Good morning, Mets fans! Watching this Carson Benge grab is a great way to start the day!

The Mets promoted shortstop Elian Peña to High-A Brooklyn Sunday after he hit .271/.388/.397 with eight homers in 96 games for Low-A St. Lucie. The 18-year-old will be the youngest player in High-A. James Villani has more here.

Émilien Pitre (Freddy Peralta trade) was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse, per Will Sammon of The Athletic, after he went 15-for-40 with Double-A Binghamton. The 23-year-old middle infielder posted a .943 OPS in 37 games with Double-A Montgomery before he was traded by the Rays to New York. James Villani has more here.

Elian Peña by Ed Delany / MMO

On the field, LHP Daviel Hurtado spun seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball and struck out five Sunday in Brooklyn’s 1-0 loss to Jersey Shore. MMO’s Matt Mancuso was there and sees similarities in the 21-year-old’s windup to Steven Matz. He talked to Cyclones manager Eduardo Nunez about the Cuban prospect. See Mancuso’s first-hand account here.

In case you missed it, MMO’s Mike Mayer, who likes to obsess over his favorite team’s minor-league system in his spare time, updated his rankings of the Mets’ top 50 prospects on Friday. The top five: Jefferson Rojas, Mitch Voit, Jonah Tong, Sammy Stafura and Jonathan Santucci. See the full list here.

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In Queens, Christian Scott (4-3) turned in another solid showing, Luis Torrens homered and closer Kodai Senga set the side down in order in a 4-3 victory that completed a sweep of the Nationals. The Mets (56-69) have won nine of 12. Johnluke Chaparro has more in a recap here.

Scott allowed three earned runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings, struck out seven and walked two. His ERA is 3.51 and the Mets have won in 13 of his 18 starts. He got a little help when Benge made the running, leaping, backhanded play on the warning track in the gap to end the first inning.

For the dreamers, the Mets are 11 games back of the last playoff spot with 37 games to go.

After the game, the Mets promoted 1B-3B-OF Christopher Morel to the majors, first reported by Mike Rodriguez and confirmed by Mayer. Morel, 27, was released by the Marlins in June and signed by the Mets five days later. He hit 12 homers and slashed .321/.382/.716 in 31 games with Triple-A Syracuse. He hit a career-high 26 homers with the 2023 Cubs.

Nolan McLean (8-8, 3.42 ERA) will face Walker Buehler (7-5, 4.88 ERA) Monday when the Mets start a three-game set with the Padres at Citi Field at 7:10 p.m. ET on SNY. The Padres, by the way, are tied with the Phillies for the final playoff spot.

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Tommy John, who was an All-Star before and after being the first player to undergo the surgery that now carries his name, died at 83 at his home in Bradenton, Fla., where he was in hospice care. John won 288 games and pitched to a 3.34 ERA over a 26-year career with six teams, including the Yankees, White Sox and Dodgers. He might have won 300 games if he didn’t miss the 1975 season recovering from the procedure.

David Peterson will move to the bullpen, Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. Peterson is 4-1 with a 4.19 ERA over eight starts and 43 innings since joining Chicago in the trade for High-A infielder Cole Mathis.

Luis Severino, who has been out since May with a shoulder injury, will not pitch again this season, A’s manager Mark Kotsay said.

The Braves designated ex-Met LHP Danny Young for assignment and brought LHP Ray Kerr up to take his spot. Young allowed nine runs over his last four outings.

The Dodgers placed LHP Justin Wrobleski on the injured list with left forearm inflammation and recalled RHP Kyle Hurt.

Carlos Santana, 40, was granted his release from Triple-A Gwinnett (Braves) and became a free agent, sources told Jeff Passan of ESPN.

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John Stocum wrote about the offense coming to life over the past few weeks.

The Rumble Ponies scored 14 runs on Saturday, led by Rojas, Voit and Jacob Reimer. James Villani recapped all the Mets’ affiliates that were in action.

On This Date in Mets History

1973: Willie Mays, 42, hits the last of his 660 career homers off 22-year-old Don Gullett of the Reds, who was four months old when Mays hit his first MLB blast off of Hall of Famer Warren Spahn of the Boston Braves on May 28, 1951. The Mets lose to the Reds 2-1 in 10 innings at Shea Stadium.

1967: Bud Harrelson, 23, hits the first of his seven career homers off Juan Pizarro of the Pirates. It is an inside-the-park homer made possible because right fielder Al Luplow stopped to argue with the umpire about whether Harrelson’s shot down the line at Forbes Field was foul. The Mets win 6-5.

On This Date in 1986 Mets

The Mets split a doubleheader with the Cardinals at Shea Stadium. In Game 1, John Tudor throws seven innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 Cardinals win. The Mets’ only run comes on a Tim Teufel sacrifice fly. In Game 2, Teufel, Danny Heep and Lenny Dykstra all go deep in a 9-2 victory. Reliever Randy Niemann makes his only start of the season and his first in three years. He allows two runs over six innings to earn the win. Roger McDowell goes three innings to pick up his 12th save. New York is 77-41.

Born on This Date: Jefry Yan (1996), Jesse Winker (1993), Mike O’Connor (1980), Skip Lockwood (1946).