• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Lee, Cubs seek fourth straight win vs. Mets

Apr 21, 2008 - 1:14 PM Ny Mets (10-7) at Chicago Cubs (12-6) 7:05 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) - Derrek Lee will hope to continue his torrid hitting Monday as the Chicago Cubs go for their fourth consecutive victory when they host the New York Mets in the opener of a two-game series.

Lee had two hits and drove in a pair of runs as the Cubs completed a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 13-6 victory Sunday. The first baseman is batting .360 with seven home runs and 15 RBI this season.

Seeking its eighth win in nine games, Chicago will send ace Carlos Zambrano (2-1, 3.04 ERA) to the mound.

The hard-throwing righthander tossed seven solid frames in his last outing, surrendering two runs and eight hits with five strikeouts in a 12-3 drubbing of the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

He will be opposed by righthander John Maine (1-1, 3.78), who is coming off his first win of the season. The 26-year-old Maine gave up two runs over 6 2/3 innings during Wednesday's 5-2 triumph over the Washington Nationals.

Despite another excellent performance from David Wright, the Mets' five-game winning streak came to an end Sunday as they suffered a 5-4 loss to the rival Philadelphia Phillies.

Wright had two hits in the contest and ended up going 8-for-11 (.727) in the three-game set against the Phillies and was a major reason that the Mets won the first two games of the series.