The Force is With the Mets at Coors Field: Absolutely Pulchritudinous!

Mets 4 Rockies 2 (Coors Field, Denver CO)

Mets record: 13-22

Mets streak: Won 2

WP -David Peterson (1-4)

LP - Tomoyuki Sugano (3-2)

SV - Devin Williams (4)

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.

Sometimes, patience pays off. At least it seems like the Mets' patience has paid off with Carson Benge, who began the season looking as if he should be spending his summer in Syracuse instead of Flushing. But Benge appears to have figured things out -- he went into the game batting .310 with one homer and four RBI over his previous eight starts. Not to mention (okay, we just did) his stellar defense.

In this game, Benge made one of his patented circus catches in the third inning.

And then, leading off the sixth with the Mets still hitless, he crashed a home run to right center, giving the Mets a lead they would not relinquish.

Take a seat, Carson, and tell Ralph about how you seem to have turned things around and justified management's faith in your abilities.

Need to Know

• The Mets have now won three of their last four games and are 4-3 over their last seven.

• On a day when the baseball world was mourning the passing of Yankee broadcaster John Sterling, the Mets broadcast team had something to celebrate: the return of Keith Hernandez from back surgery. Keith's best comment about the four-hour operation and his time away from the telecasts: "When you're on an anesthetic, time flies."

• Today was Star Wars Day , May 4, but unlike Citi Field, when fans dress up as Darth Vader, Chewbacca and maybe the occasional Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, Coors Field fans did not seem to be aware of the important date on the calendar. Sad..

• Manager Carlos Mendoza shook up the lineup, having Juan Soto lead off and play left field, with Francisco Alvarez as the DH. it was the first time Soto had led off in five years and only the third time in his career.

• Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano held the Mets hitless for five innings. That was the longest the Mets have gone hitless in Colorado since the Rockies joined the league in 1993 -- predating Coors Field.

• The game was moved to a 3:40 MT start (5:40 New York time) because of predicted heavy rain in the evening. Only....the revised forecast had the rain starting earlier, too. But the only weather effect was the wind blowing in from left field and turning two potential Mark Vientos home runs into outs.

• But that was only the precursor for Tuesday, with a predicted three to nine inches of snow starting around game time and continuing through the night into Wednesday, when a day game is scheduled. Both teams have off days Thursday. Can they clear the snow in time for a getaway twin bill?

Turning Point

You could call the Carson Benge home run to open the scoring and break up a no-hitter the turning point, or Mark Vientos' RBI single later in the inning. But the way things have been going for the Mets this season-- with so many blown late leads -- we'll call the turning point Craig Kimbrel bearing down after giving up a triple to Mickey Moniak to strike out potential tying run Tyler Freeman in a nine-pitch at-bat (confirmed after a Freeman strike call challenge) and then retire TJ Rumfield on a fly ball. The Mets have let too many games get awy from them in this type of situation. But this time, they held, as Devin Williams pitched a perfedt ninth.

Three Keys

Peterson Powerful (Mostly)

Is the secret to revitalizing David Peterson keeping him off the mound until mid-game, or is it matching him against the Rockies, his home team growing up? Before today, Peterson had pitched one game at Coors Field, allowing one run on four hits over five innings. Lifetime against the Rockies, Peterson was 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA with 20 strikeouts and seven walks in 22.2 innings.

Peterson came into this game, however, after one of his worst career outings: seven runs over 3.2 innings against the Nationals.

Peterson entered in the fourth and was masterful for three and two-third innngs, retiring 11 straight batters. But then he gave up a single to Willie Castro and a triple to Jordan Beck that might have been caught if Carson Benge hadn't tripped trying to turn as he backed up on the ball. That seemed to rattle Peterson, who surrendered a run-scoring single to Kyle Karros before finishing out the inning, and his outing, by getting Ezequiel Tovar to fly out.

Peterson's line? Four innings, three hits, two runs and a more positivr outcome than his last time on the mound.

Huascar Do! and Austin Powerful

The decision to use openers instead of sending David Peterson to the mound to start the game looked like a stroke of genius. Huascar Brazoban pitched a hitless first; he was succeeded by Austin Warren, who gave up a single in his two innings (the second inning seemed to surprise both the Mets announcing team and, more importantly, the Rockies coaching staff, who had set up s right-handed heavy lineup, expecting lefty Peterson in the game for the second).

Brazoban, in particular, has been lights out on the road, where he hasn't allowed a run in eight appearances this season. His perfect inning was better than his previous outing against the Rockies, last week at Citi Field, when he allowed a run, two hits and a walk on two innings.

For Warren, it was the third time this season he has recorded at least four outs in an outing and came five days after his second blown save.

On the Mark

Mark Vientos fits the definition of a streaky hitter, and it looks like he is zoned in - for now. Vientos followed his two-homer game against the Angels Sunday with two blasts that on most days would habve been dingers out of Coors Field, but on a cold, wind-blowing-in dat were both long outs. Then, in the sixth, he lined a solid single that drove in what proved to be the winning run. If the Mets are to have any hope about resurrecting their season, the need Vientos to continue to step up and help Juan Soto hold the fort in until help (Francisco Lindor and Jorge Polanco) returns from the IL.