Carson Benge gave the Mets a jolt in cardinals vs mets, becoming the fourth rookie in club history to post a five-hit game with a home run. New York returned home at 29-36 after a 3-3 road trip and opened a series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field.
Citi Field Opens With Benge
Benge’s line was the sharpest individual result in the story. He joined Pete Alonso in 2019, Alex Ochoa in 1996 and John Milner in 1972 as the only Mets rookies to turn in that exact five-hit, homer combination.
The rookie production arrived as the Mets tried to keep moving after taking two of three from the Padres to finish the trip. They beat San Diego 5-0 on Friday, lost 3-2 on Saturday, then finished with a 7-3 win on Sunday.
Cardinals Bring A Better Record
St. Louis entered Citi Field at 35-28, and the matchup already carried recent history. The teams had split three close games in their second series of the season, with New York winning 4-2 before the Cardinals answered with 3-0 and 2-1 victories.
That earlier set showed how little room there has been between the clubs. Each game turned on a small margin, which left this home opener with a sharper edge than a standard series reset.
Mets Need Citi Field Runs
The Mets’ home record sat at 15-15, but the split number does not tell the whole story. They went 9-3 across their two previous May homestands, including a 5-1 stretch against the Tigers and Yankees and a 4-2 run against the Reds and Marlins.
That improvement sits against the backdrop of a rougher April, when they went 1-5 on one homestand and 3-6 on another. The current push is tied to the larger season picture: New York is trying to turn better recent play into enough home success to climb out of an early hole.
Marcus Semien’s series at Petco Park offered another useful snapshot of the offense. He went 4-for-12 with three runs scored and two runs batted in, and his season line stood at.226/.277/.362 with eight home runs, 26 runs scored, 25 runs batted in and an 81 wRC+ in 65 games, while Brandon Nimmo was slashing.249/.330/.398.
