CHICAGO _ Javier Baez flailed at a 1-2 slider, his second whiff of the game, and screamed at himself as he descended the steps to the Cubs dugout.
Then he channeled that rage in a way that was quintessential Javy.
With the Cubs in danger of losing their third straight to the Mets, he pounced on a fat 0-2 breaking ball and launched it into the right-field bleachers. The three-run bomb flipped the script, delivered a 5-3 victory and kept the Cubs in first place in the National League Central.
On what felt like the first day of summer at Wrigley Field, the crowd of 39,077 demanded a curtain call _ and got one.
Baez got a jolt Friday by visiting a Starbucks in full Cubs gear. He delivered one Sunday with his team in desperate need.
After watching his team stumble Friday and trip all over themselves Saturday, manager Joe Maddon said this Sunday morning: "It's not who we are. We do normally play clean games and run the bases without many mistakes. ... We're better than that but of course you have to show it."
The Cubs were better Sunday, playing sound defense and generating deep counts in late-inning at-bats.
They scored only once against Jacob DeGrom, but the Mets were kind enough to remove him after six innings and 97 pitches.
Facing Seth Lugo in the eighth, shortly after Ryne Sandberg guest-conducted the seventh-inning stretch on the 35th anniversary of his crazy game, the Cubs battled hard.
Kyle Schwarber singled on Lugo's sixth pitch, and Kris Bryant flied out on his eighth. Anthony Rizzo walked, setting up Baez's game-winning, 374-foot drive.
Steve Cishek got the victory in relief of Cole Hamels, who allowed three runs over seven innings. Pedro Strop worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save.
