CHICAGO — The crowd at Guaranteed Rate Field was about as sparse as you could imagine for a team on pace to lose 125 games. The loudest creature in attendance might have been Chewbacca, on hand along with Yoda, Obi Wan Kenobi and some Stormtroopers for Star Wars night.
“Star Wars” might have been a box office hit, but it sure bombed on the South Side on Friday night.
The biggest hit of the night came when J.D. Martinez took a 2-2 sweeper over the left field fence for a two-run homer in the third inning. This followed an RBI double by Jesse Winker, who used the extra-base hit to put the Mets ahead for good in a 5-1 win over the Chicago White Sox in the opening game of a three-game set.
Winker and Martinez led the way for the Mets (71-64) against the White Sox (31-105). Winker went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored, and Martinez finished 2-for-4 on the night with his 16th home run of the year and two RBI.
Making his first Major League start in a month, right-hander Tylor Megill struggled to find the strike zone at times, but got better as the game went on and he got into a rhythm. He mostly made pitches when he needed to to get out of trouble.
The White Sox took a 1-0 lead early. Megill led off the game by walking Nicky Lopez. A ground ball for the first out moved Lopez over to second, allowing him to score easily on Andrew Benintendi’s RBI double. But Megill then quickly retired the next two.
After the Mets tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second, Megill struggled with his command. Korey Lee led off with a single. Megill got ahead 0-2 on Dominic Fletcher, but the outfielder then fouled off four straight pitches and Megill hit him on the fifth. Less than ideal for a pitcher who has long struggled to put away hitters.
With two outs, Lopez hit a dribbler past the mound, too far out of reach for a charging Francisco Lindor to make a play. The runners tagged and Chicago loaded the bases. It looked like trouble when Luis Robert Jr. hit a line drive to center field, but he hit it right to Bader for the out.
Megill pitched around a leadoff single in the third and then retired nine straight from there to end his outing. Over 5 1/3 innings, he allowed five hits, one walk and struck out six, including striking out the side in the fifth, earning his first win since June 16 (3-5).
The big righty has had good moments in the big leagues and plenty of bad. Consistency has always eluded him at this level, so few could blame the Mets if they decide to option him and bring up a reliever. It’s still unclear what his future holds, but if this was his final Major League start of the season, it was a decent one to end with.
Right-hander Jonathan Cannon (2-9) was charged with four earned runs on five hits, walked four and struck out three over five innings.
After the third inning, the offensive output slowed for the Mets as they struggled to hit with runners in scoring position once again. They stranded the bases loaded after scoring in the second, they failed to drive in runners in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth, hitting into two double plays.
They went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position on the night, being held scoreless for four innings by the second-worst bullpen in baseball until Lindor scored on a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Still, it was a win. The Mets will take them any way they come, especially since the Atlanta Braves keep winning to maintain their grip on the third NL Wild Card spot.