Chicago Cubs Complete Historic Sweep Over New York Mets

The Chicago Cubs scored six runs in the first inning to help sweep the New York Mets in a three-game set that concluded on Wednesday.

Author:
Luke Parrish
Publish date:
Sep 15, 2022 10:59 AM EDT

In this story:

Chicago Cubs

In the final game of their road trip, the Chicago Cubs scored six runs in the first inning to sweep the New York Mets. The inning opened up with three consecutive walks as David Peterson struggled to find the zone. He was chased from the ballgame after recording just one out.

Chicago batted around in the first inning and used three doubles to propel themselves to an early lead. Michael Hermosillo, P.J. Higgins, and Yan Gomes each recorded an extra base hit in the top of the first. That opening frame turned out to be a pretty important one as the Mets fought back but ultimately came up short.

Former Cub Trevor Williams came out of the bullpen in the first inning and shut down Chicago's offense in a hurry. He struck out eight hitters over 4.1 innings pitched to give the Mets some life.

Drew Smyly took the bump for the Cubbies amid his recent hot streak and continued that trend. The lefty tossed 5.0 innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run to bring his ERA down to 3.48 on the season.

New York slowly added runs to the board but the deficit was far too steep to overcome. A Pete Alonso home run in the eighth inning snuck some life into the Citi Field crowd.

Smyly earned the win as the Cubs held on to take this one 6-3. Mark Leiter Jr. recorded his second save of the season after turning in a scoreless ninth inning.

Rookie phenom Christoper Morel made a handful of beautiful plays on the infield, reassuring after some recent struggles defensively. His role for this team in 2023 is still up in the air so finding ways to contribute all over the diamond is vital.

The Mets, amid a tight race in the NL East, dropped all three games to an underwhelming Cubs team that had no business dominating the series. This is the first time in 2022 that the Mets have been swept in a three game series at home, and the eighth year running in which either the Cubs or the Mets have swept each other at least once, barring 2022.

Chicago heads home for a quick series with the Colorado Rockies beginning on Friday, before taking another road trip next week. They are now fewer than 20 games away from wrapping up this season, which after all of the injuries and letdowns from 2022, may come as a welcome relief.