NEW YORK — Maybe Lou Piniella needed to give the Cubs another pep talk.
David Wright hit a RBI double Thursday night and two runs scored on an error by Mike Fontenot in a four-run sixth, as Johan Santana and the New York Mets beat the Cubs, 5-2. In their three wins in this four-game series, the Mets outscored the Cubs, 15-3.
"There's really nothing to worry about, I feel, because of how good we are as a team," Cubs starter Tom Gorzelanny said. "Every team has these stretches and, lucky for us, it's in the beginning, not in the end. We'll get this out of the way now and get back on track. There's no doubt in my mind we'll start to [win games] soon."
Piniella met briefly with the team prior to Wednesday's game, told them to relax and have fun, and the result was a 9-3 win to end a four-game losing streak. But on Wednesday, Oliver Perez started, and he's no Santana. Santana (2-1) remained unbeaten in his career against the Cubs as he struck out five and gave up one run on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings.
"We had chances at him," Piniella said of the Mets' starter.
They stranded 10 in the game and once again wasted a solid starting effort, this time by Gorzelanny (0-2), pitching for the first time since being hit in the left arm by a line drive five days ago. The bruise apparently healed well, as he cruised through the first four innings.
The lefty did not give up a hit until rookie Ike Davis singled with one out in the fifth. Rod Barajas followed Davis with a comebacker to Gorzelanny, who threw to shortstop Ryan Theriot for a potential double play. But his errant throw pulled Theriot off the bag. The shortstop also appeared to be spiked in his right foot by the sliding Davis, but stayed in the game.
"It's one of those plays where you don't have much time to think about it," Gorzelanny said.
His first five innings were nearly perfect.
"Too bad there's nine innings in a game," Gorzelanny said. "I've got to be able to go out there and continue what I was doing. Things happen, and unfortunately I wasn't able to do that."
"He deserved better," Piniella said of the lefty.
Chicago starters have given up 12 earned runs over 46 1/3 innings for a 2.33 ERA. But the Cubs' offense isn't supporting them, and on Thursday, Chicago stranded 10 baserunners.
"Santana's a good pitcher, and he has a good track record," Fontenot said. "It's tough when you're not putting runs on the board."
New York provided Santana with all the support he needed in the sixth. Jose Reyes walked to lead off, moved up on a sacrifice, and scored on Wright's double over left fielder Alfonso Soriano. One out later, Jeff Francoeur snapped an 0-for-24 skid with a RBI single to make it 2-0. Davis singled to chase Gorzelanny and James Russell walked Barajas. Angel Pagan then bounced the ball to Fontenot, who couldn't get a glove on it, allowing two more to score.
The runner screened Fontenot a little, which is why it was tough for him to get a glove on the ball.
"Right as I was getting to the ball, he was, too, and I kind of lost sight of it for a second," Fontenot said. "It went off my glove and here we go. I just lost the ball."
Kosuke Fukudome delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh to chase Santana. The Cubs loaded the bases in the eighth on a single by Marlon Byrd, a walk by Soriano after an 11-pitch at-bat, and a walk by Soto. Fontenot hit a sacrifice fly off Francisco Rodriguez.
"We just have to keep battling," Fontenot said. "I still think — and a lot of people do — that we have good players on this team. Everybody's capable of doing well. We just have to try to get out of this funk, keep battling and keep our heads up."
It's been a frustrating April.
"Santana's good, but I don't think it's just Santana," Derrek Lee said of the Cubs' collective funk. "There's other games where we just haven't scored. I don't want to take anything away from him — he's one of the best pitchers in the game — but this whole season, we haven't scored many runs."
Now, the Cubs head to Milwaukee and face a Brewers team that scored 20 runs on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"Let's hope they did all their scoring in the Pittsburgh series," Piniella said. "I think we're going to have to score more than two runs over there."