Yu Darvish pitched eight masterful innings, Javier Baez homered and drove in three runs, and the Cubs topped the New York Mets 5-2 Tuesday night to take the opener of a pivotal three-game series in the National League wild-card race.
Baez and Addison Russell each hit a two-run homer off Marcus Stroman, helping the Cubs improve to 26-39 away from home. Both middle infielders finished with three hits.
Pete Alonso hit his 42nd home run for the Mets, becoming the first rookie in 81 years to break his team's season record. J.D. Davis went deep with two outs in the ninth against Brandon Kintzler.
Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks (9-9, 3.20 ERA) pitches Wednesday night against Noah Syndergaard (9-6, 3.71 ERA). Both threw shutout ball to win last time out. Hendricks is 3-0 with a 0.47 ERA in three career starts against the Mets, though he hasn't faced them since July 2016. Syndergaard has posted a career-best eight consecutive quality starts.
