Re-Benge Fuels Mets' 2-1 Win over Padres

Mets 2 Padres 1 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 57-69

Mets streak: Won 4

WP - Nolan McLean (9-8)

LP - Walker Buehler (7-6)

S- Daniel Duarte (2)

Seat on the Korner: Carson Benge

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

When you do something that nobody's done before, you deserve the seat next to Ralph. And what Carson Benge did in the first inning, throwing out two consecutive runners at home, you are almost guaranteed the Armitron watch. We'll leave further description of what he did to the first of the three keys, because Benge is more than just a defensive whiz with a 100 MPH arm. He singled tonight to start another consecutive game on-base streak, and after batting .189/.247/.278 with four extra-base hits and six RBI in his first 28 games of the season, he went into this game slashing .293/.357/.450 with an .807 OPS since May 2. And he has put himself into the conversation for Rookie of the Year -- at least from this Korner.

Need to Know

• The win was the Mets' fourth in a row. They are now 10-3 since the trade deadline

• The win marked the first time in team history that they have won three consecutive one-run games.

• Roster move: infielder Christopher Morel recalled from Syracuse in time to start at first base Tuesday night. DFA'd: Gabriel Arias, who wasn't around long enough for his dry cleaning to be ready. His Mets line: two games, five at-bats, nary a hit.

• Luis Robert Jr. was back in center field, after making made his first career start in left field Sunday.

• Going into tonight's game, when he went 0-2, Francisco Lindor was batting .287/.384/.537 in the 28 games following the All-Star Break, with 17 runs, four doubles, one triple, seven homers, 16 walks, 20 RBI and a .921 OPS...This compares to a .216/.298/.373 with 22 runs, three doubles, three triples, five homers, 12 RBI, 16 walks and a .671 OPS in 40 games in the first half of the season.

•  Overall, the Mets are 29-34 at home this season.

• Happy birthday, Jefry Yan. The rookie reliever turned 30 today. Let's just hope that if he celebrates birthdays like he celebrates strikeouts, he doesn't land on his cake.

• The Mets are now 23-22 since Andy Green took over for Carlos Mendoza.

• Zac Thornton takes the mound for the Mets Tuesday night, facing the veteran Robbie Ray, whom the Padres recently acquired from the Giants.

  
  

Turning Point

The Mets came to bat in the first riding the high of Carson Benge throwing out consecutive runners at the plate (see below). And for once, they continued the high through their half of the inning. A.J. Ewing led off with a single, Francisco Lindor walked and Bo Bichette -- the team's most consistent hitter with runners in scoring position -- singled to right, scoring Ewing. Two batters later, Luis Robert Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0, and it was a nail biter from there.

Three Keys

A Clinic in Run Prevention

Carson Benge throwing a runner out: ho-hum. We've come to expect that. So when Benge cleanly fielded Ty France's bloop single in the first, and Padres third base coach Bob Henly sent Jake Cronenworth, running from second on the hit, it really came as no surprise that Benge threw out the Padres' second baseman by 10 feet for his third consecutive game nailing a runner.

But what happened next created the surprise: Jackson Merrill singled, and Henley, not having learned his lesson (nor, apparently, having read a scouting report), had Manny Machado also try to score from second. It was deja vu all over again:

Benge became the first Met ever to throw out two runners at the plate in the same inning.

A.J. Ewing watched both plays from his position in lift field. So when the occasion arose in the second inning, Ewing showed that Benge isn't the only Met rookie outfielder with an arm:

SNY noted that they could not find any instance in which a team had thrown three runners out at the plate over the first two innings of a game in at least 106 years.

And Henley, the third base coach? Let's just say he'll have a lot of 'splaining to do.

McLean Grits It Out

From the very start, we got a hint that this was not going to be Nolan McLean at his best, when leadoff batter Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a liner that McLean snagged:

And Mclean looked shaky through the first two innings, letting seven consecutive Padres reach base over those frames, helped by the outfield play we just described. But then, McLean settled down, sort of, and managed to make it through the sixth, leaving after 103 pitches, six hits, four walks -- but only one run. So it's the 10th time in his last 11 starts that McLean has gone six, and the ninth time in that span that he has allowed two runs or less. This is what an ace is all about: keeping your team in the game, even when you don't have your best stuff or command.

.

Closer by Committee -- And It Just Might Work!

On Sunday, Daniel Duarte was the bridge to Kodai Senga, who pitched the ninth and got the save. Unaccustomed to pitching on consecutive days, Senga was unavailable tonight, but Duarte was, and he pitched as dominant a ninth as you could have asked: Strike out Ben Sheets. Get Xander Bogaerts to foul out to first,. Strike out the hottest hitter in the Padres' lineup, Luis Rengifo, to end the game. Duarte has been a revelation for the Mets: only two earned runs in 15 appearances (over 20 innings, a 0.89 ERA). 14 of his 15 appearances have been scoreless. And, just like Senga, excitement when he takes the mound. Perhaps they can keep on rotating when a closer is needed for the rest of the season, even when what's-his-name comes off the IL, because they are bending bats instead of air.