CHICAGO -- More than most pitchers, Luis Severino understands how to progress through a game. In an era of max-effort deliveries, bullpen openers and abbreviated starts, Severino is a throwback: the type of pitcher who saves his best for when he needs it most.

So it was in the sixth inning Sunday at Wrigley Field, where Severino found himself, for the first time all night, facing a jam with multiple runners on base. For much of the evening, Severino had been delivering his signature fastball in the mid-90s, but when he gained a two-strike advantage on Michael Busch, Severino painted a 98.2 mph fastball on the outside corner -- his hardest of the night to that point.

Unwilling to let his momentum slip, Severino subsequently attacked Cody Bellinger with three fastballs of at least 98.3 mph, eventually blowing Bellinger away with another four-seamer to end a 12-pitch at-bat.

¡°At the end of that at-bat, it was my best fastball against his best swing,¡± Severino said. ¡°I put it in a good spot, and we won the battle.¡±

The result was Severino¡¯s 10th and final strikeout in a 5-2 win over the Cubs, marking his first double-digit punchout game in more than two years.

¡°He wants those moments,¡± Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.

The game¡¯s later drama, which included umpires ejecting closer Edwin D¨ªaz for a sticky stuff violation, overshadowed much of what Severino accomplished over the first six innings.

This is who Severino has been throughout the first half of the season -- not perfect, but the closest thing the Mets have had to an ace. When the Mets have truly needed him, such as Sunday in a rubber game against a Cubs team sitting right alongside them in the National League Wild Card mix, Severino has tended to respond with his best.

The Mets received similar boosts from Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and Mark Vientos, who all homered, and Harrison Bader, who reached base three times with a steal. But Severino was the one who set the tone, who kept the Cubs guessing with six different pitches, who ratcheted up his performance when that sort of thing seemed most necessary. He allowed just three hits and did not walk a batter in six scoreless innings, as the Mets won for the 13th time in 17 games.

¡°I thought the life on his pitches was really good,¡± Mendoza said. ¡°Complete control. And then that [sixth] inning, after the Bellinger at-bat, I went out there and was pretty firm that this was his game.¡±

Severino responded, as he so often has over the first half of the season.

When the Mets signed the 30-year-old right-hander to a one-year, $13 million show-me contract this past offseason, he profiled as one of several players the team hoped to extract value from without fear of accepting too much risk. Severino, because of his injury-prone history and poor 2023 with the Yankees, came far cheaper than a pitcher of his talents typically would. Mets officials understood that one of three scenarios would unfold:

• Severino would continue to pitch poorly or suffer injuries, and the team would be on the hook for nothing more than his 2024 salary.
• Severino would pitch well but the Mets would fall out of the playoff race, and he would serve as a key Trade Deadline chip.
• Severino would pitch well and the Mets would thrive, setting him up to be one of the leaders of their staff.

For much of the early season, the second scenario seemed most likely. But New York¡¯s improved play in June has dimmed that possibility while highlighting the third.

To be clear: There¡¯s still a long way to go. The Mets¡¯ play over the next three to four weeks will dictate their Trade Deadline strategy more than anything that¡¯s already happened. But it¡¯s clear, at this point, that Severino is more than just a trade chip for the Mets.

He¡¯s one of their best tickets to bona fide contention.

¡°I like that vibe, like a playoff atmosphere,¡± Severino said of Sunday¡¯s win. ¡°I love those kinds of games where I can go out and battle.¡±