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Carson Benge came into Wednesday night's series finale against the Reds with just one hit in his last 20 at-bats, so he decided it was time to shake things up.
The youngster shaved off his mustache, and the new-look actually worked.
Benge came through for the Mets in a big way, coming through with a pair of clutch run-scoring knocks late in the game to help them end their five-game losing skid.
“It’s always nice to get a win,” he said. “You always want to go out and win.”
The 23-year-old lost the lefty-lefty matchup with Andrew Abbott each of his first two times up, but he was sure to make the Reds pay for a two-out error in the bottom of the fifth.
Benge battled back from down 0-2 in the count, working things full before pulling his hands in and dumping an up-and-in fastball to shallow center for the massive knock.
“You just fight,” he said. “Fight for every pitch to not give him anything there.”
“He continues to work and grind out at-bats,” Carlos Mendoza added. “Those were some really good takes trying to stay in the fight and not trying to do too much in that spot.”
The rookie slugger kept that same approach his next time up, two innings later.
Facing a righty with a man on third and two outs, Benge again fought off a tough pitch way up and out of the zone, and he was able to drop it in to add a much-needed insurance run.
Those two knocks ended up being the difference in the nail-biting 4-2 victory.
“I said to Kai Correa right away, it’s really good to see,” Mendoza said. “That’s a pitch that he struggled with early on, and he just continues to get better, he continues to find a way -- those weren’t easy at-bats there, the two of them.
“The thing I like about him is you can’t tell if he’s 0-for-8 the past couple of days or he’s coming off a game like this -- he’s going to show up and be the same person and just give you his best, it’s impressive for a player his age.”
Even with the rough stretch, Benge is now hitting .302 with six XBH’s, 14 RBI, and a .753 OPS in May.
Continue reading...
The youngster shaved off his mustache, and the new-look actually worked.
Benge came through for the Mets in a big way, coming through with a pair of clutch run-scoring knocks late in the game to help them end their five-game losing skid.
“It’s always nice to get a win,” he said. “You always want to go out and win.”
The 23-year-old lost the lefty-lefty matchup with Andrew Abbott each of his first two times up, but he was sure to make the Reds pay for a two-out error in the bottom of the fifth.
Benge battled back from down 0-2 in the count, working things full before pulling his hands in and dumping an up-and-in fastball to shallow center for the massive knock.
“You just fight,” he said. “Fight for every pitch to not give him anything there.”
“He continues to work and grind out at-bats,” Carlos Mendoza added. “Those were some really good takes trying to stay in the fight and not trying to do too much in that spot.”
The rookie slugger kept that same approach his next time up, two innings later.
Facing a righty with a man on third and two outs, Benge again fought off a tough pitch way up and out of the zone, and he was able to drop it in to add a much-needed insurance run.
Those two knocks ended up being the difference in the nail-biting 4-2 victory.
“I said to Kai Correa right away, it’s really good to see,” Mendoza said. “That’s a pitch that he struggled with early on, and he just continues to get better, he continues to find a way -- those weren’t easy at-bats there, the two of them.
“The thing I like about him is you can’t tell if he’s 0-for-8 the past couple of days or he’s coming off a game like this -- he’s going to show up and be the same person and just give you his best, it’s impressive for a player his age.”
Even with the rough stretch, Benge is now hitting .302 with six XBH’s, 14 RBI, and a .753 OPS in May.
Continue reading...
