DENVER -- As recently as two weeks ago, things were not going well for Carson Benge. On the morning of April 23, the rookie outfielder was batting .136 with a .416 OPS. While he was doing his share defensively, Benge looked like a player in need of additional seasoning at Triple-A Syracuse. If not for injuries rippling across the Mets’ roster, he might have already been there.
Then, something changed. Something clicked. Since April 23, Benge has been on a heater both at the plate and in the field. He followed Sunday’s “pulchritudinous” catch in Anaheim with another fine one to rob Tyler Freeman of an RBI extra-base hit in the third inning Monday, then Benge homered to break up Tomoyuki Sugano’s no-hit bid in the sixth inning of a 4-2 win over the Rockies.
Over his last 11 games, Benge is batting .303.
Benge’s homer sparked a breakout sixth for the Mets, who recorded three consecutive extra-base hits, including an RBI double from Luis Torrens. After Sugano departed, Mark Vientos continued his own hot hitting with a two-run single, upping his RBI total to six over his last two games.
It helped that manager Carlos Mendoza pulled the right strings with his pitching staff at Coors Field, opening the game with right-handers Huascar Brazobán and Austin Warren before turning to lefty David Peterson in a bulk relief role. Peterson, who vowed to improve after his latest poor start last week at Citi Field, retired the first 11 batters he faced to keep the afternoon relatively stress-free for the Mets.
About the only anxiety came from Benge himself, who tripped and fell in pursuit of a Jordan Beck RBI triple in the seventh, but Peterson pitched well enough to ensure that play wouldn’t matter in the end.