Sean Manaea threw seven scoreless innings in his latest strong start and Francisco Lindor homered leading off the fourth inning Sunday afternoon for the visiting New York Mets, who completed a sweep of the reeling Chicago White Sox with a 2-0 win.
Starling Marte added an RBI double in the eighth for the Mets (73-64), who went 7-3 on a 10-game road trip against the White Sox, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. New York entered Sunday two games behind the Atlanta Braves in the race for the final National League wild card spot. The Braves were slated to visit the Philadelphia Phillies Sunday night.
The defeat was the 10th straight for the White Sox, who set a franchise record with their 107th loss of the season. At 31-107, Chicago is on pace to break the modern records for most losses (120 by the 1962 Mets) and lowest winning percentage (.235 by the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics) in a season.
Manaea (11-5) allowed two hits and walked two while striking out five in going seven innings for the seventh time in his last 12 starts dating back to July 2. He is 6-2 with a 2.78 ERA in that span, during which he’s lowered his overall ERA from 3.89 to 3.35.
Manaea retired the first 11 batters before walking Lenyn Sosa, whom he then picked off at first base. The left-hander’s no-hit bid ended when Miguel Vargas singled with two outs in the fifth.
The White Sox mounted their lone threat in the seventh, when Andrew Vaughn walked with two outs and went to third on Gavin Sheets’ single before Manaea induced Vargas to fly out to left.
Reed Garrett threw a perfect eighth inning and Edwin Diaz earned his 16th save by striking out all three batters he faced in the ninth.
White Sox starter Garrett Crochet (6-10) took the hard-luck loss after giving up one run on three hits and no walks while striking out eight in 3 1/3 innings.
Crochet struck out the first seven batters he faced, tying a team record set by Joe Cowley on May 28, 1986 and matched by Carlos Rodon on Sept. 30, 2016. He set down the first nine in order before Lindor homered on the first pitch of the fourth.
