CHICAGO — It was a disaster until it wasn’t. It was indicative of everything that’s wrong with the Mets until it was a reminder that they still have the talent to pull themselves out of this abyss.
And now it means they somehow still control their own destiny.
After dropping out of a playoff spot for the first time since April 5, the Mets descended into Wrigley Field and immediately took a punch. It was apt then, that the team member most likely to get knocked down and get right back up was the one to yank them from disaster.
Francisco Alvarez, battling a broken finger and a torn UCL in his thumb, hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning as the Mets came back to earn a pivotal 9-7 win over the Cubs. They trailed by five runs heading into the fifth, marking their largest comeback of the year.
They’re one game ahead of the Reds and Diamondbacks for the third wild-card spot with five games to play (the Reds own the tiebreaker over the Mets), and finally showed the fight that has too often deserted the Mets this season.
“Nothing in terms of injuries crosses my mind,” Alvarez said via interpreter. “The only thing I’m focused on is winning and getting back into the playoffs . . . I love the way that felt [last year], so that’s what I’m really focused on — just winning, making it back to the playoffs because I feel like this team deserves to be in the playoffs.”
With Luisangel Acuna on second with two outs, the Mets’ battered catcher blasted Caleb Thielbar’s 3-and-1 fastball 403 feet to center to snap a 7-7 tie. Feet away from first base, he roared toward his team’s dugout before making his way around the bases.
Edwin Diaz closed it out with a perfect two-inning save.
The Mets trailed 6-1 in the fifth before scoring five, capped by Brandon Nimmo’s tying, three-run homer, and went ahead in the sixth on Francisco Lindor’s RBI single. Seiya Suzuki, though, singled off Tyler Rogers in the bottom of the inning to tie it back up at 7.
The Mets led 1-0 on Lindor’s leadoff homer off Cade Horton, but David Peterson was again ineffective, allowing two runs in the first and three in the second. He lasted just 1 1⁄3 innings, with five hits, two walks and a strikeout — his shortest and probably worst start of the year. He has an 8.42 ERA over his last nine starts.
Afterward, manager Carlos Mendoza was open to moving Peterson to the bullpen.
“Tonight, there were a couple pitches that I didn’t get to the locations that I wanted them to and they took advantage,” Peterson said.
Added Mendoza: “Tough night for him — not able to fill the strike zone the way he wanted to.”
Staring down another early deficit, the Mets strung together a series of uncompetitive at-bats and then let up another run on some ugly defense from Jeff McNeil in the fourth.
With one out and a runner on first, Brett Baty made a nice stop at third and attempted to initiate the double play, but McNeil threw the ball all the way to the dugout to land the batter, Nico Hoerner, at second. Then Ian Happ hit a ball deep into the hole on the right side of the infield; McNeil made a sharp stop, but again threw the ball away, allowing Hoerner to score and giving the Cubs a five-run advantage.
But Horton was pulled after three innings due to back tightness, and the Mets finally came to life against the Cubs’ bullpen in the fifth. Starling Marte led with a single off Michael Soroka, and Dansby Swanson misplayed Alvarez’s chopper for a two-base error. Lindor’s groundout scored a run, Juan Soto walked, and Pete Alonso stroked a long single off the wall in right to get the Mets to within 6-3.
Craig Counsell brought in the lefty Taylor Rogers — twin brother to Tyler — to face Nimmo, who came into the game hitting .238 in September. But Nimmo teed off on a hanging sweeper, driving it over the ivy in right. His 25 homers and 91 RBIs are both career highs.
Then, in the sixth, right as the out-of-town scoreboard announced that the Reds had lost, the Mets took advantage: McNeil stroked a two-out double to right, Alvarez walked and Lindor lined a run-scoring single to left to put them up 7-6.
The Mets’ bullpen, which struggled so often during their tailspin, continued their redemption tour, with Huascar Brazoban kicking it off with 2 2⁄3 innings of one-run ball, and capped by Diaz’s domination. Six relievers combined to allow two runs in 7 2⁄3 innings.
“I was really fired up,” Diaz said. “It was a battle back and forth . . . Tomorrow, we have to come with the same mentality. When they give us the ball, just go out there, compete, get out, and try to win the game.”
And, in this very last gasp, change the season’s narrative.
Notes & quotes: Tylor Megill had Tommy John surgery in Los Angeles on Monday, essentially ruling the righty out for next year, Mendoza announced . . . Jonah Tong will take the hill for the Mets on Wednesday and Nolan McLean will pitch in the series finale Thursday.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
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