NEW YORK -- Jake Arrieta was not accustomed to this.The NL Cy Young Award winner started his first eight batters with balls.He went to 3-2 counts four times in a 35-pitch first inning, allowing Neil Walkers two-run homer.Its frustrating for me, because I expect a lot more out of myself, he said Saturday night after the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 in Arrietas first regular-season road loss in 14 months.Just after Anthony Rizzo tied the score with a two-run, fourth-inning homer off Bartolo Colon, Travis dArnaud blooped a two-run single in the bottom half that sent the Mets to their third straight win in the four-game series, which ends Sunday.Arrieta (12-3) won his first 12 decisions, reaffirming his status as a premier pitcher. Now hes lost three times in six starts, giving up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings against the defending NL champions.Poor performance on my end, he said. Just didnt get the effort my team needed tonight. I needed to be more of a stopper, put a stop to the bleeding.He had been 19-0 in 24 regular-season road starts since losing at St. Louis on May 7, 2015 -- to current teammate John Lackey. Arrieta is the only pitcher since 1913 to win 19 consecutive road decisions. However, he lost Game 2 of last years NL Championship Series at Citi Field.Believe me, were all going to be in for a treat when this all gets straightened out, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. Hes going to look like he did last year.Arrieta said issues with mechanics were overblown.Were spinning our wheels a little bit too much trying to figure out what the solution is, or is there a problem, he said. I just need to pitch better. Thats the bottom line.Rookie Brandon Nimmo walked leading off the first, and Walker sent a 94 mph sinker off the facing of the second deck in right. Walker had been 4 for 28 against Arrieta, including the postseason.He just wasnt throwing as many strikes early in the count as Ive been accustomed to facing him, Walker said. When youre 1-0, 2-1 with everybody, it makes it difficult to use that entire arsenal.With the score 2-2 in the fourth and runners at first and second, dArnaud popped a ball into short center field, in the middle of a triangle formed by center fielder Jason Heyward, second baseman Javier Baez and shortstop Addison Russell. On a full run toward the outfield and with his back to home plate, Baez reached up with his right, bare hand, but the ball glanced off it and fell to the ground as two runs scored. Baez had just entered the game at second base.Colon (7-4) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings, and Ben Zobrist homered off Erik Goeddel in the seventh.Addison Reed struck out Kris Bryant to end the seventh with the potential tying run on second, and then struck out the side in the eighth after Rizzos leadoff single. Jeurys Familia got three straight outs to convert his 44th consecutive save chance, including a major league-leading 28 this season.Chicago lost for the ninth time in 13 games but still has the best record in the major leagues at 51-29. After getting swept in a three-game series at Washington, the Mets can sweep four from the Cubs.We want to finish it off tomorrow, Mets manager Terry Collins said.LOOKING AHEADArrieta is to start Friday at Pittsburgh, putting him in position for a possible start for Collins of the Mets in the All-Star Game at San Diego on July 12.JUST PLAIN LOOKINGPlate umpire Laz Diaz called nine batters out on strikes, including five Cubs. When Baez was called out leading off the ninth, he held out both arms, and Maddon yelled from the dugout.The amorphic strike zone tonight was really difficult for both sides, Maddon said.CUBS ROTATIONRight-hander Adam Warren is to start Wednesday against Cincinnati at Wrigley Field, following Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey. Maddon said Warren could get a start after the All-Star break but because of a July 21 off day, it was unlikely he would go with a six-man rotation two turns in a row.TRAINERS ROOMCubs: RF Chris Coghlan left after three innings because of right ribcage soreness.UP NEXTLHP Jon Lester (9-3) is to start Sundays series final for the Cubs and RHP Noah Syndergaard (8-3) for the Mets. Lester is 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three regular-season starts against the Mets but lost last years NL Championship Series opener to Matt Harvey. Maurice Cheeks 76ers Jersey . Down by seven with 90 seconds left in regulation, thats where they looked comfortable. Dana Barros 76ers Jersey . -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. http://www.76ersprostore.info/Cheap-Moses-Malone-76ers-Jersey/ . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Maurice Cheeks Jersey . JOHNS, N. Allen Iverson Jersey . LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. Editors note: This story originally appeared as part of the Hispanic Heritage Month series from One Nacion and ESPN Deportes.Can you have a divided heart? Of course you can.Diana Taurasi is a womens basketball superstar, winning three WNBA titles and six EuroLeague championships over her 12-year professional career, as well as four Olympic gold medals wearing the stars and stripes.She was born in California to an Argentine mother and an Italian father. It is precisely these two nationalities that have stolen her heart, blood and appetite.I am 90 percent Argentine and Italian and 10 percent American, Taurasi told ESPN at the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month. At home, we ate Argentine food, spoke Spanish, watched soccer. I still have the Latino and Italian spirit.Taurasi, who confidently proclaims leaning toward all things Latino, has spent most of her life in the United States, where she has achieved her greatest triumphs. In August, she won her fourth gold medal in Rio de Janeiro. In college, she won three consecutive NCAA championships (2002-04) at the University of Connecticut before being selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 WNBA draft. Her self-assuredness as a guard was apparent from the beginning, and she received no shortage of individual awards and collective recognition after leading UConn to a 139-8 record during her career.Taurasi took to American culture like a duck to water, although her identity was very clear.Argentina and Italy are her favorite countries and it shows not only in the food she eats -- Barbecues and pizza with egg, and a little spaghetti with sauce, gnocchi, mate and wine -- but in all fields of her life. Family comes first for Taurasi, who entertained several family members during the Phoenix Mercurys recent visit to Los Angeles.She is feisty, ironic and sassy. Just ask FIBA about the time Taurasi refused to comply with a regulation that she felt was an insult to women. In order to play in the 2012 EuroLeague, players had to adapt their uniforms. The shorts had to end at least ten centimeters above the knee and could not be more than two cenntimeters wider than the thigh.dddddddddddd The players also had to show their shoulders and wear jerseys that did not sit at the same height as their shorts, or were always tucked into them. Taurasi flatly refused and ended up paying out several hefty fines.Thats more Argentine; Argentines are always shouting and emotional, she added.Taurasis successes in Russia and Turkey and at the European level during the winters, as well as her commitment to the Mercury, have prevented her from traveling regularly to Argentina. She says five years have passed since her last visit to Argentina, the country where her mother was born and the place where her father arrived as a goalkeeper before finally quitting soccer. That is the source of Dianas love for soccer, and her worship of Diego Armando Maradona, who she met in the bleachers during a mens basketball game between the United States and Argentina.I saw Diego and asked someone if I could get a picture and say hi. Within 10 minutes, someone from the U.S. came over and off we went, she said. He is God; he is the one who always represented us in good times and bad. The champion.Taurasi was asked who her biggest Hispanic inspiration is in the world of sport.Diego is God to all Argentines, she said, but Manu [Ginobili] came from Argentina and changed the game in the NBA, how you play. And now Messi, with his touch and his worldwide impact, it has to be Messi.Together with Luis Scola, Ginobili also gave her the best advice she ever received.I have spoken a little with Manu and Luis Scola, we have the sense of being Argentine and I am very proud to play in the U.S. at such a high level, she said.And so, setting aside her heart and focusing on the American 10 percent, Taurasi has an eye on the next Olympic Games, which would be her fifth. At 34, she knows she needs to make a decision, but first she needs to do two things.I need to speak to [USA Basketball] and to myself.One conversation will be in English, the other in Spanish. ' ' '