Micah Hoffpauir’s best major-league game to date was spoiled, as the New York Mets rallied for 3 runs in their final 2 at-bats to beat the Chicago Cubs 7-6 on Thursday evening from Shea Stadium.

With the win, the Mets are now just 1 game behind the Phillies with 3 games remaining for the NL East title & earn at least a tie with Milwaukee for the NL Wild Card lead.

The Cubs took an early lead in the top of the 1st inning on Micah Hoffpauir’s 2-out solo homer (1st of season) off Mets starter Pedro Martinez, which gave Chicago a 1-0 lead.

For Hoffpauir, it is his first major-league home run & it came against a pitcher who currently ranks 9th among active players with 214 wins.

Chicago then struck for a 2-out rally after Jim Edmonds drew a walk & Mike Fontenot singled, which put runners at 1st & 3rd for Casey McGehee.

McGehee continued his impressive month of September with an RBI single, which scored Edmonds from 3rd base & gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead.

With Fontenot on 2nd base & 2 outs, Kosuke Fukudome struck out looking to end the inning.

The Mets were able to get a run in the bottom of the 1st inning after Jose Reyes reached 1st base safely thanks to an throwing error by Micah Hoffpauir at 1st base.

Reyes then stole 2nd base during David Murphy’s at-bat, who grounded out to Ryan Theriot at shortstop. However, Murphy did advance Reyes to 3rd on the play.

David Wright then hit a sac fly to centerfield, which scored Reyes from 3rd base & made it a 2-1 Cub lead.

Chicago then pushed across another run in the top of the 3rd inning after Ryan Theriot drew a lead-off walk from Martinez.

Micah Hoffpauir then hit an RBI double over the head of Carlos Beltran in centerfield, which scored Theriot from 1st base & gave the Cubs a 3-1 lead.

With Hoffpauir on 2nd base & nobody out, Jim Edmonds struck out looking before Mike Fontenot drew a walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for Casey McGehee.

McGehee & Kosuke Fukudome then both struck out looking to end the inning.

The Mets then tried to rally in the bottom of the 4th inning after David Wright drew a 1-out single off Cubs starter Rich Harden.

2 batters later, Carlos Beltran walked to put runners on 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Ryan Church.

Church then hit a 2-run double past a diving Micah Hoffpauir & down the right field line, which scored both Wright & Beltran which tied the game 3-3.

With 2 outs & Church on 2nd base, Ramon Martinez flied out to Felix Pie in left field to end the inning.

New York then threatened to take the lead in the bottom of the 5th inning after Jose Reyes drew a 2-out walk from Harden.

Reyes then stole 2nd base during David Murphy’s at-bat, who struck out to end the scoring threat.

The Mets then threatened again to take the lead in the bottom of the 6th inning after David Wright drew a lead-off walk from Harden.

2 batters later, Carlos Beltran grounded into what looked to be an inning-ending doubleplay, but Ryan Theriot’s throw sailed over the head of Micah Hoffpauir at 1st base. This allowed Beltran to reach 1st base safely on a fielder’s choice.

Ryan Church then drew a 2-out walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd for Ramon Martinez, who struck out looking to end the scoring threat.

The Cubs then had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 7th inning after Felix Pie hit a lead-off single against Martinez.

Pie then stole 2nd base during Ryan Theriot’s at-bat, who walked to put runners at 1st & 2nd with nobody out for Micah Hoffpauir.

Hoffpauir then continued his big evening with a 3-run homer (2nd of season & 2nd of game), which gave Chicago a 6-3 lead.

2 batters later, Mike Fontenot hit a double off Mets reliever Ricardo Rincon with just 1 out.

Casey McGehee then flied out to Carlos Beltran in centerfield before Kosuke Fukudome was intentionally walked to put runners at 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Koyie Hill.

Hill struck out to end the inning.

New York tried to cut into their deficit in the bottom of the 7th inning after Robinson Cancel hit a lead-off double against Chicago reliever Chad Gaudin.

Pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson then grounded out to Ryan Theriot at shortstop, but advanced Cancel to 3rd base on the play.

Jose Reyes then hit an RBI groundout to shortstop, which scored Cancel from 3rd base & made it a 6-4 game.

Chicago tried to add onto their lead in the top of the 8th inning after Ryan Theriot drew a 2-out walk from New York reliever Scott Schoenweis.

Micah Hoffpauir then continued his big night with a single for his 5th hit of the game. It put runners at 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Jim Edmonds, who struck out looking to end the inning.

The Mets then rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th inning after Carlos Beltran & Ryan Church hit back-to-back 2-out singles against Cubs reliever Neal Cotts.

Beltran then stole 3rd base during Ramon Martinez’s at-bat, who hit an RBI single off Cubs reliever Bob Howry to score Beltran & make it a 6-5 game.

Robinson Cancel then singled to Kosuke Fukudome in right field, who fired home to Koyie Hill at catcher, but barely missed tagging Ryan Church on 2 seperate attempts which tied the game 6-6.

Church initially missed home plate while avoiding Hill’s tag, then was able to touch home plate before Hill could react & tie the game up.

Pinch-hitter Damian Easley then struck out to end the inning.

Chicago then tried to re-take the lead in the top of the 9th inning after Mike Fontenot hit a lead-off single against New York reliever Pedro Feliciano.

Fontenot was then able to advance to 2nd base on a wild pitch from Feliciano during Casey McGehee’s at-bat, who struck out swinging.

Koyie Hill then grounded into a fielder’s choice, but was able to advance Fontenot to 3rd base on the play.

Daryle Ward then grounded out to Feliciano to end the scoring threat.

The Mets then started their game-winning rally in the bottom of the 9th inning after Jose Reyes hit a lead-off single against Cubs reliever Kevin Hart.

David Murphy then bunted foul for the 1st out of the inning while trying to advance Reyes to 2nd base.

David Wright then struck out, while Reyes stole 2nd base on the play.

Carlos Delgado was then intentionally walked, which put runners at 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Carlos Beltran.

Beltran then lined his game-winning single off Micah Hoffpauir’s glove at 1st base, as Reyes scored from 2nd & gave the Mets a 7-6 win.

Joe Smith (6-3) gets the win for the Mets after allowing 1 strikeout & 1 walk during a scoreless 9th inning.

Kevin Hart (2-2) takes the loss for the Cubs after allowing 2 hits, which included Carlos Beltran’s game-winning 9th-inning single.

Bob Howry is credited with his 4th blown save of the season after giving up back-to-back RBI singles which helped New York tie the game in the 8th inning.

Despite the loss, Micah Hoffpauir had a big evening at the plate as he went 5 for 5 with a a solo homer, a 3-run homer, a pair of singles & 1 double.

Hoffpauir finished just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, which would’ve been the first for a Cub since Mark Grace did it on May 9th, 1993 against San Diego.

The Cubs will now travel north up I-94 to Miller Park for a regular-season ending 3-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers starting Friday night at 7:10 PM cst.

Game 1 NLDS starter Ryan Dempster (17-6, 2.99) will get his final regular-season start & will be opposed by Brewers righthander Jeff Suppan (10-10, 5.06).

Dempster is a perfect 4-0 against Milwaukee in 4 starts against them this season & has not allowed more than 3 runs in a single start against the Brewers in 2008.

Milwaukee has lost each of Suppan’s last 4 starts dating back to September 4th against San Diego. Suppan also is 0-3 in 4 September starts with a 10.47 ERA.

Signing off for now,