Cubs’ Yu Darvish does it again — a 10th straight no-decision! — in 5-4 loss to Mets

Give Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish credit for not playing the game.

No, not the game between the lines every fifth day, but rather the excuses game.

Or, if you prefer, the everything-is-just-fine-and-dandy game.

Darvish, making his team-high 16th start of the season, took his 10th consecutive no-decision Friday in the Cubs’ 5-4 loss to the Mets at Wrigley Field.

Ten“NDs” in a row simply has to be the strangest, most kissing-your-sister stat in all of baseball this season. It’s so unusual, it hadn’t been done before in Cubs history. The last big-league pitcher to slog through 10 straight starts without a single decision was the Phillies’ Randy Lerch in 1977.

The experience hasn’t merely been “weird” for Darvish, though that’s one of the words he used to describe it. It also has been “frustrating.” Darvish has worked hard to avoid letting negative thoughts creep into his head in 2019, but the task is getting more difficult.

Asked what his $126 million man brought to the mound against the Mets, manager Joe Maddon said, “Good stuff. I mean, again, good stuff.”

Again? Well, yeah, if you listen to Maddon. No one has bent over backward more than he has to praise Darvish throughout the last several games of this stretch. It’s true, Darvish’s performances have been getting more and more solid. But the bottom line is delivering. Even Darvish understands that.

“I just want to pitch good,” he said.

There was every reason for the Cubs

(41-34) to win this game and help Darvish break his streak. For one thing, they entered Friday with 15 wins in their last 17 games against the Mets (36-40) at Wrigley. There isn’t another team in the National League they’ve knocked around so routinely at home.

Also, the Cubs handed Darvish leads of 2-1 and 4-3. Alas, he responded each time with what seems to be his specialty: instantly blowing any and every advantage. He took the 2-1 lead into the third but promptly surrendered a two-run homer to Jeff McNeil. He took the 4-3 lead into the sixth but gave up a two-out solo shot to Michael Conforto.

“I know I give up a lot of runs after they score,” Darvish said. “I really focused to Conforto, but he just hit it.”

Darvish finished the inning, and then his day — empty again — was through. The Mets scored the winning run in the seventh on a two-out single by McNeil off Mike Montgomery.

It should be noted that Darvish played a part in handing those two Cubs leads to himself. His two-out liner to right field in the second scored David Bote with the Cubs’ second run. In the fifth, he singled up the middle and came home on a two-run shot by Addison Russell.

It was Darvish’s first career multihit game, after which he was asked if he “takes pride” in his hitting.

“I don’t care about my hitting,” he said. “I don’t want to be a good hitter. I want to be a good pitcher.”

Give him credit for seeing things as they are and telling it like it is. Unfortunately, that’s all you can give him credit for. Even a good, old-fashioned “L” might be refreshing at this point.