The Mets head into Friday night with a little momentum and a big test waiting in Chicago.
After winning two straight series and going 11-4 since the trade deadline, New York opens a weekend set against the White Sox at 7:40 p.m. at Rate Field. The Mets are coming off a hard-fought 4-2 win over the Padres, a game shaped by Carson Benge’s two-run homer and Jared Young’s RBI double in the eighth for some late breathing room.
Chicago enters with a different kind of pressure. The White Sox had just swept the Tigers to create separation in the AL Central, but they’ve since dropped two of three to the Cubs and a makeup game against the Braves. Even with those setbacks, the South Siders still sit 3.5 games ahead of the Twins atop the division, so every game matters from here on out.
Friday’s pitching matchup sends Sean Manaea to the mound for the Mets against White Sox right-hander Sean Burke. Manaea was rolling in his last outing against the Nationals before Brady House turned the game with a three-run homer in the seventh. That blow denied Manaea a fourth straight quality start, leaving him with four earned runs over 6⅓ innings in a no-decision after the Mets pulled out a walkoff win.
For the season, Manaea is 4-5 with a 4.22 ERA and 1.32 WHIP, plus 113 strikeouts in 111 innings across 13 starts and 27 appearances.
Burke brings a stronger full-season line into the game, sitting at 7-6 with a 3.15 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 154 strikeouts in 140 innings. The 26-year-old right-hander was hit for four earned runs on five hits and three walks over 4⅓ innings in his last start against the Tigers.
The Mets’ lineup for Friday has A.J. Ewing in center field, Francisco Lindor at shortstop, Bo Bichette at designated hitter, Carson Benge in right, Jared Young at first, Luis Robert Jr. in left, Brett Baty at third, Marcus Semien at second and Francisco Alvarez behind the plate.
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Juan Soto Is Still Giving The Mets Exactly What They Paid For
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Even with the missed time, Sotos approach remained as polished as ever, and he even trimmed his strikeout rate to a career-low 13.4 percent while lifting his fly-ball rate to 34.8 percent. The bigger question for the Mets is not whether he can hit like Juan Soto, but whether they can keep him on the field long enough for that consistency to matter over the full season. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Mets, that kind of response matters because the club has lived through its own version of the New York scrutiny cycle for years. Bichettes ability to absorb the moment, adjust and keep producing stood in contrast to the way Kyle Tucker has been described in Los Angeles, where the environmental and mental demands of a big market can shape a players entire year. The lesson for the Mets is obvious enough: if they want the roster to hold up under the spotlight, they need more than skill. They need players built for the stage. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Fans Still Know This Painful Way A Strong Debut Gets Wasted
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McHughs career eventually turned into a very different story, as the right-hander dug himself out of an 0-8 start and later found real success after joining the Astros in 2014. But for Mets fans, the memory of that debut still lands in the same place as so many frustrating nights before and after it: a promising performance on the mound, limited help at the plate, and the uneasy sense that the result should have looked much better. [Read more 🡒]