QUEENS, NY — If this is the quintessential Carson Benge, the Mets will take it every night.
The rookie outfielder went 2-for-4 with a pair of two-out, two-strike RBI singles to help lift the Mets to a 4-2 sweep-avoiding victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night at Citi Field. With it comes the end of a five-game losing streak and the slowdown of a dreadful 2-7 stretch.
With the Mets (23-33) leading 2-1 with runners on first and second and two outs in the fifth, Benge fell behind Reds starter Andrew Abbott 0-2, worked the count to 3-2 while fouling off two additional offerings, and on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, muscled a single to center to make it a two-run game.
“Just fight for every pitch, not give him anything, and try to be a tough out,” Benge said. “That’s all you can do.”
After the Reds pulled back within one, he fell behind 0-2 again, this time to reliever Zach Maxwell in the seventh. On a 98.9 mph fastball above the zone, he shortened his swing enough to line another single to center field to make it a 4-2 game.
“Just trying to stay short, put it in play, not trying to do too much with them,” Benge said. “And things have been working out.”
Benge continues to figure it all out at the major-league level following a dreadful start. In his last 32 games, he is batting .313 with two home runs and 17 RBI.
His contributions were just enough to get a scuffling offense back into the win column. The Mets were held to just two hits in the first four innings, but both of them left the yard to provide an early, slim advantage.
Juan Soto remained red-hot with his eighth home run in his last 12 games, going down and pulling a 1-1 offspeed pitch into the right-field seats in the first inning for a solo shot. Now with 12 round-trippers on the season, six of them have come in his last seven games.
“It’s not much of a difference,” Soto said of his hot streak. “I keep thinking to do damage every time, and the difference is the result. Sometimes I get the result, sometimes I don’t. I feel good. I’m seeing the ball well, I’ve been swinging the bat well, and just doing damage whenever I can.”
Appearing in just his second game as a Met after being recalled from Triple-A, Eric Wagaman, serving as the DH, jumped on a 1-0, inside four-seam fastball and hooked it around the left-field foul pole in the second inning to make it 2-0.
The Reds pulled one back in the third through Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI single, an unearned run on Tong’s ledger. The man who scored, though, was Elly De La Cruz, who reached base on the righty’s throwing error.
It was the only damage Jonah Tong, who followed opener Huascar Brazoban in the second inning, allowed on Wednesday night despite heavy traffic on the base paths. In 3.2 innings of work, he allowed three hits and walked four compared to just one strikeout.
The Reds loaded the bases in the top of the sixth with one out, but only mustered one run on a Sal Stewart infield single. Through those six frames, they stranded 12 runners on base. They ended the night stranding 17 overall, including two in the ninth when Devin Williams walked the bases loaded with one out. But the Mets’ closer rebounded, striking out Dane Myers and Blake Dunn to end it.
“He got the job done,” Mendoza said. “Obviously, he got in trouble, but he was able to continue to make pitches and execute. You don’t want to walk the bases loaded. He lost it a little it, but got back on track… I’m glad he was able to get the job done there. A good team win there.”
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