Pete Alonso reacts after making an error in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game against the White Sox. (Lloyd Mitchell/AMNY)
QUEENS — That smell of dirty laundry hovering over Queens wasn’t coming from White Sox on Thursday afternoon.
A nightmarish sixth inning that began with Pete Alonso’s error and ended with reliever Drew Smith surrendering four runs relegated the Mets to an ugly 6-2 loss to Chicago in their series finale at Citi Field after winning the first two games.
The Mets (45-51) were held in check by White Sox starter Michael Kopech, who yielded one run on two hits — all to Omar Narvaez — in 5.2 innings of work. The New York catcher hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot, in the bottom of the fifth to momentarily halve the Mets’ deficit before things derailed a half-inning later.
It spoiled Jose Quintana’s season and team debut after recovering from rib surgery. He limited the damage of a tough start to a solid five-inning outing, allowing just two runs on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks on 77 pitches.
“It was good, very encouraging,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of Quintana’s outing. “We talked to him in the dugout and he felt better and better as the game went on. Keep in mind this guy hadn’t pitched in a major league game since last September.”
The White Sox got to Quintana early via three consecutive singles with one out in the first inning — the last of the trio being an Eloy Jimenez RBI knock that scored Tim Anderson.
Chicago doubled its lead in the second when Zach Remillard, who doubled, eventually scored on an Elvis Andrus sacrifice fly to center.
Narvaez recorded the Mets’ first hit of the afternoon with one out in the third inning and moved to second on a Brandon Nimmo walk, but Tommy Pham seared a liner that was snared off the bounce by Anderson at short that was turned for an inning-ending double play. Pham would leave the game directly after due to an injury.
While…
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