New York Mets relief pitcher Phil Bickford (50) celebrates after closing the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
QUEENS — Inheriting a no-out, two-man on jam in the top of the ninth inning while nursing a one-run lead, Mets reliever Phil Bickford bailed out Adam Ottavino to preserve a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night at Citi Field to clinch the team’s first series victory since the trade deadline.
A trade deadline pickup himself from the Dodgers, Bickford was called in to clean up Ottavino’s mess after he gave up a lead-off home run in the ninth to Seiya Suzuki — who recorded three-quarters of the cycle on Wednesday, only missing the double — a single to Jeimer Candelario, who took second on a balk derived from three failed pick-off attempts, and a walk to Mike Tauchman.
Bickford got the first out of the inning through Nick Madrigal’s sacrifice bunt to put the tying run 90 feet away and the go-ahead run in scoring position. But he struck out Christopher Morel looking for the second out.
“I’m just focusing on throwing strikes,” Bickford said. “That was a very important strikeout. I just did everything I could to help the team win.
While he followed it up with a walk to Nico Hoerner on four pitches to load the bases, he bounced right back to strike out Ian Happ to end it and cap off a memorable eight days that saw him move cross-country to help a team simply playing out the remainder of its schedule
“It feels amazing,” Bickford said. “The teammates and staff that are here have made it a lot easier for me. They’ve been very accepting. This week hasn’t been very easy but when you come into an organization like this and everyone helps you out, it makes it that much better and much more enjoyable to play the game that we love.”
With the count 1-2 to Happ, Bickford was milliseconds away from committing a pitch-clock violation…
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