Jeff McNeil’s go-ahead solo homer helps give Mets series victory over Cubs
NEW YORK — That was close.
It’s been a while, but the squirrel finally clawed his way to its nut. Jeff McNeil’s go-ahead solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning propelled the Mets to a series victory over the Chicago Cubs Wednesday night at Citi Field, taking the rubber match, 4-3.
The 31-year-old’s homer off of Hayden Wesneski was his second since June 13 and fifth of the season. McNeil has had a rough go of it in 2023 after winning the NL batting title last season after hitting .326. McNeil entered Thursday sporting a .254 average.
Pete Alonso continued his torrid stretch, blasting a two-run homer off of Kyle Hendricks with the Mets trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth. The first baseman mashed his fourth homer of the three-game series off of the second deck, totaling his 35th of the season. Alonso is the first player in Mets history to have four seasons of 35-plus homers. Dave Kingman, Darryl Strawberry, Howard Johnson and Mike Piazza all had three seasons of such numbers for the Mets.
The 29-year-old has quickly turned his season around after seeing his OPS drop to .776 on July 20. It now sits at .854 after Wednesday’s performance.
After McNeil gave the Mets the lead, hitting appeared to be contagious. The team got another run on an RBI single by Jonathan Arauz after Abraham Almonte (double) and Mark Vientos (fielders choice) reached. It gave the Mets all they would need to grab a victory.
David Peterson took the ball for Buck Showalter’s club and did just enough to keep the Mets in the thick of the ballgame. The southpaw tossed 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out five. The biggest hit came off the bat of Christopher Morel, who lined the very first pitch of the ballgame into the left field seats.
The 27-year-old is attempting to win back a solidified spot in the starting rotation after being relegated to the bullpen on July 14.
Since Peterson tossed just 58 pitches in his last outing against the Baltimore Orioles and was unable to provide length, Showalter had to lean heavily on his stable. Grant Hartwig tossed 2 1/3 scoreless frames before passing the ball off to Trevor Gott, who got three outs of his own in the seventh. Josh Walker excelled in setup duties, working a one-two-three inning against the meat of the Cubs’ order — Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson.
Adam Ottavino made things a bit interesting in the ninth. Seiya Suzuki led off the frame with a solo homer and Jeimer Candelario followed with a single to right field. The right-hander walked Mike Tauchman and that was all Showalter needed to see as he called on Phil Bickford with runners on first and second and nobody out.
Nick Madrigal sacrificed the runners over to second and third with a bunt and Bickford got Morel swinging. Happ walked up with the bases loaded — after Nico Hoerner worked a four-pitch walk — and struck out swinging to end the ballgame.
The Mets will get the day off Thursday before welcoming the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves for a three-game set beginning on Friday. Tylor Megill is scheduled to take the ball against veteran right-hander Charlie Morton.
