Carson Benge records five-hit game as Mets win series vs. Padres

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Jun 7, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — Carson Benge has arrived.

The New York Mets‘ rookie right fielder officially arrived in the big leagues on Opening Day with a bang and a dead bird, but as the team struggled in April and May, so too did Benge. There were no signs of any of struggles Sunday when Benge went 5 for 5 with a home run and an RBI triple in the Mets’ 7-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

“It’s nice to get two hits, let alone five,” Benge said. “Being able to do that was pretty special.”

He became the first rookie to log five hits in a game with a home run since Pete Alonso in 2019, and the fourth in club history.

“Rockets pretty much everywhere,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “Using the middle of the field, staying short, staying on top of the baseball, a left-on-left homer — it was pretty incredible.”

Typically, it’s difficult to have a bad time in San Diego, unless, of course, you’re the Mets, who hadn’t won a series in America’s Finest City since 2018. That changed Sunday afternoon when they took the third game of the series for a key win against a National League opponent they’re hoping to knock off in the wild-card standings.

While it’s going to take a lot more work and a lot more wins to get the Mets into striking distance of the wild-card standings, every win counts. The Padres (33-31) are in a serious slump, having lost six of their last seven. The Mets (29-36) haven’t put together any sustained winning streaks, but they remain confident that if they can stack series wins together, they’ll be able to climb out of the hole they dug themselves into in April.

If they keep hitting like they did Sunday, they’ll have a shot.

“We’re never out of it,” Benge said. “Being able to get the bats going was nice.”

Coming into the two-city trip in Seattle and San Diego, the Mets’ final West Coast trip of the regular season, Benge was already riding a hot streak, having hit .304 with two doubles and a home run against the Cincinnati Reds and Miami Marlins. The entire Mets offense cooled in Seattle, facing one of the best rotations in baseball, but Benge brought it back to life Sunday.

Marcus Semien homered for the second time in as many games, MJ Melendez hit his fourth of the season and Bo Bichette went 2 for 5 with a double and a run scored. Right-hander Huascar Brazobán opened the game in front of left-hander Sean Manaea (1-1), who allowed two earned runs over four innings.

Benge led off the game with a single to center field and went to third on Bichette’s double. He scored on a ground ball by Juan Soto to make it 1-0 early.

“He’s ready for the first pitch,” Mendoza said. “First pitch of the game and he’s putting his aim on it.”

Semien made it 2-0 when he led off the second with a homer off right-hander Randy Vasquez. Benge again led off the third with a single to center, and did the same in the fifth, sparking a two-run rally. The Mets put pressure on Vasquez by loading the bases with no outs. A single by Jared Young put the Mets up 3-0, scoring Benge for the second time. San Diego went to the bullpen for left-hander Yuki Matsui, who got Ewing to hit into a sacrifice double play.

A fly ball to right field was deep enough for Bichette to come home, but not deep enough for Soto to take third.

For the second time in as many games, catcher Freddy Fermin hit a two-run homer, doing so in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Mets’ lead in half. The Mets countered in the top of the sixth with Melendez’s home run off Matsui, and Benge’s two-out bomb that forced another bullpen move.

A.J. Ewing and MJ Melendez made some tough, athletic plays in the outfield to ensure the Padres never got close to tying. Ewing, especially, tracked some tough fly balls throughout the entire series.

“I feel like something cool or special is going to happen every day,” Manaea said of the two rookie outfielders. “It’s really cool to watch them progress in their careers.”

The thing about Benge is that he doesn’t overthink anything. While some rookies might get in their heads about hitting below .200, Benge wasn’t one of them in April. He didn’t really think much at all about what was going on early this season when he wasn’t at the plate. That’s when he locks in to do what he does best by grinding out at-bats and looking for his pitches.

His final hit Sunday was a line drive to the right field corner off Ron Marinaccio for his first career triple.

Don’t think, just hit.

“When he’s ahead in the count, he’s letting it fly,” Mendoza said. “You see the barrel come through the hitting zone with conviction, and it’s just his ability to use the whole field. He’s just a special player.”

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