Jake Rogers couldn’t remember the trip around the bases.
“I blacked out,” the Chicago White Sox catcher said.
Rogers ended a night filled with long balls by hitting a two-run walk-off home run with two outs in the ninth inning Friday night to lift the Sox to a 6-4 victory against the New York Mets in front of 31,599 at Rate Field.
Photos: Chicago White Sox 6, New York Mets 4
More Top Picks Best Submersible Water Pumps
“It’s just super awesome,” Rogers said. “It was such an exciting moment. It’s been a long time, since the minor leagues, that something like that had happened. And to do it on such a stage like this and with a good team, it was awesome. It was an incredible feeling and I wish I could bottle it up.”
It was the fourth home run of the game for the Sox. The first three came in a row during the sixth inning as the Sox fought their way back from a 4-0 deficit.
Miguel Vargas woke the bats up with a two-run blast off Mets starter Sean Manaea. Randal Grichuk then made it back-to-back home runs. And Colson Montgomery made it three in a row.
The Sox pulled even with the Mets thanks to the back-to-back-to-back blasts. It remained that way until the ninth, when Rogers provided the 10th walk-off of the season for the Sox — and the first walk-off home run of his major-league career.
“Another special night at the Rate,” manager Will Venable said. “Start with the fans, after a game (Thursday) where we couldn’t score (losing 2-0 to the Braves while collecting just one hit), I thought the fans did a great job kind of keeping us going there through a tough first couple times through the order against Manaea, who was really good.
“And yeah, the guys found a way.”
The first-place Sox (67-61) now hold a 4½-game lead in the American League Central with the win and Minnesota’s 6-2 loss to the San Diego Padres. The Twins and Cleveland Guardians are tied for second at 63-66.
It was all Mets early in a game that began after a 20-minute weather delay.
Carson Benge led off the second with a single. He advanced to second on Brett Baty’s two-out single and scored on a Marcus Semien single.
The Mets caught a break during a two-run fourth inning.
Brenton Doyle couldn’t initially locate a fly ball to center hit by former Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr. Doyle spotted the ball late but couldn’t make a diving catch. Robert reached on what was scored a double, giving the Mets runners on second and third with one out.
“It’s probably the three minutes of twilight there that it could have impacted him,” Venable said. “I lost the ball as well, you understand. He’s a really good outfielder out there and just lost it in the twilight.”
Baty followed with a two-run double to right. Bo Bichette homered with two outs in the fifth inning against Sox starter Sean Burke, making it 4-0.
“I felt good tonight,” said Burke, who allowed four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and no walks in six innings. “Kind of a couple of things that didn’t really bounce my way. I think if I could get one pitch back, it would be that cutter to Baty. I kind of just left down the middle.
“But I thought overall, the stuff was good, I felt good.”
The Sox showcased some of their power in the sixth against Manaea. It was the second time this season the team hit three home runs in a row, with Munetaka Murakami, Vargas and Montgomery accomplishing the feat on April 21 at Arizona.
“Just guys locked in,” Venable said of the three consecutive home runs Friday. “The way that (Thursday) went, just kind of feel like the offense just needed to score a run to get going. And obviously we saw that with the (Vargas) homer and (Grichuk) and Colson following him.
“So really good stuff by the guys.”
The score was still tied at 4 in the ninth inning. Montgomery led off with a walk against reliever Jefry Yan and was lifted for pinch-runner Braden Montgomery. Doyle moved him to second on a bunt, and he went to third on a groundout.
That brought up Rogers, who is with his fourth team since late July after being claimed off waivers on Aug. 14 from the Boston Red Sox.
“I’m just hoping he grooves it in there, really,” Rogers said. “He throws hard, I saw him the previous at-bats coming up to it and I knew he was throwing 98-99 (mph), so I knew he was probably going to try to trust his stuff and I just kind of sold out for it and he threw it right in the loop and it went a long ways.”
Rogers connected on an 0-1 fastball and drove the ball over the wall, just out of the reach of leaping center fielder A.J. Ewing.
“That’s an incredible outfielder, a couple of incredible outfielders with (Robert in) left and (Ewing in) center field,” Rogers said. “I knew I hit the crap out of it and then I kept seeing him floating and floating and it barely got out, but they all count.
“He made an incredible effort at it and I just kept running around the bases, hoping he didn’t catch it. It worked out.”