Game Recap: Cubs blast Mets to get back on track

Matt Marton - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 3 hours ago

CHICAGO - It may have taken a week since clinching their first playoff berth in five years, but the Chicago Cubs (89-69) were finally able to get back into the win column after dropping a season-high five straight. Given how tight things have gotten for the top Wild Card spot, it was a win the Cubs desperately needed, and it came in front of the Wrigley Field crowd as they continue to make the Friendly Confines a playoff-like atmosphere.

While the Cubs needed a win in the worst way to put an end to their skid, the New York Mets (81-77) were also desperate for a win as they are locked into a three-team race for the final Wild Card spot. After watching their 6-1 lead evaporate on Monday, the Cubs wanted to make sure that didn't happen again as a five-run third inning opened the scoring for the Cubs in what was a 10-3 victory.

Picking up his 14th win of the season was Matthew Boyd, who seems to have gotten back into rhythm after eight or so rough starts. Boyd has been one of the biggest surprises of the season, but with his highest workload in more than five seasons, you have to think that this was his final start of the regular season. If that is the case, Boyd went out in style as he held the Mets to just two runs in 5 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out three to earn the victory.

Facing off against the Cubs left-hander was the young rookie Jonah Tong, who was making his fifth start since taking over for Kodai Senga in the rotation. Tong has been a massive strikeout pitcher all season, but it was the Cubs who took a more aggressive approach, leading to a five-run outing in just two innings of work.

Tong found out how dangerous the Cubs' offense could be in the first inning as Michael Busch led things off with a leadoff double before a walk to Nico Hoerner put two runners on with no outs. Chicago appeared to have taken the lead on a Moises Ballesteros single two batters later, but after a Replay review, Busch was called out at home, forcing the Cubs to come away empty in the first.

It was that part of the order that gave Tong fits throughout his outing as a leadoff single from Matt Shaw to begin the third gave the Cubs another baserunner. With Busch taking a walk shortly after, followed by another Hoerner single, it was the Cubs loading the bases and the meat of their order coming to bat.

Ian Happ got the scoring started with an RBI double to put the Cubs in front 2-0, as they never looked back from there. A second Ballesteros single pushed the Cubs' lead to 3-0, with Seiya Suzuki extending the lead to 4-0 with a double as the first five hitters of the inning reached for the Cubs. Pete Crow-Armstrong would tack on a sacrifice fly later in the inning to cap off a five-run frame as the Cubs opened up a commanding 5-0 lead.

With Shaw adding a homer in the fourth to push their lead to 6-0, the Cubs had to like where things were heading as Boyd allowed just one base runner through four. Then came the top of the fifth when Mark Vientos picked up the first hit of the game for the Mets before coming home on the Francisco Alvarez homer that pulled the Mets to within 6-2. For Alvarez, that was his second homer in as many games, as he is closing out his season in style.

A significant reason for the Cubs' second-half struggles has been the lack of energy coming from Crow-Armstrong, as he has been statistically the worst hitter in baseball since the All-Star break. You started to see some of that raw emotion come back in the bottom of the fifth as his speed alone led to two runs, forcing a throwing error to score Ballesteros from third, and then racing home to score from second base on a wild pitch, pushing the Cubs' lead to 8-2.

That was more than enough for Boyd to work with as he got one out in the sixth before handing things off to Daniel Palencia, who made his first MLB appearance since his shoulder injury earlier in the month. Knowing how much this game meant, the Mets elected to go with two of their starters out of the pen with Clay Holmes working a scoreless fifth before handing things off to Sean Manaea in the sixth.

Shaw continued to be the spark plug for the Cubs' offense, leading off the sixth with his third hit in as many at-bats, and then coming home on the Busch homer to break things open 10-2. Busch now has 31 homers on the season as his impressive sophomore campaign continues. Those were not only the final runs of the game for the Cubs, but the only runs they would need as Aaron Civale came on to pitch the final three innings, allowing just a Juan Soto solo shot in the eighth in what was a 10-3 Cubs win.

Civale is credited with the three-inning save and continues to look good since signing with the Cubs in late August. With the win, combined with the Padres' loss, the Cubs have increased their lead for home field to 2.5 games over San Diego as their magic number falls to two. A win tomorrow would push that lead to three games with three games left, meaning they would need to win just one game over the Cardinals to clinch home field for the Wild Card round.

Leading the way for the Cubs was Shaw as he picked up three of the Cubs' 11 hits. Busch and Ballesteros also had nice games, combining for four hits and three RBIs. Chicago will go for the series victory tomorrow as Shota Imanaga will take the ball for the final time in the regular season, as he will face off against Nolan McClean, who has dominated since his MLB debut, going 4-1 with an impressive 1.27 ERA across seven starts.