NEW YORK – Pete Crow-Armstrong haunted the Mets once again. His double in the top of the 10th inning helped the Cubs edge the Mets, 4-3, on Thursday night at Citi Field.
Chicago swept the four-game series and has won six out of its last seven games to improve its record to 44-37.
With one out and left-hander Brooks Raley on the mound for New York, Crow-Armstrong – once a Mets prospect and traded to Chicago for infielder Javier Báez, right-hander Trevor Williams and cash in 2021 – doubled down the right-field line, scoring automatic runner Matt Shaw.
“I saw two sinkers [from Raley] that I didn’t see [from him] yesterday. I was on velo. I was ready,” Crow-Armstrong said.
For PCA, he is long past being upset that the Mets dealt him to Chicago. These days, he gets a kick out of talking to former teammates like Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty.
“I’m past the point of remembering that I was [with the Mets]. I never really received a taste of Citi Field or anything like that,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I just really like coming back, seeing Mark [Vientos], seeing Baty and talking a little crap with Alvy [Francisco Alvarez]. Just coming back and seeing my guys is always fun. Four wins is four wins, no matter who it comes against. I’m just really happy about that.”
Cubs right-hander Trent Thornton held the Mets in check in the bottom of the inning by retiring the side in order and picking up his first save of the season.
Unlike the previous three games, it wasn’t about how hot Dansby Swanson was in the batter’s box. In fact, he went hitless in four at-bats. The Cubs and Mets were scoreless until the sixth inning when Chicago scored three unearned runs against right-hander Freddy Peralta.
After reaching base on an error by shortstop Ronny Mauricio, Swanson advanced to second base after Crow-Armstrong grounded out. Michael Conforto followed and singled to right field, scoring Swanson.
Conforto then scored the second run of the game on a double by Alex Bregman, who advanced to third on a fielding error by right fielder Carson Benge. Conforto scored the third run of the inning on a single by Ian Happ.
But the Mets would tie the score off the Cubs' bullpen by the sixth inning. With Hoby Milner on the mound, Eric Wagaman hit a two-run homer to make it a one-run game. An inning later Phil Maton was on the rubber when Jared Young tied the game at 3 with a solo homer.
The Cubs, however, managed to leave New York with a victory. After the game, manager Craig Counsell credited the entire roster for the series sweep.
The Cubs’ rotation has been hit hard by injuries. On Wednesday, they placed righties Ben Brown (neck strain) and Edward Cabrera (left hamstring/left adductor strain) on the injured list. The Cubs already have Jameson Taillon (left hamstring strain), Cade Horton (right UCL surgery) and Justin Steele (left elbow flexor strain) on the IL.
The bullpen had to be used a lot during the four-game series. Milner was used out of the bullpen for three days consecutive days in the series. Luckily, left-hander Matthew Boyd is back and hopes to give the team some length in the future. In his first game back, Boyd pitched 4 2/3 innings without allowing a run against New York.
“We asked a lot of everybody in this series,” Counsell said. “When you are playing good baseball, there are a lot of names to mention. That was absolutely the case in the last four days and tonight as well.”