1 2/3 hitless innings for the win.LONG BALLCespedes drive came off the bat at 110 mph and would have traveled 441 feet unimpeded, according to MLBs Statcast. ESPN Stats & Info had it at 466 feet. Either way, it was thought to be the first home run to reach the third deck at Citi Field, which opened in 2009. I really think that got the guys energized, Mets manager Terry Collins said.TRAINERS ROOMCubs RF Jason Heyward was rested against the left-hander with Chicago in the middle of playing 24 straight days. He has a little soreness on his left side but certainly could have started, Maddon said. Heyward pinch-hit in the eighth and shattered his bat on a weak grounder back to the mound against lefty Jerry Blevins, stranding two runners. ... INF Tommy La Stella (strained right hamstring) went 1 for 4 in his third rehab game for Triple-A Iowa and is getting close to coming off the DL. RHP Adam Warren started that game for Iowa against Round Rock and threw 73 pitches over five innings, his second Triple-A tuneup as he gets stretched out in the minors to make a spot start for Chicago next Tuesday or Wednesday at home against Cincinnati.UP NEXTCubs RHP Jason Hammel (7-4, 2.58 ERA) starts Friday night against RHP Jacob deGrom (3-4, 2.67), who won Game 3 of the NLCS last year at Wrigley Field. The 2015 All-Star is 0-4 in 10 starts since beating San Francisco on April 30. Chicago has lost Hammels last four outings after going 9-2 in his first 11. He is 0-3 with a 4.91 ERA in five career starts against the Mets, but all those losses came before 2013. Cheap Rays Jerseys . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Custom Rays T-shirts . -- Claudio Bieler hadnt scored since early September, and not from the run of play since mid-July. http://www.customraysjersey.com/custom-evan-longoria-jersey-large-72v.html . -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman Luca Sbisa will be out at least six weeks with a torn tendon in his right hand. Wholesale Custom Rays Shirts .4 million title. Ryan Riess emerged with the title after a session in which he started behind, but used expert skill to gather the chips to his side amid the unpredictability of no-limit Texas Hold em. Riess put his final opponent Jay Farber all-in with an Ace-King. Evan Longoria Jersey Large . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella credited his teams seamers for holding their nerve against a big-hitting West Indian lower order after Sri Lanka pulled off a one-run win to secure their place in the final of the Zimbabwe tri-series. Dickwella was one of two Sri Lankans to reach the 90s in a total of 330 for 7 before Sri Lanka held West Indies to 329 for 9 in reply.Our bowlers held their nerve, and our fast bowlers did really well, Dickwella said. Suranga [Lakmal], [Nuwan] Kulasekara and Nuwan Pradeep - they were the key players in defending this total. We were confident of defending the score, with our bowling attack. We missed some opportunities that we should have capitalized on, but fortunately we were on the winning side on the end.Evin Lewis, the West Indies opener, survived two early lbw shouts and was also dropped twice during the first Powerplay in an uncharacteristically sloppy fielding effort by Sri Lanka. Lewis was dropped again off a tough chance at mid-on before he had reached fifty, and he went on to score a maiden hundred. He might have been run out shortly thereafter, but Dickwella disturbed the stumps with his glove before collecting the ball.That was one of his few lapses in the field or with the bat - after his 94 in the morning he eventually ran Lewis out for 148 - to increase Sri Lankas advantage at the death. Dickwella then held on to an awkward inside edge off Ashley Nurses bat in the penultimate over of the match.It is kind of a challenge [batting up the order and keeping wicket], but you just have to adapt to the situation, and play according to that, Dickwella saidd.dddddddddddd Im a wicketkeeper-batsman, and when I score runs when were batting first, I still have to keep wicket for 50 overs. Obviously I have to do that, for my team.Batting at No. 3, Dickwella was at the crease in the third over of the match and fell 36 overs later just six runs short of what would have been a maiden ODI hundred in his fifth match.It was a good track, he said. Since the morning, it was a flat track. There was a bit of grass, but it was dead grass, so we didnt expect it to move a lot. We thought it would move a bit, but that didnt happen.It was coming on to the bat. It was a pretty easy wicket to bat on, compared to the previous games. I could have got a hundred, and scored some more runs for the team, but Im really happy with my performance today.Performances such as these will help Dickwella state his claim for a spot in Sri Lankas touring party for their trip to South Africa in December. He is one of a number of fringe players who have come in to Sri Lankas squad in the absence of injured senior players such as Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal.Some of the senior players back in Sri Lanka, Angelo Mathews and Chandimal, theyre recovering. Theyve started training again. The selectors must be picking up some juniors from this tour for the big upcoming tour, so this is a good opportunity for the juniors to perform and show them that we are good, talented players. This is a good opportunity to play, perform and win even if we dont have those seniors with us. ' ' '