Column: Like the Wrigley Field ivy, Chicago Cubs star Nico Hoerner continues to blossom

(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

The easiest way for the Chicago Cubs to get through what could be a long stretch without closer Daniel Palencia is to put up enough runs to make the role irrelevant.

That’s what they did Friday in a 12-4 rout of the New York Mets on a sun-kissed afternoon at Wrigley Field, a day that began with the troubling news of Palencia’s left oblique strain.

For the third time in three games, the Cubs scored in double-digits, moving over the .500 mark and seemingly ending fan angst over their early-season offensive struggles.

“It was just a matter of time,” Ian Happ said, adding, “We weren’t going to score no runs for the entire year.”

The Cubs were fortunate to have the bumbling Mets in town at the right time, and cruised to their third straight win behind home runs from Moisés Ballesteros, Nico Hoerner and Happ. Edward Cabrera pitched six innings for the win, keeping the depleted bullpen from being overtaxed.

Palencia’s oblique strain was the latest in a series of pitching injuries the Cubs have had to deal with, and was especially concerning considering the shaky state of the bullpen with the losses of high-leverage options Hunter Harvey and Phil Maton.

Obliques typically take longer than two weeks to heal, but neither Counsell nor Palencia appeared too grim over the news. Counsell said he wasn’t sure of how he’d handle the bullpen in Palencia’s absence, but counting on his starters to last longer is not in his plans.

“I think that’s a mistake to do that,” the manager said, suggesting he might let starters face an extra hitter, perhaps. “We’ve got to keep those guys healthy as well, and at the end of a starter’s outing they’re fatigued, and we’ve got to make sure we do the right thing by then.”

Cabrera wasn’t particularly sharp on Friday, but made pitches when he had to while pitching with a lead. Ballesteros’s three-run, opposite-field home run off Kodai Senga capped a four-run first inning, and after the Mets crept to within one, Hoerner’s two-run shot in the second made it 6-3. The Cubs kept adding on and Cabrera survived being hit by a hot drive up the middle in the fifth to improve to 2-0.

The Hoerner saga continues to open eyes around baseball, and he seems well on his way to becoming an All-Star for the first time. He’s hitting .342 after going 3-for-5 with a two-run home run, and has driven in 10 runs over his last three games, giving him three home runs and 20 RBI in 19 games. Last year Hoerner didn’t hit his third home run until June 28, and his career high in RBI was 68, set back in 2023. Hoerner has been doing most of his damage from the leadoff spot, where he has 18 RBI in 13 games.

It’s not surprising to see him perform at a high level, but being a run producer has added another element to his arsenal.

“He’s been excellent, and just becoming a better version of himself is the best way I’d describe it,” Counsell said.

Hoerner also beat out an infield hit on a chopper that announcer Pat Hughes called a “kangaroo bounce,” and made a spectacular diving play in the fifth to rob Bo Bichette of a hit. Day by day, he’s looking more and more like Ryne Sandberg’s doppelganger both in the field and at the plate, making his six-year, $141 million extension look like a bargain.

On the flip side, the Mets dropped their ninth straight, the team’s longest losing streak since an 11-game streak late in the 2004 season, proving that a $381 million payroll doesn’t buy happiness or wins.

With slugger Juan Soto on the IL and Bichette’s three-year, $126 million deal trending into the worst free agent signing of the offseason, Mets owner Steve Cohen can only pray that the early-season slump is a blip, and the hitting will rebound when Soto returns.

If not, the Mets are like a Rolls-Royce without an engine — it looks good in the driveway but can’t run a lick. Mets president David Stearns, who was Counsell’s boss in Milwaukee when the Brewers did more with less, is now doing less with more.

Photos: Chicago Cubs 12, New York Mets 4

“My sense is our team has jelled pretty well,” Stearns told reporters before the game. “I think it was a focus of spring training. I think these guys spent a lot of time together in spring training. Part of being a good team through a six-seven month stretch is finding your identity through adversity, and we’re facing adversity right now, surely at an earlier stage than any of us expected or wanted. But this has an opportunity to be part of our story, help us find our identity, come through this and understand we have the ability to do that.”

No one will shed a tear for Cohen, the wealthiest owner in MLB who paid a record $2.4 billion for the Mets in 2020. That record was broken Friday by Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, who reportedly agreed to purchase the San Diego Padres for $3.9 billion.

It’s hard to imagine MLB owners will lock out players after the season over the lack of a salary cap when franchise values are zooming, but no one said it made any sense.

The Cubs need to capitalize on the Mets’ struggles the way they did against the Philadelphia Phillies’ pitching on Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s what good teams do, and despite their injuries and early malaise, the Cubs still consider themselves the team to beat in the National League Central.

On Saturday they’ll face former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta, whom Cubs fans taunted during Game 4 of the National League Division Series last October at Wrigley, chanting “Freeeeee-dee” from the first inning on. He might not need a reminder, but who knows?

Either way, the ivy is starting to bloom on the outfield wall, igniting dreams of summer days in Chicago.

Hoerner and the Cubs are following suit.