The New York Mets (37-40) beat the Chicago Cubs (41-35) by a score of 10-2 on Saturday afternoon at sunny Wrigley Field (boxscore)

Jeff McNeil (2-for-5, three RBIs), Amed Rosario (3-for-4, two runs scored), and Pete Alonso (2-for-4, home run) led the way for the Mets’ offense, providing Zack Wheeler (seven innings, one earned run) plenty of run support.

Pitching

Zack Wheeler took the hill for the Mets on Saturday. After enjoying a career-year in 2018, the 29-year-old right-hander has had an inconsistent 2019, so far.

For example, over his last six starts heading into Saturday (39 innings), Wheeler’s pitched to a 5.08 ERA despite having a 39-to-7 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.

His terrific performance on Saturday at Wrigley was most certainly a step in the right direction.

After navigating through two two-on-none-out predicaments over the first two innings — Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant led off the first with back-to-back singles and Jason Heyward (single) and Albert Almora reached in the second — unscathed, Wheeler set in nicely.

The 29-year-old worked flawlessly over 12 straight batters from the second through fifth innings, striking out four and benefitting from a couple of sparkling defensive plays via Jeff McNeil and Amed Rosario.

At 71 pitches (48 strikes) to start the sixth, Wheeler needed just eight pitches to get through another perfect frame, extending his streak to 15 consecutive batters retired since having two Cubs on base with none out in the second.

Willson Contreras led off the seventh with a liner that fell just short of Dom Smith in left field for the Cubbies’ first hit in four-plus innings.

Heyward followed with a base hit, moving Contreras to third, and Wheeler walked Carlos Gonzalez — his first free pass issued — to load the bases with none out.

Wheeler induced a 6-6-3 double play via Caratini allowing his first run of the game and cutting the Mets lead to a palatable 10-1.

After 94 pitches (62 strikes) and up by nine runs, with the right-hander set to lead off the eighth, Wheeler was pinch-hit for in the top of the inning, ending his day after seven outstanding innings (one earned run on five hits with five strikeouts and a walk), lowering his ERA to 4.69 on the year.

Chris Flexen got the call in the eighth, working around two walks to register a clean inning in the boxscore.

The 26-year-old stayed on for the ninth, allowing Heyward to score on a wild pitch after leading off the inning with a double that went through Dom Smith’s glove at first base.

Offense

Pete Alonso put the Mets on the board early with his one-out, 419-foot solo blast in the first (108.1 MPH exit velocity). It was the 24-year-old’s 26th homer of the season, tying the Mets’ franchise record for home runs by a rookie (Darryl Strawberry, 26; 1983).

Wilson Ramos led off the second with a walk and Amed Rosario blasted a double off the ivy to put two Mets in scoring position with none out.

Jose Quintana struck out Juan Lagares and Wheeler but couldn’t solve Jeff McNeil, who singled down the right-field line to put the Mets ahead 3-0. McNeil was initially called safe at second, but the call was reversed after review.

J.D. Davis singled with one out in the third and Todd Frazier followed with his eighth home run of the season, a 102.9 MPH 369-foot blast into the seats in left field, staking the Mets to a 5-0 lead.

Amed Rosario singled to lead off the fourth, his second hit of the game. Then, with two outs, McNeil struck again, doubling past a diving Schwarber in right field to give the Mets a 6-0 lead, his fifth consecutive multi-hit game and second straight three-RBI game.

Davis reached on an error (Caratini) to start the fifth and came home on Michael Conforto‘s one-out RBI single, then Ramos sent his eighth homer of the season into the right-field stands to put the Mets ahead 9-0, chasing Quintana from the game.

Alonso added his second hit of the game with a two-out double in the top of the sixth. He moved to third on a wild pitch to Dominic Smith, who walked pinch-hitting for Davis, then Frazier brought Pete home on an infield hit to make it a 10-0 game.

Rosario collected his third hit of the day with a one-out single in the seventh off Cubs right-hander Brad Brach but was erased on Lagares’ 4-6-3 double play.

Victor Caratini, who started the game at first base for the Cubs, pitched a perfect ninth for Chicago.

On Deck

Jacob deGrom (4-6, 3.26 ERA) takes the ball versus Cubs left-hander Cole Hamels (6-2, 2.85 ERA) in the series finale at Wrigley on Sunday at 2:20 PM.

The game will be televised on WPIX and broadcast in WCBS 880 AM.