ANAHEIM -- Carson Benge didn’t know he would catch the ball as he sprinted off his position in right field. He didn’t know he would catch the ball when he left his feet, going horizontal in pursuit of Vaughn Grissom’s liner in the ninth inning Sunday. It was not until the ball settled in Benge’s glove that he felt confident in the outcome.
“I dove still not knowing,” Benge said, laughing. “But I know I was going to try to make a play for my guys.”
Had Benge not completed that play, manager Carlos Mendoza noted, who knows what would have happened? Thanks to Mark Vientos’ second homer of the afternoon, the Mets had expanded their lead over the Angels in the eighth inning but still had two outs to get. A double for Grissom would have put the potential tying run in the on-deck circle with one out in the ninth.
Instead, Benge made the finest catch of his young career and the Mets sealed their 5-1 victory one batter later.
“He can play,” Mendoza said of Benge. “He can play.”
The catch was so good, Mets play-by-play broadcaster Gary Cohen sent fans running for the dictionary with his call: "Carson Benge with a pulchritudinous play!" Color commentator Todd Zeile replied, "I'm not going to say it was pulchritudinous, but I'm going to take your word for it. That was an amazing play."
For Mendoza, Benge’s contributions went well beyond his diving catch in right. Earlier in the game, Benge walked twice, scoring on Vientos’ first homer. He made a jumping grab at the wall in the seventh. Then, in the eighth, he pulled a double down the right-field line to plate a key insurance run, before Vientos capped the scoring with his second long ball.
That sort of production is becoming a trend for Benge. After batting .136 in his first 21 games as a rookie, sparking talk that he could be headed back to the Minors, Benge has hit .290 in 10 games since. There still hasn’t been much extra-base pop to speak of, but the Mets never expected a massive power output from Benge. What they expected was steady production from their top-rated prospect.
“It just feels like a juiced baseball game now,” Benge said. “It kind of took a while to get my feet settled and different things like that. Now, I feel like I’m finding my groove and getting comfortable.”