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AP Photo/John Minchillo Chicago Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki rounds first after hitting a triple off New York Mets starting pitcher David Peterson (23) in the second inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in New York.
AP
17:11 JST, August 10, 2023
NEW YORK (AP) — As the Chicago Cubs chase a playoff spot down the stretch, they’ll be glad not to see Pete Alonso anymore.
Alonso launched yet another homer against the Cubs, and Jeff McNeil hit a tiebreaking shot that sent the New York Mets to a 4-3 victory Wednesday night.
With the bases loaded in the ninth inning, Phil Bickford struck out No. 3 batter Ian Happ to save it for New York.
“He’s got a good fastball, kept it up in the zone, did a good job there,” Happ said. “It was just a good, competitive game.”
But it was a costly defeat for Chicago, locked in a crowded National League playoff race. The Cubs lost for just the sixth time in 22 games and fell 2 1/2 games behind first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
Christopher Morel and Seiya Suzuki homered for Chicago, bunched with several teams fighting tooth-and-nail for the league’s final wild card.
Jonathan Araúz added an RBI single and the Mets got strong work from their shaky bullpen to take two of three games from the Cubs, who won their previous six series.
“Pete led the way again,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said.
Bickford entered with two on in the ninth and earned his second major league save — first for the Mets since being acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers for cash at last week’s trade deadline. After a sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter Nick Madrigal advanced two runners, Bickford threw a called third strike past Morel.
A walk to Nico Hoerner loaded the bases before Happ went down swinging at a 94 mph fastball.
“When I heard it was my name, it was nice that I got up the inning before, so it made warming up quickly easier,” Bickford said. “I was ready for the opportunity.”
Grant Hartwig (4-1) worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Mets starter David Peterson.
Morel hit Peterson’s first pitch off the facing of the second deck in left field for his third career leadoff homer and first this season. Suzuki, who finished a double shy of the cycle, tripled in the second and scored on a passed ball.
Alonso tied it in the fourth with a long two-run homer off starter Kyle Hendricks. The slugger had four home runs and 10 RBIs in the series, giving him 15 homers and 34 RBIs in 27 career games against the Cubs.
“I went through a really bad patch this year and it was definitely the worst of my big league career,” Alonso said. “I was healthy, but we play a game of failure and the law of averages are starting to bounce back in my favor.”
McNeil greeted Hayden Wesneski (2-4) with a leadoff homer in the sixth that put the Mets ahead. Abraham Almonte doubled and scored on Araúz’s single to make it 4-2.
Suzuki homered leading off the ninth against Adam Ottavino, and Chicago mounted a late rally as some in the Citi Field crowd of 37,527 chanted “Let’s go Cubbies!”
“I think we had the momentum after I hit that home run, so I definitely thought we were going to come back and get the game,” Suzuki said through a translator.
