The Mets and Cubs closed out their series on Wednesday night at Citi Field where it was “Mets Football Jersey” night at the ballpark. Wednesday night was the rubber game of the series as the Mets looked to win their first series of the month. Coming in to Wednesday, the Mets had lost seven of their last eight, but had an opportunity to take two out of the three from a team battling for a postseason spot.

David Peterson took the mound for the Mets, facing off against Kyle Hendricks for Chicago.

The long ball was the story of the game for both teams. Christopher Morel hit a lead-off home run for Chicago on the first pitch of the game, and Chicago added another run in the second after a Seiya Suzuki triple and a passed ball. However, Pete Alonso tied the game in the bottom of the fourth on his 35th home run of the year. It was Alonso’s fourth home run of the three-game series.

Jeff McNeil then gave the Mets the 3-2 lead in the sixth on a solo home run, his fifth of the season.

After the Mets’ added an insurance run on a Jonathan Araúz single in the sixth, the last run of the game was also scored on a long ball, from Suzuki, who made it a one-run game on a home run in the ninth off of Adam Ottavino.

After Suzuki’s homer, Ottavino ran into more trouble. Jeimer Candelario then came up and singled to put one runner on. Ottavino was also called for a balk after throwing over for a third time without picking Candelario out, advancing him to second. After Ottavino walked Mike Tauchman to put the go-ahead runs on base, that was all Buck Showalter wanted to see. Showalter turned to Phil Bickford to try to get out of the jam and preserve a win.

Bickford retired Nick Madrigal on a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners to second and third. After a strikeout of Morel, he walked Nico Hoerner to load the bases with two outs. But Bickford was able to he come up clutch with strikeout of Ian Happ to close out the Mets’ 4-3 victory.

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“Pretty awesome coming in first and second, a one run ball game. Showed a lot,” said Jeff McNeil of Bickford after the win. “It was a big time strikeout there in the end. Pretty cool to see.”

David Peterson started for the Mets, and, as he continues to get stretched out moving from the bullpen to the rotation, only went 3 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits to go along with two walks and five strikeouts.

The Mets’ bullpen came up big behind Peterson however, allowing only one earned run in the last 5 1/3 innings pitched. Ottavino struggled, but Grant Hartwig, Trevor Gott, Josh Walker, and Bickford all pitched very well Wednesday night.

Hartwig, in particular stood out, earning the win and going 2 2/3 innings while allowing only two hits and no runs. Hartwig’s ERA on the year is down to 3.27.

The other big storyline for the Mets on Wednesday was Alonso, who was on base three times for the Mets and collected two of the team’s four RBIs from his two-run homer.

“He looks great in the box and looks comfortable,” McNeil said of his teammate. “He’s doing a great job all around.”

Alonso also continued his torment of the Cubs. He now has 15 homers in 26 career games against Chicago.

Players of the Game: Pete Alonso and Phil Bickford

Pete Alonso and Phil Bickford are tonight’s Metsmerized Players of the Game.

Alonso reached base three times with two walks and the aforementioned two-run homer, his 35th of the season. Alonso trails only Shohei Ohtani (40) and Matt Olson (39) for the MLB lead.

Bickford came in in a very tight spot for his first save opportunity as a Met. With two on and no outs, he was able to keep the runners from scoring bailing out Ottavino and giving the Mets a series victory.

On Deck

The Mets will have an off day on Thursday. They will welcome the Braves to Citi Field on Friday for a weekend clash in which four games will be played over three days with a doubleheader on Saturday.