CUBS 9

METS 2

CHICAGO – The first problems were with Carlos Zambrano. But the Mets solved the Cub ace in the sixth.

Then the sky began a rally against them.

The Mets had a two-run lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning yesterday at Wrigley Field, and the Cubs were getting shut out on two hits against Tom Glavine. Ryan Theriot, though, led off the sixth with a drive to right-center.

And Endy Chavez couldn’t find it.

“I had it,” Chavez said. “In the end, that was when it came into the sun.”

Chavez lost the ball in the sun, and the Cubs had a leadoff triple. They scored one run two batters later and the tying run two batters after that. Then they added three more runs in that frame and four more in the seventh – batting around in consecutive innings – for a 9-2 win over the Mets.

Although he pitched fine and the sun was the rally-starter against him, Glavine still suffered the loss. That’s his first one – individually – since back on April 24.

Glavine had won nine straight decisions, hadn’t lost a game in his last 14 outings and had seen the Mets go 13-1 during those starts. Yesterday he gave up three runs in five-plus innings, and he’s now 11-3 on the season.

“I haven’t really paid that much attention to it,” Glavine said of not losing in so long. “To me, if I get a no-decision and we don’t win, I don’t really care. That doesn’t really do much for me.”

The Mets didn’t do much against All-Star righty Carlos Zambrano over the first five innings, getting no-hit and not even approaching a hit during that time. The Cubs had no diving plays or robberies, though Zambrano didn’t really require much help. The only baserunners he allowed over the first five frames were two walks.

In the sixth, though, Jose Valentin opened by cracking a triple into the right-field corner. Two batters later, Carlos Delgado’s RBI single to right gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Chavez’s RBI single to left would put the Mets up 2-0.

But Theriot – and the sun – got the Cubs a leadoff triple to start the bottom of the inning.

“My first thought was . . . it was one pitch, one out, and Derrek Lee’s coming up,” Glavine said of when the ball was hit. “And then as the ball was kind of going and Endy was running, you could see he was starting to struggle with it a little bit, and it’s just, it’s one of those things.”

Glavine walked Lee and gave up Aramis Ramirez’s RBI single, and surprisingly Willie Randolph then pulled him at 91 pitches (“I just felt like it was time to take him out,” Randolph said). Chad Bradford relieved and after getting one out, allowed two RBI singles and one two-run double, bringing in four more runs for a 5-2 Cubs lead.

The Cubs added four more in the seventh off Henry Owens. Theriot walked, stole second, moved up on infield single by Lee and scored on Ramirez’s RBI single. Matt Murton and Neifi Perez added two more RBI singles, and John Mabry had a bases-loaded sacrifice fly for a 9-2 lead.

Even though the Mets won them both, Glavine’s last two starts before the All-Star break were not dazzling. But yesterday after giving up an infield single to start the game to Juan Pierre, the All-Star lefty didn’t allow another hit over the first four innings.

In the fifth, Glavine gave up another infield single, this one a two-out hit to third that Zambrano beat out. Zambrano then stole second, drawing a raucous cheer at Wrigley. It was Zambrano’s first-ever steal, but it didn’t get the Cubs on the board – Pierre grounded out to second to end the inning.