Mike Tauchman hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning to lift a dominant Jameson Taillon and the visiting Chicago Cubs to a 3-2 win over the New York Mets on Tuesday in the middle game of a three-game series
Taillon (7-6) tossed seven innings of three-hit ball and retired the final 16 batters he faced. The right-hander walked none and struck out seven in improving to 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA in his last six starts
Cody Bellinger also homered for the Cubs, who improved to a National League-best 17-8 since the All-Star break. Chicago moved into a virtual tie for the last NL wild-card spot with the Cincinnati Reds by virtue of its win and the Reds' 3-2 loss to the Miami Marlins
Pete Alonso hit a two-run homer for the Mets, who fell to 1-7 since the Aug. 1 trade deadline, when they finished off an overhaul by dealing Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros
Taillon ran into immediate trouble in the first, when he allowed a one-out single to Jeff McNeil before Alonso hit a two-out homer to center. The homer was the eighth in the last 14 games for Alonso, who ranks second in the NL with 34 round-trippers
But Taillon allowed just one more hit -- a two-out double in the second by Omar Narvaez
Mets starter Carlos Carrasco blanked the Cubs until the fourth, when Bellinger hit a one-out homer
Chicago tied the game in the fifth, when Christopher Morel walked and scored on an RBI double by Yan Gomes, before taking the lead in the eighth, when Tauchman laced a one-out opposite-field homer off Drew Smith (4-4)
The Mets threatened in the eighth against Julian Merryweather, who gave up two hits but stranded runners at the corners by getting McNeil to ground out to second. Adbert Alzolay gave up a leadoff single to Francisco Lindor in the ninth but retired Alonso on a flyout and got Daniel Vogelbach to hit into a double play to earn his 15th save
--Field Level Medi