Alvarez's late homer lifts Mets past Cubs, retaking NL wild-card lead
Francisco Alvarez delivers a go-ahead two-run shot in the eighth to cap a dramatic comeback as New York overtakes Chicago in the NL wild-card race.
CHICAGO — Francisco Alvarez delivered a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning, lifting the New York Mets to a 9-7 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field and reclaiming control of the National League’s third wild-card spot. New York moved one game ahead of the Reds, who were beaten 4-2 by Pittsburgh, with Cincinnati still holding the season-series tiebreaker behind the Mets in the race for the NL’s final playoff berth.
New York overturned a 6-1 deficit behind a dramatic rally in the middle innings and a late surge. Left-hander David Peterson surrendered five earned runs over 1 1/3 innings as Chicago built its early lead. Francisco Lindor got the Mets started with a leadoff homer in the first, his 10th of the season, but the Cubs answered in kind and then pulled away on a first-inning rally. Carlos Santana stroked a two-run double — misplayed by Juan Soto in right field — to put Chicago in front 2-1 after Nico Hoerner singled to start the frame. Peterson was knocked out in the third when Ian Happ followed with a two-run double to push the Cubs to a 5-1 advantage. Jeff McNeil contributed two throwing errors in the fourth to widen the deficit to 6-1.
The Mets staged their push in the fifth, sparked by Brandon Nimmo’s three-run homer off Taylor Rogers to tie the game at 6-6. Nimmo’s drive followed a sequence that included Dansby Swanson’s fielding error on Alvarez’s grounder, which helped five unearned runs cross in the inning. Alonso added an RBI single, and Lindor and McNeil contributed with situational hits as New York erased a five-run deficit to seize momentum.
Lindor provided the Mets with the lead in the sixth, delivering an RBI single to push New York ahead 7-6 after McNeil lined a two-out double and Alvarez drew a walk. Seiya Suzuki answered with a two-out RBI single in the bottom half to knot the score at 7-7. In the seventh, Justin Turner singled with two outs, Matt Shaw walked, but Brooks Raley retired Crow-Armstrong to keep the game tied.
Brett Baty blooped a leadoff single in the eighth, pinch-runner Luisangel Acuña stole second, and Alvarez lined a go-ahead two-run homer off Caleb Thielbar to give New York a 9-7 edge. Edwin Díaz then worked around a leadoff single to finish the six-out save, sealing the win.
Two days earlier, Alvarez had been robbed of a potential game-tying homer in the ninth by Nationals outfielder Jacob Young, a moment the youngster acknowledged in the dugout after his big eighth-inning swing.
The win returns the Mets to the top of the NL wild-card group, with New York one game ahead of Cincinnati. The Reds, who lost to Pittsburgh, still hold the tiebreaker in a tiebreaker scenario based on the season series, meaning the Mets would need to finish ahead in the standings to claim the third wild-card spot if the teams finish tied. The Cubs, meanwhile, saw their rally fall short and remain in a precarious position in the crowded NL playoff picture as the season nears its end.
The game highlighted the Mets’ resilience and Alvarez’s growing impact, as New York repeatedly found a way to respond to Chicago’s early momentum. Lindor’s early splash and Nimmo’s输出 in the fifth supplied the backbone of the comeback, while Diaz’s six-out save provided a secure finish to a chaotic, pivotal night in a pennant-race atmosphere. The Mets will look to carry this momentum into a critical stretch run, while Chicago will try to regroup in a division race that remains unsettled heading toward October.