Good morning, Mets fans! The Mets have won seven of 10 and New York City is awash in blue and orange.
Carson Benge went 5-for-5 with a home run and a triple in a 7-3 victory over the Padres and the Mets (29-36) finished their last West Coast trip of the (regular) season at 3-3. Marcus Semien and MJ Melendez homered and Sean Manaea (1-1) allowed two runs over four innings to earn the win and lower his ERA to 5.02.
Bo Bichette added two hits. He is 9-for-17 in his last four games with two doubles and a triple, raising his slash line to .234/.285/.330.
The Mets are off Monday. They host the Cardinals (35-28) on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Freddy Peralta (4-4, 3.63 ERA) will face RHP Dustin May (3-6, 4.59 ERA).
Carson Benge by Berto Carlo
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Benge, per Johnluke Chaparro’s recap, is the third Met to notch a five-hit game that included a home run and a triple. He joins Francisco Lindor and Alex Ochoa.
“Today was nice,” Benge said. “It’s nice to get two hits, let alone five, so being able to do that was pretty special.”
Francisco Alvarez (knee) went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk and picked off a runner at first for Triple-A Syracuse. He could return during the six-game homestand.
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Kyle Freeland surpassed Aaron Cook to become the Rockies’ all-time leader in innings pitched. Freeland, who gave up three runs on seven hits over five innings in Colorado’s 12-4 loss to the Brewers, has thrown 1,313 1/3 innings for Colorado, which drafted him eighth overall in 2014. He is 66-96 with a 4.67 ERA over his 10 years in the big leagues. Entering Sunday, his ERA was 4.97 at Coors Field and 4.38 on the road.
Tarik Skubal threw five scoreless innings in a minor-league rehab start in his first action since elbow surgery last month.
Bobby Witt Jr. left the Royals’ win over the Twins in the seventh inning with right knee soreness.
Matthew Boyd is expected to return to the Cubs’ rotation this weekend. The 35-year-old will be coming back after surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, which he suffered while playing with his children.
The Diamondbacks signed free agent outfielder Max Kepler, who was caught for PEDs in January, and will still have to miss 80 games and cannot play in the postseason, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The 33-year-old hit 18 homers for the Phillies last year.
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Jorge Eckardt finds slugging prospect Ryan Clifford intriguing. Why? Read here.
John Stocum wrote about Nolan McLean‘s latest start.
Elian Peña stole his 18th base, Mitch Voit hit his seventh homer and Jonathan Santucci had his longest outing of the year on Saturday. James Villani covered it all in a minor-league recap.
On This Date in Mets History
2013: Adeiny Hechavarria‘s go-ahead single in the top of the 20th helped the Marlins win the longest game in Citi Field history by a score of 2-1. Starter Matt Harvey tossed seven innings of one-run ball and Shaun Marcum, the eighth and final pitcher used by New York, threw eight innings of one-run ball and took the loss. Omar Quintanilla and Daniel Murphy each went 1-for-9 with a walk. Time of game: 6 hours, 25 minutes.
1968: The Mets refuse to play their scheduled game in San Francisco out of respect for Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated on June 5 in Los Angeles and whose funeral mass is scheduled for today at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Ed Kranepool leads the team to vote to take the action despite baseball Commissioner William Eckert threatening that it would result in a forfeit. Eckert only approved canceling games in New York and Washington, D.C. Manager Gil Hodges and the organization support the players.
1965: The Mets select pitcher Les Rohr second overall out of Billings West (Montana) High School in the first major-league draft of college, high school and sandlot players. Rohr’s MLB career consisted of six appearances for the Mets from 1967-1969. In the 12th round, the Mets took Nolan Ryan out of Alvin (Texas) High School, whose MLB career consisted of 807 appearances from 1966-1993.
On This Date in 1986 Mets
Rookie outfielder Kevin Mitchell hits his seventh homer in a 4-3 victory over the Pirates in front of 14,391 at Three Rivers Stadium. The Pirates started a rookie outfielder too. Barry Bonds hits leadoff, plays center, and goes 1-for-2 with a double and 1-for-2 in stolen base attempts. Mitchell would finish third in Rookie of the Year balloting and Bonds sixth. The pair would go on to combine for eight National League MVPs (Bonds 7, Mitchell 1) and 996 home runs (Bonds 762, Mitchell 234).
Sid Fernandez gives up three runs, strikes out five and walks six over 6 1/3 innings to improve his record to 6-2. Jesse Orosco records one out to earn his 10th save. The Mets are 37-15 and hold a nine-game division lead over the second-place Expos.
Born on This Date: Blade Tidwell (2001), R.J. Alvarez (1991), Terrance Gore (1991), T.J. McFarland (1989), Dave Mlicki (1968), John Gibbons (1962), Joe Grzenda (1937).
