Jose Reyes’ bases-clearing triple highlighted a big four-run 6th runnig & led the New York Mets to a come-from-behind 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday evening from Shea Stadium.

With the Mets win, they now trail the Phillies by just 1.5 games in the NL East & lead Milwaukee by 1.5 games for the NL Wild Card lead, pending the Brewers’ outcome of tonight’s game against the Pirates.

The Cubs had a chance to take an early lead in the top of the 1st inning after Derrek Lee hit a 2-out double off Mets starter Johan Santana.

Reed Johnson then hit an outfield flyout to end the scoring threat.

The Mets also had an early scoring chance in the bottom of the 1st inning after Jose Reyes hit a lead-off single against Cubs starter Sean Marshall.

2 batters later, David Wright singled to put runners at 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for Carlos Beltran.

Beltran flied out to Reed Johnson in centerfield before Luis Castillo struck out to end the scoring threat.

The Cubs then took the lead in the top of the 2nd inning after Casey McGehee hit a 1-out double off Santana.

Kosuke Fukudome then hit an RBI double, scoring McGehee from 2nd base & giving Chicago a 1-0 lead.

With Fukudome on 2nd base & just 1 out, Henry Blanco & Sean Marshall both struck out swinging to end the inning.

Chicago then added another run in the top of the 3rd inning after Ronny Cedeno hit a 1-out double off Santana.

2 batters later, Reed Johnson hit an RBI single to score Cedeno from 2nd base & give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.

The Mets then struck for a huge rally in the bottom of the 5th inning after Nick Evans was hit by a 1-out pitch from Marshall.

Johan Santana then reached 1st base safely on a broken bat infield single, which put runners at 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for Jose Reyes.

Reyes then struck out swinging before Luis Castillo walked, which loaded the bases with 2 outs for David Wright.

Wright then hit a 2-run single, which scored both Evans & Santana to tie the game 2-2.

Carlos Beltran then flied out to Kosuke Fukudome in right field to end the inning.

New York then took the lead in the bottom of the 6th inning after Carlos Delgado hit a lead-off double against Chicago reliever Chad Gaudin.

Ramon Castro then hit an RBI single to score Delgado from 2nd base & give the Mets a 3-2 lead after Gaudin made an errant toss that sailed past Derrek Lee at 1st.

Ryan Church & David Murphy then hit back-to-back singles against Gaudin, which loaded the bases with nobody out for Johan Santana.

Santana then grounded into a fielder’s choice, which didn’t score a run but presented Jose Reyes with a 1-out, bases loaded opportunity.

Reyes then cleared the bases with a 3-run triple off Cubs reliever Kevin Hart, which gave the Mets a 6-2 lead.

With Reyes on 3rd base & just 1 out, Luis Castillo grounded out to Mark DeRosa at 2nd base before David Wright struck out swinging to end the inning.

Chicago tried to put together a late rally in the top of the 8th inning after Reed Johnson hit a 2-out single against Santana.

Mark DeRosa then walked to put runners at 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Kosuke Fukudome, but DeRosa was picked off at 1st base to end the scoring threat.

New York then tried to add onto their lead in the bottom of the 8th inning after David Murphy drew a lead-off walk against Chicago reliever Angel Guzman.

2 batters later, Jose Reyes walked which put runners at 1st & 2nd with just 1 out.

Luis Castillo struck out & David Wright lined out to Ryan Theriot at shortstop to end the scoring threat.

The Cubs then tried to rally in the top of the 9th inning after Henry Blanco & Micah Hoffpauir hit back-to-back 1-out singles off Mets reliever Pedro Feliciano.

Mike Fontenot then grounded out to Carlos Delgado at 1st base, but advanced both Blanco & Hoffpauir into scoring position for pinch-hitter Daryle Ward.

Ward then flied out to Jose Reyes in shallow leftfield to end the game.

Johan Santana (15-7) gets the win for the Mets after pitching 8 innings & allowed 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 10 Cubs.

Chad Gaudin (4-2) takes the loss for the Cubs after allowing an unearned run to score on a throwing error & gave up Jose Reyes’ bases-clearing triple in the 6th inning.

Luis Ayala retired the only 2 men that he faced in the 9th inning to earn his 9th save of the season.

Game 3 of this series is Wednesday evening at 6:10 PM cst from Shea Stadium, as Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano (14-6, 3.77) will be opposed by Mets southpaw Oliver Perez (10-7, 4.10).

Zambrano will make his 1st road start on Wednesday since throwing a no-hitter on September 14th in Milwaukee against the Houston Astros. Overall, Zambrano has not won back-to-back road starts since May 23rd at Pittsburgh & June 2nd at San Diego.

Zambrano did beat the Mets back on April 21st at Wrigley Field after allowing just 1 run on 5 hits during the Cubs’ 7-1 win.

Perez has struggled so far in September, where he is 1-0 in 4 starts with a 5.48 ERA.

Signing off for now,