CHICAGO — Pete Alonso blasted his 19th home run of the season Thursday night at Wrigley Field to keep his 60-homer pace alive, but the Mets had won the game long before that.
The losing streak wouldn’t be prolonged this time as the club salvaged a three-game series by routing the Chicago Cubs, 10-1.
“We didn’t play the kind of baseball that we wanted to the last two days, so to get this win is big,” said second baseman Jeff McNeil. “We’re going to carry that on to Colorado.”
The Mets (26-25) hit the Chicago bullpen hard. They spoiled the season debut for Kyle Hendricks and got a strong performance from Carlos Carrasco.
The veteran right-hander needed a performance like this as bad as the Mets did. The right-hander was hit hard to start the season and bone spurs in his elbow landed him on the injured list. His first outing after coming off the IL against his former Cleveland team left many questioning whether or not the Mets could keep him in the rotation.
But the pitcher they call Cookie held the Cubs (22-27) to just one run over 6 and 2/3 innings, marking his longest outing of the season. Carrasco allowed just five hits, walked two and struck out four.
For the first time since last season, he was able to control all of his pitches.
“Finally, I could find my change and curveball,” Carrasco said. “I could throw everything for strikes today. I know I got too many pitches deep in the game there, but I just wanted to go deep in the game. We used the bullpen for the last two games. That’s what I did. Everything was working really good today.”
The one run allowed was a solo homer by Dansby Swanson in the first inning to tie the game at 1. Carrasco cruised from there, only running into trouble in the third when two singles and a walk loaded the bases with two outs. But he got out of the jam by using his changeup. Mike Tauchman rolled over it to ground out and end the inning.
“That’s what I was looking for,” Carrasco said. “Just getting an edge, getting control of that pitch, that’s really important for me because that’s what I’ve been using a lot and it worked pretty well.”
He retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings and came back out for the seventh for the first time this season. Adam Ottavino replaced him with two out and one on and Carrasco came off the field with his first win of the season (1-2) secured with the Mets up 7-1.
“Command was good, he had a good changeup,” said manager Buck Showalter. “I thought he had crisp stuff his last time out but he couldn’t command it. He commanded it so much better and really attacked. He had use of all of his pitches today.”
Hendricks (0-1), the Cubs’ former staff ace, made his 2023 season debut Thursday, marking a return to action …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Sports
