Wrigley Field ground rules help Cubs after ball finds ivy

CHICAGO —  The Wrigley Field ground rules threw the home team a vine on Tuesday.

Actually, make that a few vines.

In one of the wilder plays of this postseason, the New York Mets were possibly denied a run in the sixth inning when Wilmer Flores’ line drive got past Chicago Cubs right fielder Jorge Soler and bounded into the still-thick Wrigley Field ivy. Though center fielder Dexter Fowler saw where the ball went, he immediately raised his arms signaling the ball had become lost in the growth. That’s an automatic ground rule double according to the ground rules at Wrigley Field and it forced Michael Conforto to stop at third instead of coming around to score.

Mets manager Terry Collins argued with the umpiring crew vehemently, but to no avail.

The moment was a big break for the Cubs as pitcher Jacob deGrom flied out in the next at-bat. It limited the Mets’ damage in the inning to only one run, which came when Conforto reached base and Yoenis Cespedes scored after a wild-pitch third strike from Cubs pitcher Trevor Cahill.

The Mets recovered the next inning, though, scoring two runs to take a 5-2 lead over Chicago.

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