The New York Mets and Chicago White Sox certainly did their part to add to Tuesday night’s league-wide offensive outburst.
After combining for 21 runs, the Mets and White Sox will look to remain prolific on offense Wednesday in the middle contest of the three-game interleague series in New York.
Justin Verlander (3-5, 3.72 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Mets against Touki Toussaint (0-2, 3.38) of the White Sox in a battle of right-handers.
Francisco Alvarez belted a pair of two-run homers as New York held off rallies by Chicago in an 11-10 victory on Tuesday.
The game produced one of three 11-10 final scores was one of three in Major League Baseball on Tuesday night. The Kansas City Royals defeated the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants edged the Cincinnati Reds by the same score.
The 11 runs were tied for the second-most this season by the Mets, who rank tied for 18th in the majors in runs scored. Alvarez and Brett Baty hit back-to-back homers during a five-run first inning for New York, which scored just six runs in its previous five games entering Tuesday night.
DJ Stewart hit a solo homer in the fourth and Jeff McNeil was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
“I like the way the game ended and we scored 11 runs and beat them by one,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “It’s not easy to just go out there and get major league hitters out. There’s a lot of people that had trouble tonight.”
The White Sox rank 22nd in the majors in runs but have scored 24 times in their last three games after plating just three in their previous three contests.
On Tuesday, Chicago trailed 8-2 after four innings and 11-4 after six before scoring five runs in the seventh and almost forging a tie in the ninth. Andrew Benintendi hit a two-out RBI single off David Robertson, however the latter induced Tim Anderson to fly out to center to leave two runners in scoring position.
“We didn’t get this one, but we battled,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said. “I was happy with these guys, the way they fought. I’m happy the way we’re swinging the bat. Just got to keep going.”
Verlander allowed three runs over five innings to take the loss in a 6-0 setback to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. He is 22-14 with a 3.72 ERA in 47 career starts against the White Sox.
Toussaint received a no-decision after allowing one run on three hits over 5 1/3 innings of relief Friday in Chicago’s 9-0 setback to the Atlanta Braves. He made his most recent start on July 8, when he took the loss after permitting two runs over five innings in a 3-0 defeat against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Toussaint is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in five games (two starts) against the Mets.
–Field Level Media
