QUEENS, NY — Jared Young hit his first home run of the season in a four-run first inning, which also featured a Pete Alonso blast, as the New York Mets defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-4 on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Young went 2-for-3, adding a double to his big night. He had gone 0-for-5 in his first three games since being called up to the majors on Saturday — his first appearance in the big leagues since the 2023 season with the Chicago Cubs.
“It was just a great day at the ballpark,” Young said. “It felt great to contribute. When you get called up, you want to make your presence felt and really join the team and contribute to the win. So that was kind of a big moment.”
The Mets (34-21) have won four straight games and five of their last six as they look to sweep the lowly White Sox on Wednesday afternoon.
The Mets entered their big bottom of the first trailing 2-0 after Chicago’s Miguel Vargas launched his eighth home run of the season into the left-field seats off starter Tylor Megill.
Francisco Lindor led off with a strikeout, and following a Brandon Nimmo single, Juan Soto was eliminated from the basepaths when Nimmo believed his single to right-center was caught by Michael A. Taylor when it was trapped on the bounce. While Nimmo retreated to first, Soto passed him, resulting in the second out of the frame.
The next six Mets reached base, however, beginning with Alonso’s 11th home run of the season to tie the game at two apiece — a 113.1 mph shot that traveled 419 feet over the center-field fence.
Following a Brett Baty single, Young smacked his first home run of the season to right, which was also his first hit since being called up to the majors on Saturday; his first time back in the big leagues since 2023 when he was with the Chicago Cubs.
The 29-year-old had to wait 613 days between MLB home runs, the last coming on Sept. 22, 2023.
“That one felt good,” Young admitted.
Of the 10 Mets that batted in the first inning, just 21 pitches were seen — a clear indication of the aggressive mindset of the lineup against White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon.
“Whenever the pitches show up, you gotta capitalize,” Alonso said. “I think we were able to capitalize on some of the stuff that was in the zone early in the count. We were just happy to see those pitches show up. As an offense, we did a great job of capitalizing when they did. The whole night was awesome.”
Baty and Young combined to set up the Mets’ fifth run of the night in the third, the former singling before moving to third on the latter’s double. Baty came in to score on Jeff McNeil’s sacrifice fly.
“I’m pretty comfortable,” Young said. “I’m trying to keep things as similar as possible to all the baseball you play, whether in the minors or in the big leagues, wherever you are. You just want to put up good at-bats and be a tough out. I’ve felt that way, and I’m glad the results showed up tonight.”
Megill rebounded, going the next 4.2 innings without conceding another run, though he did leave the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth inning.
“He was alright,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Megill, who finished his night with four hits, four walks, and six strikeouts. “He attacked. They were aggressive. Few walks, after getting ahead. He came and went. On and off. But for him to go back out there in the sixth was huge, especially where we were at bullpen-wise.”
Reliever Jose Butto needed just one pitch to get Lenyn Sosa to fly out to center to get out of the jam.
He was not so lucky in the seventh, though. With outs and two on, a passed ball that nicked off the glove of catcher Francisco Alvarez scored Chase Meidroth from third to make it a two-run game. Vargas followed it with an RBI double, his third of the night, to cut the Mets’ lead to 5-4.
Lindor added an insurance run with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to put the hosts back up two. His knock was the Mets’ third straight hit of the frame, following singles by McNeil and Alvarez.
