CHICAGO \u2014 Kodai Senga stood with his hands on his hips in disgust as fireworks exploded beyond the center field scoreboard at Rate Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a moment of realization that I\u2019m in a position where the game can end with one pitch, with one swing of the bat,\u201d Senga said through his interpreter after surrendering a walk-off homer to Tristan Peters in the Mets\u2019 2-1 loss to the White Sox. \u201cSeeing the ball like that it just kind of dawns on me again, that\u2019s the role I\u2019m playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peters\u2019 blast to center on a 96 mph fastball, which just eluded A.J. Ewing\u2019s outstretched glove, became Senga\u2019s first hiccup since becoming the closer two weeks ago when Devin Williams was placed on the injured list.<\/p>\n
Among the realities of the job is pitching on consecutive days \u2014 something Senga was doing for the first time Sunday. <\/p>\n
A night earlier he had pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he was fine \u2014 he had his [velocity] down a little bit,\u201d interim manager Andy Green said. \u201cIt was good to get that under his belt and have done that. \u2026 Senga has gotten something done that he hadn\u2019t done, and that is good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga (34) walks off the field after Chicago White Sox center fielder Tristan Peters (29) hits a walk-off home run during the ninth inning at Rate Field on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Chicago. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
The Mets lost on a second walk-off homer in three games to drop only their second series in the six they have played since the trade deadline. <\/p>\n
Overall, they are 12-6 during that stretch.<\/p>\n
Senga had a 1.29 ERA in his previous seven appearances this month but had the benefit of at least a day of rest between each of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was no big issue being out on the mound,\u201d Senga said of his first back-to-back stint.<\/p>\n
The Mets homered five times a night earlier but were stifled for the first eight innings in essentially a bullpen game for the White Sox. <\/p>\n
Green\u2019s starting lineup included backups Eric Wagaman and Christopher Morel to give the Mets additional right-handed bats.<\/p>\n
Refusing to depart without at least a fight, the Mets tied it 1-1 on Jared Young\u2019s RBI single in the ninth after they put two runners aboard against Grant Taylor. <\/p>\n
Mets pitcher Nolan McLean delivers the ball against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Rate Field on Sunday, August 23, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
But with a chance to take the lead, the Mets sputtered: Francisco Alvarez and Ewing each struck out, the latter occurring with the bases loaded.<\/p>\n
Andrew Benintendi\u2019s RBI triple in the eighth against Daniel Duarte produced the game\u2019s first run. <\/p>\n
Duarte, who has been ultra-reliable in the setup role, allowed two hits in the inning.<\/p>\n
Tristan Peters #29 of the Chicago White Sox hits a walk-off home run against the New York Mets during the ninth inning at Rate Field on Sunday, August 23, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Dedniel N\u00fa\u00f1ez pitched a scoreless seventh for his third appearance in his last four without allowing an earned run. <\/p>\n
The right-hander is working back from Tommy John surgery rehab and had two rough outings upon rejoining the Mets, but has shown improvement lately.<\/p>\n
Nolan McLean dominated over six shutout innings in which he allowed only one hit. <\/p>\n
The Mets\u2019 Luis Robert Jr. (88) reacts after striking out during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago on Sunday, August 23, 2026. AP Photo\/Paul Beaty<\/p>\n
The right-hander walked four batters and hit another, finishing with six strikeouts. <\/p>\n
The start was McLean\u2019s third straight of at least six innings with one or no runs allowed. <\/p>\n
Over that stretch his ERA dropped from 3.51 to 3.21.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I am any stronger or any better than I felt to start the season,\u201d McLean said. \u201cIt\u2019s just every time I go out there, I am trying to learn and hopefully doing a better job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLean loaded the bases with consecutive walks to Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas in the third, but following a visit from pitching coach Justin Willard, struck out Benintendi on three pitches.<\/p>\n
Jake Rogers hit a shot to left field in the fifth inning that leaping Luis Robert Jr. caught at the fence to deprive Rogers \u2014 who won Friday\u2019s game with a walk-off homer against lefty Jefry Yan in the ninth \u2014 of an extra-base hit.<\/p>\n
On this day it was Peters with the walk-off magic for the AL Central leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou come out of a series 1-2, you don\u2019t feel great about that,\u201d Green said. \u201cBut that was competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Kodai Senga stood with his hands on his hips in disgust as fireworks exploded beyond the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25677,20,9,11,320,10,35582,319],"class_list":["post-328043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-news","tag-nolan-mclean","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}