Adrian Sampson has words with Pete Alonso, then outpitches Jacob deGrom as the Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets again 4-1

NEW YORK — Jacob deGrom was outpitched by journeyman Adrian Sampson, and the frustrated New York Mets mustered little on offense again Tuesday night in a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

Ian Happ homered deep into the second deck on a 99 mph heater from deGrom (5-2), and No. 9 batter David Bote added his second home run of the season for the Cubs (60-82), who won the series opener 5-2 on Monday.

One night later, the scuffling Mets squandered another potential chance to increase their slim National League East lead over the Atlanta Braves, who played later in San Francisco. The Mets are 5-6 in a 16-game stretch against the Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Miami Marlins and Cubs — all more than 20 games under .500.

Pete Alonso barely missed a two-run homer in the first inning when it hooked just foul, and the slugger slammed his bat after drawing a walk.

That appeared to tick off Sampson, and the two exchanged words before umpires spoke directly to each of them.

Alonso launched his 34th homer in the ninth against Brandon Hughes, who got five outs to finish it. The Mets had only four hits against three Cubs pitchers and were booed a bit by the Citi Field crowd of 26,435.

Sampson (2-5) allowed two hits and four walks in six shutout innings. He struck out three.

The 30-year-old righty is pitching for his third major-league team in five seasons, plus a shaky 2020 in the Korean Baseball Organization. He never had thrown six scoreless innings in the majors, though he has fared well on the mound this month.

Happ homered leading off the second. Aided by catcher James McCann’s throwing error, the Cubs scored twice off deGrom in the fourth on Yan Gomes’ sacrifice fly and Patrick Wisdom’s safety squeeze.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 10 in six innings. He gave up three runs and four hits without a walk.

Bote went deep against reliever Seth Lugo in the seventh to make it 4-0.

Cubs: SS Nico Hoerner (triceps) was feeling better and planned to go through some light baseball activity before the game to determine if he could be available off the bench. … RHP Keegan Thompson, on the 15-day injured list since Aug. 20 with lower back tightness, is expected to make a minor-league rehab start Friday. … LHP Steven Brault (shoulder strain) threw a bullpen session. … LHP Justin Steele (low back strain) threw a bullpen session Monday that went as expected. He is eligible to come off the IL on Saturday.

Mets: RHP Max Scherzer (left oblique irritation) is scheduled to pitch Wednesday in a simulated game at Citi Field or a rehab appearance with Triple-A Syracuse. If all goes well, he’s expected to come off the IL early next week in Milwaukee. … Mets manager Buck Showalter on All-Star RF Starling Marte, out since last week with a partial fracture of his right middle finger: “It’s going to be slow. I’ll say it one more time: He has a broken finger. You can’t put it in some hydraulic chamber and just make the bone grow together. We’d like to. It’s going to heal, and it’s going to heal before the season’s over. Depending on what season you’re talking about.”

LHP Drew Smyly (6-8, 3.57 ERA) pitches for the Cubs in the series finale Wednesday night. The Mets had not announced a starter.