Alvarez, Nimmo Homers Lead Mets to 9-7 Comeback Win Over Cubs

Two of the biggest swings of the Mets’ season were three innings apart.

Brandon Nimmo smacked a game-tying, three-run homer in the fifth inning off a lefty brought in to face him. In the eighth, Francisco Alvarez launched a tie-breaking, two-run shot.

The Mets (81-76) overcame a poor David Peterson start, back-to-back Jeff McNeil errors, a fly ball that eluded Juan Soto for a two-run double, and a five-run deficit to beat the Cubs 9-7 Tuesday at Wrigley Field and move into sole possession of the final Wild Card spot.

Lindor led off the game with his 29th home run. Soto’s gaffe came in the bottom of the first inning. With two on and two out, Carlos Santana hit a high fly that Soto should have settled under and caught, but he misjudged it, the ball bounced on the warning track just out of his reach, and two runs scored.

While Peterson deserved to get out of that inning, the three runs he gave up in the second were all on him. He walked Justin Turner, Matt Shaw singled and, after a sacrifice bunt, Nico Hoerner laced an RBI single. Ian Happ followed with a double that brought home two and got Carlos Mendoza out of the dugout. Peterson was done.

Peterson gave up five earned runs on five hits, walked two and recorded four outs, continuing a troubling second-half slump. Peterson’s ERA was 3.06 when he took the mound in the All-Star Game on July 15. It was 4.22 when he handed the ball to Mendoza.

The Cubs took a 6-1 lead in the fourth when McNeil made the errors, both on throws to first. A run scored on the second errant toss. McNeil had made three errors playing second base all season before making two on consecutive plays.

And then the Mets, down five runs, playing sloppy against a playoff-bound team that entered Tuesday 46-29 at home, rallied. That’s baseball.

Starling Marte led off the fifth with a single. An error by shortstop Dansby Swanson put runners on first and third with one out. Lindor drove in a run with a groundout. Alonso shot one off the ivy in right on a fly, the ball hit so hard (112 mph exit velocity) that he had to settle for an RBI single. That pulled the Mets within 6-3 and chased Michael Soroka.

Lefty Taylor Rogers was summoned to face Nimmo, who hit a 388-foot blast to right for his career-high 25th homer.

The teams traded single runs in the sixth. Lindor drove in a run with a two-out single. So did Seiya Suzuki.

Alvarez, perhaps robbed of a game-tying homer in the ninth on Sunday when Nats outfielder Jacob Young made a leaping catch at the wall, left no doubt with a 403-foot shot to center. Exuberant, he paused on his way to first to celebrate while shouting at his teammates in the dugout. He flexed before rounding third.

Edwin Díaz came in for the six-out save. He earned it with five strikeouts and no drama. The final strikeout came against Dansby Swanson, who is 0-for-11 with 10 strikeouts against Díaz for his career.

The Mets bullpen (7 2/3 innings, two runs, one earned) was excellent. Huascar Brazobán threw 2 2/3 innings, giving up one unearned run. Brooks Raley, brought in with two on and two out in the seventh, stuck out Pete Crow-Armstrong.

The Mets got good news in Cincinnati, where the Pirates beat the Reds, 4-2. The Mets lead the Reds (80-77) by one game for the last Wild Card spot, however, the Reds hold the tiebreaker. Arizona (79-77) has a chance to tie the Reds and move within a game of the Mets later Tuesday. They are hosting the Dodgers. (The Reds own the three-way tiebreaker. The Diamondbacks win in a two-way tie with the Mets.)

Stats of the Game

Defense was poor on both sides. The Mets hadn’t scored five unearned runs in a game since 2019. This was the Mets’ third straight multi-error game. It was the second time they did that this season after not committing three straight multi-error games for 20 years.

And, most importantly, the Mets are one game ahead of the Reds for the final Wild Card spot with five games left.

Player of the Game

Despite Nimmo’s and Alvarez’s homers, Francisco Lindor gets the Player of the Game honors. Each time the Mets needed a big hit with him up, Lindor got it. He went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, including a leadoff homer, RBI groundout and go-ahead RBI single in the sixth.

On Deck

Jonah Tong (2-2, 5.94 ERA) will make his fifth career start with five games to go in the season. Lefty Matthew Boyd (13-8, 3.20 ERA) goes for the Cubs. The game will start at 8:05 p.m. ET on ESPN.

For the Reds, Hunter Greene—their ace—faces off against… Paul Skenes and the Pirates at 6:40 p.m.