On a long, rainy night in Queens, Pete Alonso brought the thunder and Kodai Senga the lightning.
For a day, the Mets played like a team that should be ticketed for the postseason, even if their record (and starting lineup) reflected the disappointment that 2023 has been.
The Mets rode a pair of Alonso blasts and six solid innings from Senga to snap a six-game losing skid, returning home to Citi Field with an 11-2 blowout over the Cubs in front of an announced crowd of 29,070, of whom only the most faithful (and drenched) remained by the end.
The Mets survived the Cubs and a 2-hour, 9-minute rain delay in a game that started Monday and finished in the early hours of Tuesday.
After the storm chased the heat away, the Mets (51-61) cooled off a hot Cubs (58-55) club that is fighting for a playoff spot.
Senga tried to take the muddy mound amid a driving rain for the top of the seventh and slipped on a warmup pitch.
The grounds crew continued working on the dirt in a futile effort before Senga walked off the field.
The rest of the Mets followed shortly as the delay began.
When play finally resumed, Brooks Raley, Drew Smith and Jimmy Yacabonis finished off the Cubs.
Danny Mendick added a three-run home run, and Alonso smacked an RBI double against soft-tossing Tucker Barnhart, typically a catcher.
For a night at least, the troubles of this season were washed away.
Alonso drove in six and came through with his 18th career multi-homer game, third in franchise history behind only Darryl Strawberry (22) and David Wright (21).
Alonso’s first blast, a three-run shot off Drew Smyly in the first inning, got the Mets going, and his second, a two-run homer in the third, created distance their staff did not need.
Senga, a rare bright spot this season, mostly cruised through six innings in which he allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks, his ERA at 3.24 after 21 starts.
The 30-year-old again relied upon his ghost forkball, which has been untouchable all season, to record three of his six strikeouts.
Cubs batters swung at his signature pitch 11 times and missed seven.
He received a break to escape the fifth inning.
With two on and two out, Cody Bellinger smacked a hit down the left-field line that scored Nico Hoerner and should have advanced Ian Happ to third.
But Happ overran the base, and third baseman Mendick held the tag as Happ slid past the bag, getting out of the inning before Dansby Swanson could get up again.
The Mets padded their lead with the rain’s help in the sixth, when Rafael Ortega bunted with two on and Smyly couldn’t field the slick ball cleanly.
A walk to Jonathan Arauz and a double play from Brandon Nimmo produced a pair of runs.
Arauz, who had briefly debuted with the Mets and briefly been demoted, was summoned again Monday afternoon because Brett Baty was optioned and Starling Marte hit the injured list.
For the second baseman’s at-bats, the scoreboard noted that “Arauz rhymes with shoes.”
Queens welcomed back a team with suddenly unfamiliar names and was treated to an unfamiliar result: a Mets victory.