NY Mets: Carson Benge, first-round pick, talks about his trip to New York
Mets first-round pick Carson Benge talked about his first batting practice at Citi Field and his time in New York City.
Outside the batting cage, Carlos Mendoza took Luis Severino aside before the ninth inning on Saturday afternoon and assessed whether the experienced right-hander could last another round.
Despite a pitch count of 94, the Mets manager relied on his long-standing relationship with the starter, which goes back more than a decade with the Yankees, to gauge his availability for the final inning.
The look in Severino’s eyes told Mendoza everything he needed to know.
“I wanted to make sure he was not only saying it, but he was honest with me, and he was,” Mendoza told reporters. “I said, OK, I’m going to be pretty aggressive here, so just give me everything you’ve got.”
Severino rose to the occasion, throwing a complete shutout that led the Mets to a 4-0 victory over the Marlins on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. The win helped the Mets to their second straight victory and improved their record to 64-59.
The veteran right-hander needed 113 pitches to go the full distance, striking out eight players and allowing four hits, a walk and a hit batter. It was Severino’s second complete game of his career and the Mets’ first complete shutout since 2021.
“It feels incredible. As soon as I came out for the eighth round, I thought I had done it,” said Severino. “Carlos gave me the confidence to go out and compete again. I feel really good. I feel healthy. I haven’t felt like this in a long time. So when you feel healthy, it’s better to compete.”
On the first pitch of the ninth inning, Severino hit Jake Burger, causing Mendoza to come out of the dugout and be booed by the Mets fans. But the Mets manager kept the starter in the game and he made three straight outs, striking out Derek Hill for the game’s final out.
“He said, ‘Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me,'” Pete Alonso said of the visit to the mound. “And he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ He had that dogged attitude the whole time and he wanted it and he made it happen. I mean, it was just absolutely phenomenal.”
Severino’s only other complete game shutout came on May 2, 2018 against the Astros, when he had ten strikeouts and allowed five hits and one walk in a 4-0 win.
With the win, Severino improved to 8-6 and lowered his ERA to 3.91 and his WHIP to 1.22 with 117 strikeouts in 142⅔ innings. The latest gem eased concerns about Severino, who has thrown his most innings since 2018 after an injury-plagued stretch. His velocity dipped during a loss to the Twins on July 31, but has since returned.
Severino continued to be at his best since that season, finishing 19-8 with a 3.39 ERA and 220 strikeouts in 191⅓ innings. Along the way, he was named an All-Star for the second time and finished ninth in the American League Cy Young voting.
“I’m proud of him because it hasn’t been easy, especially in the last few years, not only because of the injuries, but also last year, the year he had,” Mendoza said. “For him to come here and spend the offseason working on his body and getting to know himself, and for him to be willing to learn the technique and the movements of his body and things like that, you have to give him credit for that.”
The Mets got solo home runs from Alonso and Francisco Lindor that spurred the team to victory.
