CHICAGO — Zack Wheeler's visit to the South Side of Chicago last night, to paraphrase the late Jim Croce, ended with him resembling a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone.
The stud Mets pitching prospect struggled early with control and never got on the kind of roll that saved him last week during his major league debut in Atlanta.
Wheeler departed after a sloppy 109-pitch performance, and the Mets wasted a ninth-inning comeback on a fluke play in a 5-4 loss to the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.
Alexei Ramirez's RBI single in the ninth against LaTroy Hawkins ended it, after the White Sox had taken a page from the Luis Castillo playbook in the top of the inning and allowed the Mets to tie the game, sparing Wheeler his first major league loss.
Getty Images
DROP OF AGES: White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham slams into third baseman Conor Gillaspie's backside with two outs in the ninth, allowing the Mets to score the tying run.
"I didn't throw a lot of strikes, and when I did they were bad strikes," Wheeler said after pitching 5 1/3 innings in which he allowed four earned runs on four hits and three walks with one strikeout. "The balls were up. The only thing I really had working for me was my curveball."
The White Sox fumbled a chance to finish the game in the top of the ninth. Daniel Murphy hit a popup that should have ended it, but second baseman Gordon Beckham brushed pitcher Addison Reed near the mound and then stumbled into third baseman Conor Gillaspie, allowing the ball to drop. David Wright, running from second base, scored easily to tie the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, Hawkins (2-1) allowed a leadoff single to Jeff Keppinger then bobbled Beckham's sacrifice bunt, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Keppinger would advance to third and score the winning run on Ramirez's two-out single.
The White Sox had runners on base in five of the six innings started by Wheeler, whose only strikeout was Alex Rios in the fifth. Wheeler's fastball velocity hovered between 95 and 97 mph most of the game.
"He didn't throw a good put-away pitch, but they obviously have some good hitters that are battling," catcher John Buck said. "It was a combination of having your secondary pitches, your out pitches, up a little bit."
In his debut last week, Wheeler pitched six shutout innings against the Braves in which he allowed four hits and five walks, but made the big pitch when he needed to escape trouble.
Next stop for Wheeler is Citi Field on Sunday, when he faces the Nationals in his home debut.
"He got in a lot of deep counts, and we've got to try to eliminate that," manager Terry Collins said. "When you have good stuff sometimes it's not the fault of the pitcher when guys are fouling the ball off. But you've got to continue to pound the strike zone."
After scoring seven and eight runs, respectively, in their final two games against the Phillies over the weekend, the Mets (30-43) had early success against stud lefty Chris Sale before going silent in the later innings. Sale struck out 13 and allowed three runs on four hits and two walks over eight innings.
Wheeler's night unraveled in the fifth, when the White Sox scored twice to take a 4-3 lead. Beckham singled leading off the inning and Tyler Flowers walked — both runners then advanced on a wild pitch — before Alejandro De Aza grounded out, scoring a run, and Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly.
"You've got to get ahead of guys when you're up here and just try to put them away fast," Wheeler said. "I haven't been getting ahead of guys and I've been struggling, throwing a lot of pitches."
mpuma@nypost.com
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