Mets 5 White Sox 1 (Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago, IL)
Mets record: 71-64
Mets streak: Won 2
WP - Tylor Megill (3-5)
LP - Jonathan Cannon (2-9)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Jesse Winker has been excellent since coming to the Mets, and his three hits, two runs and the go-ahead RBI led the Mets to victory in Chicago against the hapless White Sox.
Need to Know
Tylor Megill's return to the majors to fill in for Paul Blackburn started out shaky but rounded out well for him. After struggling in the first two innings, he retired ten in a row at one point to finish at 5 and 1/3 innings, giving up one run on 5 hits and a walk while striking out six.
Harrison Bader drove in the first run for the Mets in the second inning when he beat out a double play ball to score the run with the bases loaded. Bader was originally called out but the play was overturned by replay.
The Mets scored three runs in the third to take control of the game on an RBI double by Jesse Winker and a two run HR by J.D. Martinez. Winker wound up going 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI while Martinez went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Francisco Lindor's walk in the 4th inning extended his on-base streak to 28 games. His double in the 9th inning extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Edwin Diaz worked a third day in a row for the first time this year. He pitched a 1-2-3 9th to end it.
The Mets retired 22 out of the last 23 White Sox to come to the plate.
Mark Vientos was put in the coveted three hole for the second time this season. Vientos came into the game 5th in the National League in slugging percentage at .542.
Turning Point
I don't generally like choosing a turning point without a video, but the true turning point of the game happened in the bottom of the second. Megill was struggling. He gave up a single to Korey Lee to lead off the game, and then hit Dominic Fletcher with a sweeper on a 7 pitch at-bat where he had him down 0-2. Then after getting the next two outs, Nicky Lopez hits a comebacker that went off Megill's glove for an infield single to load the bases and bring up the Sox' most dangerous hitter: Luis Robert Jr. This could have gone all kinds of wrong.
Robert would hit an 0-1 slider at close to a 101 mph exit velocity, but it went right to Harrison Bader on the fly to end the inning. The Mets would take the lead in the next half inning, and Megill would give up two hits and strike out five in the next 3 and 1/3 innings.
Three Keys
A Soft Landing, A Hard Start, A Smooth Finish
Carlos Mendoza started his other pitchers on regular rest so that Megill's return to the majors could be against the 104 loss White Sox instead of the red hot Arizona Diamondbacks. Megill gave up a run on four hits and a walk in his first two innings, and it looked like he would have struggled against the Lake Mary Little League team.
But Megill turned it on, His sweeper started to find the zone, and he threw 17 two seam fastballs in his first five innings after throwing 25 two seamers all season, and the pitch confounded the White Sox.
Third Eye Sight
After Megill escaped the second inning, the Mets rally in the third put a stake in the heart of a team that is just waiting for the season to end. (They might be chanting "1-2-3 Cancun" every day until October.)
J.D.'s homer carried enough to fool Gare (and Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi) into thinking it was a flyout.
It's as if God is being intentionally cruel to the White Sox this year.
Pete Has A Plan
Winker's double and J.D.'s dinger in the third were the difference in the game. But it was set up by something overlooked and underrated ...
A friend of mine and I message each other constantly during Mets games, and a common theme is Pete Alonso swings at every slider thrown at him, and misses most of them. "PETE HAS NO PLAN!!!" is the phrase that inevitably comes up.
But Pete had a plan tonight. He saw Jonathan Cannon throw sliders that Francisco Alvarez and Harrison Bader chase in the second inning with the bases loaded and laid off four straight (or three sliders and a cutter, more accurately.) Pete had a plan, and it paid off for the Mets.
THE BONUS FOURTH KEY!!!
Tyrone Taylor's catch in the 8th, made just after the booth was discussing Jeff McNeil's catch at Chicago in 2019 (simply because it's cool):
Here's "The Flying Squirrel" for reference:
Same aisle.
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