It took until the ninth inning but the Mets managed to pick up a 2-1 win against the lowly White Sox when Francisco Lindor’s sac fly with the bases loaded brought home the game winning run.
They had been stymied up to that point by old friend Adrian Houser who got the start for Chicago. Houser was—how can I put this delicately?—hot stinky cat dookie last year as a member of the New York Mets, putting up a 5.84 ERA before being unceremoniously released in July. Houser continued to be bad this year in the minors, getting released by the Rangers earlier this month after putting up a 5.03 ERA in nine Triple A appearances. He then signed with the White Sox, an organization known for their savvy player acquisitions and elite player development (editor’s note: this is sarcasm) and looked like an ace against his old team. A one-out double from Brandon Nimmo in the first was about as close as the Mets got to doing any damage against Houser; following that at-bat, he retired the next sixteen(!) batters he faced, until a two-out single from Francisco Lindor in the sixth inning. It also was not like he was benefitting from some BABIP luck on hard-hit balls, either; the Mets looked utterly helpless, either striking out or hitting soft ground ball outs.
The Mets finally broke through against the White Sox bullpen when Juan Soto tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the eighth and then Lindor walk-ed it off with another sacrifice in the ninth with the bases loaded and nobody out. The offense wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire but they did what they had to do against a far inferior team.
As for the Mets pitching they were stellar once again. Clay Holmes took the mound for the Mets today, and he matched the unbeatable Houser in putting up zeroes until the fourth inning. Mike Tauchman led off the frame with a walk, and Miguel Vargas followed with a line drive to center field that Tyrone Taylor slightly misplayed and allowed to go over his head, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Andrew Benintendi then hit a long fly ball to left field which scored Tauchman from third to give Chicago the 1-0 lead—though they could potentially have ultimately scored even more had Vargas advanced to third as well on the play. Instead, he stayed at second, and he then got tagged out on a rundown play trying to advance to third on a Luis Robert Jr. groundout to shortstop. That miscue helped Holmes minimize the damage and he finished the day pitching 5.2 innings, with one earned run, three walks, and three strikeouts.
José Buttó, Huascar Brazobán, José Castillo, and Edwin Díaz kept Chicgao off the board which allowed the Mets to come back and walk it off in the later innings. The White Sox woeful bullpen could use some extra prayers from their faithful fan in the Vatican but until some divine intervention helps turn it around for them, the Mets will need to continue to take advantage during this series.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Tyrone Taylor +17.2% WPA
Big Mets loser: Brett Baty -29.4 WPA
Mets pitchers: +39.0% WPA
Mets hitters: +11.0 % WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brandon Nimmo single in 8th
Teh sux0rest play: Miguel Vargas double in 4th
