CHICAGO -- Good things usually happen for the Mets when Pete Alonso homers. They entered the day winning 11 of their past 14 contests and six straight games when their slugging first baseman goes yard.

That continued for New York in its 5-3 win over the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on Saturday evening, as Alonso launched his 30th home run of the season in the first inning. That victory pushed the Mets (72-64) to a season-high eight games over .500 and just two games back of the final NL Wild Card spot after the Braves’ (74-62) 3-0 loss to the Phillies.

“We’re in a good spot, and we will continue to bring it every day,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “[It’s] one day at a time, and one series at a time. So we just control the teams that we need to control.”

Alonso got the scoring started early, as he belted a first-pitch hanging slider from White Sox starter Davis Martin to deep left-center field for a Statcast-projected 404-foot home run. His two-run homer gave the Mets an early 2-0 lead before Jesse Winker followed with his own blast four pitches later.

Alonso and Winker's back-to-back home runs in the first inning marked the fifth time the Mets have accomplished that feat this season. The last occurrence came back on July 12 when Mark Vientos and Jose Iglesias did it in the second inning of a 7-6 win over the Rockies.

"Honestly, I think the Winker home run, it's a 2-1 count,” Martin said. “And it's my best pitch right now -- the changeup -- and he hits it out of the park. You just tip your cap. The 0-0 slider to Alonso is the only one I really want back. I think I threw 89 pitches with conviction tonight, and one with no conviction, and that was a two-run home run.”

That home run for Alonso also marked his 30th of the season, and he now joins Mike Piazza as the only two Mets players to have a 30-plus homer season in four consecutive years. Piazza did it with New York from 1999 to 2002.

“We’re going to need him,” Mendoza said. “To see him aggressive with a first-pitch slider there, to hit the homer, his at-bats have been better. There’s a lot of 3-2 counts. He’s winning some of those counts now and he’s doing damage. When he’s doing that, he’s a pretty dangerous hitter.”

Alonso has been no stranger to big home run seasons since entering the league. He led the Majors with 53 long balls as a rookie in 2019 and then hit 37 homers in 2021, 40 in '22 and 46 last year. The only season the four-time All-Star didn’t top the 30-homer threshold was back during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when he hit 16.

Not many players can put up the kind of numbers Alonso produces at the plate, and the Mets are happy that that type of power is in the middle of their lineup every night.

“Electric,” Winker said. “What a hitter, so much power. It’s been really fun [to watch him].”

Alonso’s two-run home run in the first helped New York finish August with a 15-13 record. While the Mets played around .500 ball the past month, they have been one of the hotter teams recently -- winning seven of their past 10 games and pulling off series victories over the Orioles and D-backs.

“We’re in a really good race right now,” starter Jose Quintana said after earning the 99th win of his career. “Every single game, every single play matters a lot for us. We push each other and we feel really good. This was a big night for us. Tomorrow, come back strong, get that sweep and come back strong to New York. But at this point, we’re playing our playoffs right now.”

There’s no doubt the Mets struggled to begin the season and things looked bleak early on. They were nine games under .500 on June 11 with a 28-37 record. But since then, New York has been one of the best teams in baseball.

Since June 12, the club has the third-best record in the Majors (44-27) -- behind only the D-backs (44-25) and the Astros (43-25). That has helped put the Mets in the thick of the NL Wild Card race entering September, a race they believe they can win.

“It’s the best time of the year,” Winker said. “Definitely excited, and I like our chances a lot. Just keep going one day at a time.”