The Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2, on Sunday night to clinch the series and give them 12 series wins on the season. They've now won 10 out of their last 13 games and 13 out of their last 17.
Here are the takeaways...
- Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo gave the Mets a 3-0 lead in the third inning with back-to-back home runs off Cubs starter Javier Assad. Harrison Bader had doubled down the third base line with one out for the team's third double of the night, and then Lindor battled through an eight-pitch at-bat and crushed the homer on a 3-2 cutter. Nimmo launched his on a fastball to left center field, as it went to nearly the same exact spot as Lindor's.
- Bader doubled for the second time with one away in the fifth and Lindor was hit by a pitch to give the Mets another scoring chance. The pair pulled off a double steal with Nimmo at the plate, and he walked to load the bases. The Cubs then swapped pitchers, bringing in Keegan Thompson to face J.D. Martinez. The DH grounded softly to first to drive in Bader and make it a 4-0 game. Pete Alonso had an opportunity to blow the game open, but grounded to third to end the inning.
- Luis Severino struck out back-to-back Cubs to end the fifth and give him eight strikeouts on the night. He cruised through the first five innings, allowing just two hits with no walks over 70 pitches.
The right-hander began to get into some trouble in the sixth inning as Miguel Amaya beat out Mark Vientos' throw to first and Nico Hoerner was hit by a pitch to give the Cubs two on base and no one out. Severino struck out Michael Busch looking and then got Cody Bellinger swinging on the 12th pitch of the at-bat for strikeout No. 10. He escaped the jam by getting Seiya Suzuki to fly out to center.
- Severino's final line: three hits, 10 strikeouts, no walks, and no runs on 102 pitches over 6.0 innings. With the scoreless outing, he lowered his ERA to 3.29.
- Francisco Alvarez doubled to open the second inning, but made a costly mistake on DJ Stewart's bloop single, as the catcher took off for third base too late and was thrown out by former Mets prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong. Alvarez had a chance to make up for it in the top of the seventh with the bases loaded, but popped out to the catcher in foul territory for the third out.
- Dedniel Núñez came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh and gave up a two-run homer to Christopher Morel to get the Cubs back in the game and make it 4-2. Núñez settled in and got three straight outs to keep it a two-run game.
- Vientos snapped an 0-for-14 streak with a monster 451-foot homer to dead center to put the Mets up 5-2 in the top of the eighth inning.
- Edwin Diaz came in to pitch the ninth, but was ejected after a sticky stuff inspection before even throwing a pitch. Drew Smith came in and got two outs, but the trainer came out to check on him, and he then he allowed a single. Jake Diekman then replaced Smith and struck out Patrick Wisdom for the final out.
Game MVP: Luis Severino
Severino struck out 10 batters in a game for the first time since June 10, 2022, which was also against the Cubs. It was the sixth time in his career he's had 10+ strikeouts and no walks in a game -- the first since Aug. 31, 2018 (h/t Sarah Langs).
Plus, the 12-pitch strikeout against Bellinger was the most pitches he’s thrown in an AB ending in a strikeout in his career (h/t Langs).