White Sox tie 1970 team with record 106 losses

CHICAGO — Pete Alonso and Jesse Winker hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning and the New York Mets beat the skidding White Sox 5-3 on Saturday night, handing Chicago its 106th loss to tie a franchise record.

The White Sox (31-106) dropped their ninth straight to match their mark, set in 1970, for most defeats in a season. Chicago is 4-35 since the All-Star break and on track to break the modern major league record for most losses — 120 by the expansion 1962 Mets.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, the White Sox’s winning percentage of just .226 also puts them on pace to finish with the worst winning percentage in American League history, which would beat out the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics’ record-low .235 winning percentage.

“A lot of things have been going against us,” White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore said. “We need that break just to kind of help the morale in that clubhouse.”

The Mets (72-64) won their third straight and moved within two games of Atlanta for the final NL wild card. New York has won eight of 12 to climb eight games over .500 for the first time this season.

Alonso’s two-run drive off Davis Martin was his 30th homer, giving him 30 or more in five of his six major league seasons, all with the Mets. The four-time All-Star finished with 16 in 57 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Alonso, 29, is third on the Mets’ career list with 222 homers.

Winker had three hits for the second straight game and two RBIs. Alonso added a single and scored twice.

Andrew Benintendi had two hits for Chicago, and Gavin Sheets, Miguel Vargas and Corey Julks drove in runs.

Jose Butto, who worked a shaky ninth in place of Mets closer Edwin Diaz, yielded a double by Vargas and singles by Jacob Amaya and Luis Robert Jr. while giving up a run. With two runners aboard, the right-hander retired Benintendi on a comebacker for his third save.

“They are not quitting. They are not folding,” Sizemore said about his team. “But it would be nice to have some of those balls fall, to get some bleeders or something.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.