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Pete Alonso and Jesse Winker hit back-to-back homers in the first inning Saturday night for the visiting New York Mets, who continued a timely surge with a 5-3 win over the lowly Chicago White Sox in the middle game of a three-game series.

The Mets won their third in a row to improve to 6-3 on a 10-game road trip and move a season-high eight games over .500. New York also pulled within two games of the Atlanta Braves in the race for the final National League wild-card spot by virtue of the Braves’ 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The White Sox suffered their ninth straight loss and their 106th of the season, tying the franchise record set in 1970. Chicago needs to go 12-13 in its final 25 games to avoid tying the 1962 Mets for the most losses in the modern era.

Alonso’s two-run blast off Davis Martin (0-3) was his 30th homer of the season. Alonso and Mike Piazza (1999-2002) are the only Mets players to hit at least 30 homers in four consecutive seasons.

Winker went deep four pitches later for his second homer since he was acquired by the Mets from the Washington Nationals on July 28.

Winker (third inning) and Starling Marte (sixth inning) added RBI singles. Winker finished 3-for-3 while Alonso and Mark Vientos had two hits apiece. Francisco Lindor went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games; he has reached base safely in 29 straight contests.

Jose Quintana (7-9) allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out six over five innings. Huascar Brazoban, Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton tossed a hitless inning apiece before Jose Butto earned his third save despite allowing a run on three hits in the ninth. Butto ended the game by retiring Andrew Benintendi, the potential game-winning run, on a comebacker.

For the White Sox, Miguel Vargas and Corey Julks collected RBIs by beating out the back end of potential double-play balls in the second and ninth, while Gavin Sheets had a run-scoring single in the third.

Benintendi collected two hits.

Martin gave up four runs on five hits and one walk while striking out six over five innings.

–Field Level Media