Mets beat White Sox, gain ground on Atlanta
The Mets' Pete Alonso is greeted in the dugout after his two-run home run off White Sox starting pitcher Davis Martin during the first inning of a game Saturday in Chicago. Credit: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast
CHICAGO — On the brink of the final and most important month of their season, the Mets may have gotten their groove back.
They survived a late scare to beat the White Sox, 5-3, on Saturday night for a fifth win in seven games.
That trimmed the Mets’ deficit in the National League wild-card standings to two games behind Atlanta, just a half-game worse than it was at the start of his three-city road trip that ends Sunday.
The Mets (72-64) are eight games over .500 for the first time since 2022.
Welcome to September.
“It’s the best time of year,” Jesse Winker said. “I like our chances a lot.”
Jose Quintana said: “We’re in a pretty good race right now. Every single game, every single play means a lot for us. We push each other and we feel really good. This is a big night for us . . . At this point, we’re playing in our playoffs. Every small thing is really big.”
The Mets used first-inning home runs by Pete Alonso and Winker and another excellent effort from an Edwin Diaz-less bullpen to send the White Sox to their franchise record-tying 106th loss of the season.
Chicago mounted a threat in the bottom of the ninth, bringing the potential winning run to the plate with two outs, but righthander Jose Butto threw a pair of changeups to Andrew Benintendi to end it. The first induced a swing and miss, the second a tapper back to the mound.
“He made a huge two pitches to Benintendi,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “You could tell that Benintendi was going for it.”
Mendoza was working without Diaz, who was resting after pitching each of the previous three days. Huascar Brazoban, Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton combined for three hitless, walkless innings.
The Mets scored as many runs during a two-minute span in the first inning as the White Sox did the entire game. With two outs, Mark Vientos dropped a single into centerfield. That set up back-to-back blasts by Alonso (No. 30) and Winker (No. 13) off Chicago righthander David Martin (five innings, four runs).
Winker finished 3-for-3 for his third consecutive multi-hit game before exiting in the sixth inning for a defensive replacement. He is batting .342 with an .857 OPS since joining the Mets in a late July trade.
“He’s locked in right now. Quality at-bat after quality at-bat,” Mendoza said. “Controlling the strike zone, things that we knew he’s capable of. He’s just locked in right now.”
Quintana wound up with a fine line — five innings, two runs, one earned — but was not sharp against what is by far the lowest-scoring offense in the majors.
He worked around six hits and three walks and allowed the leadoff batter to reach base in all but one of his innings. That he lasted as long as he did was something of a win; it took him 90 pitches to get through four innings, but he needed only eight in his last.
“It was a night to find a way and get results every single inning,” Quintana said. “For sure I want to get a couple more innings, but support from the offense right away was good for us. I kept pitching and figured out, found a way to win this game.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
