Nico Hoerner lofted the walk-off sacrifice fly Sunday afternoon for the Chicago Cubs, who completed a three-game sweep of the reeling New York Mets with a 2-1 win.
Michael Conforto, who spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Mets, forced extra innings by lacing a pinch-hit RBI double in the ninth against New York closer Devin Williams for the Cubs, who have won five straight and six of seven.
MJ Melendez homered in the fifth for the Mets, who have lost 11 straight – the longest skid for the team since an 11-game losing streak from Aug. 28-Sept. 8, 2004. New York hasn’t lost 12 straight since Aug. 10-23, 2002.
Caleb Thielbar (2-2) stranded a pair of runners in the 10th before automatic runner Pete Crow-Armstrong moved to third on a wild pitch by Craig Kimbrel (0-1), who struck out Dansby Swanson. Hoerner followed with a fly ball to medium right that easily scored Armstrong.
Ian Happ had a pair of hits for the Cubs, whose ninth-inning rally allowed Javier Assad to avoid the hard-luck loss. The right-hander surrendered the one run on three hits and no walks while striking out three over 5 2/3 innings.
The homer for Melendez gave the Mets their first lead since the first inning of an 11-6 loss to the Athletics on Apr. 11 – a span of 67 innings.
Marcus Semien had two hits and a stolen base for the Mets.
David Peterson, who was scheduled to start for the Mets Sunday before he was scratched in favor of opener Tobias Myers, gave up three hits and struck out one in 3 2/3 scoreless innings of bulk relief. It was the first regular season relief appearance since July 30, 2023 for Peterson, who entered Sunday with a 6.41 ERA in four starts this year.
Myers allowed one hit and one walk while striking out two in his first regular season start since last Aug. 9.
