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 — with a .326 average — entering Thursday hitting .254.
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 Amazin’s.
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.
“Honestly, [I’m] just seeing the ball super well,” Alonso said. “And being super balanced and keeping movements to a minimum and being super accurate to the baseball. Having a good attack plan, obviously, I do the best I can to study and research to my opponent but tonight’s gameplan worked out pretty well. …
“I got to stay right where am I at and just stay in the zone.”
After McNeil gave the Amazin’s 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 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.
“A lot of people after a leadoff home run wouldn’t have survived mentally and emotionally,” said Showalter. “I think that’s a really good feel for me. What did he strike out the side after that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. I’ve seen a lot of first-hitter home runs.
“But, [Peterson] not imploding there and really giving us a chance [was key].”
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 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.
“You always got to be ready,” said Bickford. “When I heard it was my name, it was nice that I got up the inning before so it made warming up quickly easier and I was ready for the opportunity. …
“That was a lot of fun, yeah.”
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.
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Source: Berkshire mont