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Kelly heads to free agency after the Cubs decided not to pick up their half of his mutual option. The 32-year-old veteran backstop could wind up returning on a new deal.

Kelly smacked a one-out single off of Logan Henderson in the third inning then rode home on Pete Crow-Armstrong’s two-run blast that proved to be the difference in the ballgame. Kelly has had a decent season overall at the dish, slashing .263/.344/.393 with 10 homers and 52 RBI in 372 plate appearances.

Kelly’s home run was his eighth of the year. He hit a solo shot off Diamondbacks reliever Taylor Clarke in the sixth inning. Kelly’s home run followed Michael Conforto’s homer as the two went back-to-back. He’s hitting .262 with a .722 OPS and 45 RBI.

He popped a hanging Kevin Gausman slider well into the left-center field stands some 428 feet away to make it 6-0 Cubs early, and added on a bases loaded walk and an RBI dribbler late in the game that died like a perfectly placed-bunt down the third base line. Kelly needed a game like this and remains firmly on the deep-league catcher radar with his .282/.369/.390 triple slash line.

Kelly continues to swing a hot bat for the Cubs, and is now slashing .281/.324/.313 on the month. The veteran catcher drove in his first run of the night in the fourth inning when he singled home Ian Happy, and later drove in Alex Bregman from third on another RBI single in the seventh inning. In a four-run eighth inning for the Cubs, Kelly doubled with the bases loaded to drive home both Bregman and Seiya Suzuki, to put the finishing touches on one of his best nights at the dish. Kelly has had a decent month, but has yet to homer and has only one extra-base hit to show for his efforts over that span.

Kelly batted for designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros after the Mets replaced Freddy Peralta with lefty Brooks Raley in the sixth and hit a 431-foot homer on the first pitch he saw. Kelly is batting .340/.450/.520 with two homers, 10 RBI and 10 walks in 60 plate appearances. Miguel Amaya is doing a nice job, too, hitting .273/.400/.394, but he’s just not gaining any ground in the battle for playing time.

With the score tied 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth, Kelly scorched a “single” that would have been an extra-base hit if the runner at third wasn’t the winner. The 31-year-old has swung a nice stick to begin the year with a slash of .308/.426/.385, and he gets to call himself the hero of this Cubs’ comeback win as well.

The 31-year-old backstop victimized Ryan Thompson in the fifth inning, belting an 0-1 slider for a two-run blast to left that extended the Diamondbacks’ lead to 7-1. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the day. For the spring, Kelly is now hitting .267 (4-for-15) with a pair of homers and four RBI.

Kelly broke the seal for the Cubs’ lineup with his solo shot after Braves’ starter Chris Sale struck out eight of the first 12 batters he faced. That gave him four home runs in his last seven games as he closes out what’s been the best offensive season of his career to this point with 17 homers and a .799 OPS.