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 Quintana settled, facing just one above the minimum in his final innings between the third and fifth innings, Narvaez got the Mets on the board with his — and their — second hit of the afternoon when he launched his first home run of the season into the bullpens in right-center field to halve the host’s deficit.
“I think every inning got better and better,” Quintana said. “I felt in command… overall, just great.”
But the Mets gave it right back and then some in the sixth inning when Smith got Luis Robert Jr. to ground into a routine play at first base to lead things off. But an unsure Alonso backed off before the ball clanged off his glove.
“He capped it, it had a really tough spin,” Alonso said of the grounder. “I didn’t know whether to charge or to not charge it and as an infielder, you have to make a decision to retreat or go get the ball and I did neither and it ate me up and that’s what caused the error.”
Robert stole second before Smith loaded the bases on a walk and single. He then gave up a scorching double over Jeff McNeil’s head in right to Yasmani Grandal which scored a pair before a single out was recorded in the frame.
Oscar Colas made it a four-run lead with a sacrifice fly before Elvis Andrus tripled over McNeil’s head to score Grandal to give Chicago a 6-1 lead and run Smith from the game. Only one of those runs was earned, however, as Alonso’s gaffe set the table early for the White Sox’s big inning.
Alonso poked an RBI single in the eighth inning, which was just his second run batted in over his last nine games.
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