Despite some of the same recurrent annoyances we’ve grown accustomed to from the 2025 team, the Mets bet the White Sox 6-4 in the second game of this three game set. The offense short circuited their RISP problems by hitting the ball over the face before anyone got there, and Tylor Megill was his usual self (which is good). Juan Soto hit into three hard outs. You know the drill.

The evening began explosively, with three combined homers in the first. Miguel Vargas had the first blast, putting the White Sox up 2-0, but Pete Alonso and Jared Young (his first hit as a Met) answered in the bottom-half to give the Mets a 4-2 lead. That barrage was far from the most interesting occurrence in the first though; with one out and Brandon Nimmo on first, Juan Soto hit a laser out to right-center that Michael A. Taylor trapped. Nimmo thought it was caught, however, and sprinted back to first, passing Soto en route and resulting in a putout (for the first baseman for those of you scoring at home). Truly one of the stranger, dumber baserunning plays you’ll ever see.

All those runs actually came without a hit with men in scoring position, which is about in line with what you expect from the Mets at this point. They did add another run in the third on a sacrifice fly from Jeff McNeil, but didn’t actually manage a hit w/ RISP until the eighth, when Francisco Lindor singled to drive in the sixth Mets run of the game. It was the dribbliest of hits, but a hit nonetheless; still the team went 1-for-6 w/ RISP and left eight men on base, which remains far from ideal.

On the mound, we got a normal Tylor Megill start after the first; quite good, slowing in the fifth, then crumbling in the sixth. The tall righty left with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth after a hit and two walks, but Jose Butto escaped that jam. Butto wasn’t able to sustain that though, allowing two runs in the seventh that, at the time, cut the Met lead to one.

Never fear, new Met Jose Castillo came in to escape the jam. He got an out in the eighth as well before giving way to Reed Garrett, who recorded the final five outs for his second save of the year. Why did three relievers need to do an up-down in this game? Not sure, but at least the Mets mostly protected their premium relievers in this one.

The win moves the Mets to 34-21. They’ll play the series finale tomorrow at 1:10, a new time to avoid some impending weather.