The boos grew louder as Luis Robert Jr. circled the bases at Rate Field after he gave the New York Mets a 4-1 lead Saturday with a two-run shot in the third inning. He paid them no mind.
“(Friday), I felt a little weird hearing them,” he said through a Spanish interpreter after the Mets (59-71) beat the White Sox 10-5. “I felt it to be a little bit strange, but today, it was pretty normal. Yesterday I wasn’t expecting it, but today it was pretty normal to hear.”
Robert played his first six seasons with Chicago, winning a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger and earning a 2023 All-Star nod. He was traded to the Mets in January for Luisangel Acuña and minor league pitcher Truman Pauley. For many White Sox fans, perhaps frustrated he didn’t live up to his potential, his return was reason to jeer.
He gave them more to boo about in the seventh inning, when he turned around Huascar Brazobán‘s 98 mph fastball for his first two-homer game as a Met.
“You know home runs are always special, it doesn’t matter what ballpark they are hit in,” Robert said. “But to be able to come back here and hit homers in a park that saw me hit so many, it feels good. It’s really special.”
Robert’s first homer came after he successfully challenged a 1-2 pitch that would have been strike three.
“At home I struck out a couple of times on pitches like that where they were close pitches and I didn’t challenge and I ended up striking out so today I decided to challenge,” he said. “Obviously it turned out to be a ball and then I had to lock back in there in the at-bat and that’s what happened.”
In his last 13 games, Robert is 14-for-44 (.318 batting average) with five homers and 10 RBIs.
“He’s just having great at-bats,” Andy Green said. “He’s put in a lot of work. He’s been grinding really hard. It’s fun to see somebody get some success that works that hard.”
