CHICAGO — It's been three uninspired days of matches, but there's still value in it.
The Mets arrived on the South Side with no acceptable options other than to sweep this mess of a team called the White Sox, and they got the job done Sunday, but with few points in terms of style.
Sean Manaea was great, but the Mets' lineup wasn't, and they capped off a strong trip with a 2-0 win at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The Mets won seven of 10 games on a three-city trip and returned home confident that they were within two games of Atlanta for the third wild card spot in the National League.
The Mets managed just 12 runs in three games, but they avoided embarrassment thanks to strong efforts from their starting pitchers and relief pitchers.
The White Sox set a franchise record with 107 losses and are on track to surpass the 1962 Mets as the worst team in MLB history.
Manaea pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing only two hits, two walks and striking out five batters.
Reid Garrett and Edwin Diaz combined to keep the final two innings scoreless.
Diaz has now picked up his third straight save since Wednesday's blunder at Arizona State.
Manaea didn't face a real threat until the seventh inning, when he walked Andrew Vaughn and then allowed a two-out single by Gavin Sheets to put a runner on third base.
But Manaea, who struck out Luis Robert Jr. earlier in the inning (he was called out on a Luis Torrens stealing second base attempt), recovered from a 3-0 count off Miguel Vargas to get the final out.
Garrett Crochette struck out seven consecutive batters in his first start, tying a White Sox record.
Luis Torrence grounded out in the third inning to end the streak.
Francisco Lindor hit a leadoff home run in the fourth inning.
The explosion occurred on his 29th.Number He recorded his highest batting average of the season and extended his consecutive on-base streak to 30 games, the longest in the major leagues.
Lindor hit four home runs during the tour.
Manaea struck out the first 11 batters he faced before walking Lenin Sosa with two outs in the fourth inning.
Sosa was tagged out at first base, ending the inning.
Miguel Vargas got his first hit with a single to left field against Manaea with two outs in the fifth inning.
Manaea fought back, striking out Dominic Fletcher.
The Mets also had their struggles.
Starling Marte singled as leadoff batter in the fifth inning, but was tagged out for a stolen base thief.
Torrens followed with a single, but the Mets couldn't score any more runs.
In the seventh inning, leadoff batter J.D. Martinez walked, but then Marte, Torrence, and Harrison Bader struck out in succession.
Marte hit an RBI double in the ninth inning to give the Mets their second run.
