The Mets beat the Padres 7-3 at Petco Park to take the series in San Diego and end this West Coast roadtrip on a high note. Carson Benge made Mets history, going 5-for-5 with a home run, a triple, two RBIs, and three runs scored in the best offensive performance by any Met so far this season.
The Mets got things started right away when Carson Benge and Bo Bichette logged back-to-back hits off Padres starter Randy Vásquez with Benge lacing a single and Bichette pulling a double to left field with authority.
The Mets seemed poised for a big inning, but settled for just one run on a Juan Soto RBI groundout that scored Benge for the game’s first run. Vásquez struck out Jared Young and retired A.J. Ewing on a fly out to keep the Mets from putting up a crooked number.
The Padres threatened in the bottom of the inning against opener Huascar Brazobán when he issued back-to-back walks to lead off the inning, but he induced a double play grounder off the bat of Ty France and got Manny Machado to fly out to navigate out of trouble and keep the Padres off the board. Marcus Semien doubled the Mets’ lead in the top of the second by launching a solo homer—his fifth long ball in the past 12 games. Sean Manaea then came in the game for the Mets and was assisted through the second inning by a highlight reel worthy diving grab by MJ Melendez in left field on a sharp fly ball off the bat of Miguel Andújar.
Manaea really settled in after that, at one point retiring eight straight batters. Meanwhile, the Mets granted him some extra cushion in the form of two more runs in the fifth. Benge singled to lead things off—his third hit of the game. Bichette followed with a single of his own and then Vásquez walked Juan Soto to load the bases with nobody out. The Padres got their bullpen moving quickly, but not before Jared Young laced single to score Benge and extend the Mets’ lead to 3-0. Vásquez then made way for lefty Yuki Matsui to face A.J. Ewing, who hit a deep enough fly ball to right field to score Bo Bichette from third and make it 4-0 Mets. However, Juan Soto was thrown out trying to tag up to third, so two outs were recorded on the play. Marcus Semien then threatened for his second home run of the afternoon, but Samad Taylor, who flashed the leather multiple times in this contest, made a nice catch up against the wall to end the inning and keep the Padres within striking distance.
And strike they did. After Taylor followed his strong defensive work with a one-out single in the fifth, Freddy Fermin continued his sudden resurgence with a two-run homer to cut the Mets’ lead in half to 4-2. Fernando Tatís Jr. quickly doubled down the left field line for the third straight hit off Manaea, who had been cruising until that point. But luckily after Jackson Merrill flew out to left for the second out, Tatís foolishly tried to steal third base with two outs and was thrown out to get Manaea out of the jam and keep the Mets in front.
The Mets piled on against Matsui, who came back out to pitch the sixth. Matsui, who had only given up one earned run all season prior to this afternoon’s outing, yielded two earned runs today in the form of solo homers by MJ Melendez and Carson Benge that extended the Mets’ lead to four runs once more. That home run by Benge represented his fourth hit of the afternoon, raising his wRC+ back over 100 for the season.
Brooks Raley delivered a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth inning, complete with two strikeouts. A.J. Minter contributed a scoreless seventh, working around a leadoff infield single by Miguel Andújar, who had to depart for a pinch runner after appearing to tweak something running to first base to beat out the throw. In Ron Marinaccio’s third inning of work, he issued a leadoff walk to Brett Baty and then with two outs, who else but Carson Benge laced a triple to right field to drive in the Mets’ seventh run—an exclamation point on a 5-for-5 afternoon for the rookie. With that triple, Benge became the first Met to log a five-hit game since 2023 when both Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo did it and just the fourth Mets rookie to have a five-hit game that included a home run.
The Padres managed to get runners on first and third against Luke Weaver in the eighth in part due to a throwing error by Brett Baty that prolonged the inning. Xander Bogaerts then clobbered a ball that seemed destined for the gap in left-center, but A.J. Ewing turned on the jets and tracked it down, making an impressive running catch. The Mets loaded the bases against Wandy Peralta in the ninth, raising the possibility of getting Benge a sixth at-bat, but it was not meant to be and the Mets did not score in the inning. Devin Williams, who hadn’t pitched since Monday, came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth despite the lopsided score and gave up a run on a walk and an RBI double by Freddy Fermin (who else), but still was able to seal the victory for the Mets. This was the first road series victory for the Mets in a month and they now return home for a tough stretch of games against the Cardinals and Braves.
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Big Mets winner: Carson Benge, +17% WPA
Big Mets loser: A.J. Ewing, -9% WPA
Mets pitchers: +20% WPA
Mets hitters: +30% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Bo Bichette’s first inning double off Randy Vásquez, +10.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Freddy Fermin’s two-run homer off Sean Manaea in the fifth, -13.0% WPA
