Benge Gets the Best of Baseball's Roller Coaster

Carson Benge experienced the full range of emotional swings baseball can dish out during the Mets’ 3-2 extra-inning win over the Tigers at Citi Field Wednesday night.

Benge’s evening served as a prime example of baseball’s redemptive qualities and how quickly they take hold.

(SNY Screenshot)

Before he could even lead off the bottom of the first inning, Benge misplayed a fly ball in right field into a double, leading to the game’s first two runs.

In the third inning, Benge singled and later stole third base, his seventh stolen base on the season.

He singled again in the seventh and then moved to third on Bo Bichette’s RBI single. With two out, and MJ Melendez hitting for the injured Juan Soto, Bichette took off for second base in an attempted double steal. Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler threw to second. Despite the Tigers’ third baseman playing well off the line against the left-handed-hitting Melendez, Benge got a bad jump running home trying to score the go-ahead run. Tigers’ shortstop Zach Short cut off Dingler’s throw and nailed Benge at the plate by a wide margin with a strike back to Dingler.

As he took his position in the top of the eighth, Benge was 2-for-4 at the plate, but if you had asked him right then, I don’t think he would have told you he was having a good night.

Then came the 10th inning. Brooks Raley shut down the Tigers in the top, and with one out and ghost runner A.J. Ewing on second, Benge singled to center field to drive in Ewing with the game-ending run.

Benge had the first walk-off hit of his rookie season, now 42 games old. From possible goat to instant hero with one swing.

“It’s baseball,” Benge told MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo after the game, displaying perspective well beyond his brief experience in the big leagues.

“It’s going to happen. It happens to the best of us. So being able to try and get the next play, try and get the next out, the next pitch, just really helps me keep my head on straight.”