White Sox 6, Mets 4: It’s Jake Rogers’ neighborhood

At the start of the ninth inning, excitable Mets reliever Jefry Yan jumped for joy in his trademark fashion when he'd thought he'd rung up Colson Montgomery on a 1-2 slider. The pitch was low enough that Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez didn't even consider a challenge, and made a quick mound visit afterward.

At the inning's end, Yan was just about the only person in the park not leaving his feet. Dozens of White Sox personnel -- and nearly 32,000 White Sox fans -- couldn't stop hopping as Jake Rogers completed his circuit around the bases after hitting a two-out, two-run walk-off homer that capped off a comeback from 4-0 to steal the opener of the three-game series.

Yan ended up walking Montgomery, tolerated a sacrifice bunt by Brenton Doyle, then got Luisangel Acuña to bounce out to short. Braden Montgomery, pinch-running for Colson, advanced a base each play, but still needed one more positive event to bring him home.

Rogers delivered it. After chopping an elevated first-pitch fastball foul, Yan left a second baseball down in the zone, and though it was 98 mph, Rogers pulled it to the power alley in left. It's not the kind of contact the Mets were anticipating, as center fielder A.J. Ewing was shaded slightly toward right. Perhaps if he didn't have so much ground to cover, he might've been able to time a leap and bring it back. As it played out, he didn't get there in time, and the ball dropped into the first row for Rogers' first moment as a White Sox.

The White Sox now have 10 walk-off victories, and Rogers is the eighth different player. He might've been the unlikeliest hero, but it was nevertheless a fitting close, as the White Sox used the long ball to tie the game, and quickly.

The White Sox spent the first five innings being handcuffed by Sean Manaea, while fellow Sean Burke looked better than his last time out, but still touchable. The balance tilted 4-0 in favor of the Mets, at least until the White Sox lineup got to see Manaea for a third time.

Munetaka Murakami flied out to deep right in each of his first two-bats, but he won the third battle by working a seven-pitch walk with one out. Miguel Vargas also flirted with a homer earlier in the game, as he had to settle for a loud double off the wall in the first inning. This time around, Vargas got ahead 3-0, and tried to blitz Manaea by going on the green light, but the cutter was in enough for Vargas to pull it foul.

On 3-1, Manaea left a sweeper dangling on the inner half, and Vargas cranked a no-doubter out to left to cut the Mets' lead in half.

That still left a two-run deficit to cover, and the Sox only needed two batters to close it. Randal Grichuk followed Vargas by scalding a knee-high fastball over the left center wall for a solo shot that made it 4-3, and Colson Montgomery made it back-to-back-to-back jacks by searing an inner-half sinker into the fancy right field seats to tie the game at 4.

That brought the better half of the White Sox bullpen into it, and Plan A earned a Grade A. Jordan Hicks worked a scoreless seventh, Bryan Hudson pitched a perfect eighth, and although Grant Taylor walked Luis Robert Jr. to open the ninth, Robert advanced no further.

The team effort got Burke off the hook, but Doyle is the one who can breathe a huge sigh of relief, because a mistake in center field could have defined the game.

The Mets only led 1-0 entering the fourth inning, and Burke retired Carson Benge on a flyout to open that frame before allowing a single to Jared Young. Robert followed by lofting a high fly to center, one which Doyle appeared to track -- until outstretched hands and a lack of lower-body movements finally betrayed the fact that he'd lost it in the twilight sky. By the time he could pick it back up, it was out of the reach of a last-second dive, and Robert was credited with a "double" that put runners on second and third with just one out. Brett Baty then hooked a legitimate two-bagger into the right field corner that made it a 3-0 game.

An inning later, Bo Bichette got just enough of a high first-pitch curve to float it into the White Sox bullpen for a solo shot that gave the Mets their biggest lead of the night.

Burke should've been able to exit with a quality start, but had to settle for a line -- 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR -- that didn't quite qualify. His fastball regained the life it lacked against Detroit, and he threw strikes with everything, resulting in 74 of 98 pitches for strikes, and 21 first-pitch strikes over 25 batters. If anything, he might've been too in the zone, but he rediscovered the form that plays, and sets up Venable to unfurl his bullpen in the ideal order.

Bullet points:

*The game was delayed by 20 minutes in anticipation of rain that never came, but at least Burke's start wasn't disrupted.

*Murakami was a couple feet away from helping set the record for most games with homers from the same trio of teammates in one season. Instead, he left Vargas and Colson Montgomery hanging.

*Robert finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. The hit was cheap, but his buddy Vargas robbed him of a single by backhanding a 103-mph hot shot, so it evened out.

*Acuña finished 0-for-4 with a strikeout, but played a decent shortstop, even though Vargas stepped on him bumping on a ninth-inning popout.

*This angle is something.

Record: 67-61 | Box score | Statcast