Benge The Knee

New York Metropolitan fans, bend thy knee and pledge your undying fealty to the almighty Carson Benge, after his 5 for 5 showing on the Lord’s Day led the blue and orange to a 7-3 victory over the Padres of San Diego.  The 23-year old rookie began his day with three consecutive singles before hitting his seventh HR of the season in the sixth inning off lefty reliever Yuki Matsui. Benge finished his immaculate day with an RBI triple in the eighth as New York finished off the series win in San Diego.

Benge has settled into the leadoff role for the Mets nicely and has really turned it up over his last seven games, hitting .345/.387/.828 with four home runs. After producing just a 52 wRC+ in March and April, Benge has performed at a well above-average level with a 133 wRC+ in May and a whopping 229 wRC+ so far in June. The rookie has produced when the Mets offense has needed it most and his 42.7 launch angle sweet-spot % is in the 96th percentile of the MLB. Add in ten stolen bases and Benge has proven to be exactly what New York was hoping for when they took the chance on putting him in the Opening Day lineup.

 

Let’s see how the other hitters did on Sunday:

 

Brandon Marsh (PHI): 2-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB.

When the 2026 Midsummer Classic is played in Philadelphia in a little over a month, Brandon Marsh should be there in his home stadium making his first All-Star appearance. After going two for four with his eighth HR of the season in Sunday’s 9-5 win over the White Sox, the 28-year old outfielder now has a hit in every game in June and multiple hits in four of those six games. He is now hitting .338/.368/.521 with career-bests in a 145 wRC+ and 22.8 K%.

 

Kevin McGonigle (DET): 2-3, HR, R, 3 RBI, BB.

Kevin McGonigle cemented his status as AL Rookie of the Year leader on Sunday, hitting his fourth HR of the season 420 feet off Luis Castillo in the fourth inning and smacking his first walk-off base hit of his early MLB career in the ninth, a two-run single off Seattle closer Andrés Muñoz. Arguably the top prospect in the American League coming into the season, McGonigle is now hitting .291/.394/.426 with more walks than strikeouts. The 21-year old is already one of the toughest outs in the game just 63 games into his Major League career.

 

Nick Kurtz (ATH): 1-5, HR, R, 2 RBI, SB.

The Athletics didn’t need much out of their offense with Gage Jump on the mound Sunday and Nick Kurtz’s two-run HR in the third inning proved to be the game-winning hit in the 5-0 victory in Houston. The blast was Kurtz’s 12th of the season and he also stole his seventh base, which is already easily the most he’s had in a season at any level, even dating back to his college career at Wake Forest.

 

Brent Rooker (ATH): 2-3, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI, BB.

Brent Rooker joined in on the fun in Houston, hitting his tenth HR of the season off starter Mike Burrows in the fifth inning of Sunday’s ballgame. Rooker provided an RBI double earlier in the game as well and is heating up after a slow start to 2026, hitting .320/.346/.760 with three long balls in his last seven games.

 

Matt McLain (CIN): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.

The Reds are hoping desperately that Matt McLain can regain his 2023 form, when he hit .290/.357/.507 with 16 HRs and 14 stolen bases as a rookie. Sunday’s performance was reminiscent of those days as the 26-year old hit his seventh and eighth HRs of the season, but Cincinnati still fell to the Cardinals 5-3. Despite the multi-homer game, McLain is still hitting just .206/.303/.368. However, with Elly De La Cruz on the shelf for a while, McLain will have plenty of opportunities in the Reds lineup. Although he has struggled much of 2026, McLain is walking more and striking out less than any point in his career and his .243 BABIP leads me to believe that he might be in for uptick in production.

 

Ezequiel Duran (TEX): 4-5, 2B, R, 3 RBI.

Ezequiel Duran has been tremendous for the Rangers this season as they tried to navigate several injuries and he continued his strong campaign Sunday with four hits and three RBI in the 10-0 shutout win over Cleveland. The 27-year old is hitting .293/.347/.457 in 184 at-bats this season and his four HRs are the most he’s had since he hit 14 in 2023. Duran has certainly earned regular playing time in the Texas lineup even with the return of Corey Seager and Wyatt Langford.

 

Josh Jung (TEX): 2-4, HR, 3 R, RBI, BB.

In addition to Duran, Josh Jung’s bounce back 2026 season has been huge for Texas’ offense. The 28-year old hit his eighth HR of the season in Sunday’s win and his 141 wRC+ is second among all qualified MLB third baseman. Jung is squaring the ball up on 33% of his swings (90th percentile), his 7.1 BB% is a career-best and his 15.0 K% is a good ten percentage points lower than his previous career-high.

 

Garrett Mitchell (MIL): 3-5, 3B, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI.

The Brewers continue to Brewer and Garrett Mitchell had three of the team’s 17 hits in their 12-4 win over Colorado. Buoyed by Coors Field’s thin air and vast outfield, all three of Mitchell’s hits went for extra bases and his 17 extra-base hits are good for third most on Milwaukee.

 

Jo Adell (LAA): 4-5, HR, 4 R, 2 RBI.

The Angels offense took it to Emmett Sheehan and the Dodgers bullpen and Jo Adell helped lead the way with four hits and four runs, including his tenth HR of the season, in the 13-5 win. Adell used his 98th percentile bat speed to mash a 112 mph, 433-foot, two-run missile that helped stretch the Angels lead to 8-5 in the seventh inning.

 

Sebastián Rivero (LAA): 5-5, 2B, R, 6 RBI.

Carson Benge wasn’t the only hitter to go five for five on Sunday as Angels backup catcher Sebastián Rivero sprayed four singles and a double in the victory of the Dodgers. It was certainly a career day for the 27-year old Rivero, who only has 161 plate appearances at the MLB level in four seasons since 2021 and had never recorded a batting average higher than .182 prior to this season.

 

Dalton Rushing (LAD): 4-4, HR, 2B, R, 3 RBI.

While he didn’t get a chance to match Benge and Rivero, Dalton Rushing had an excellent day of his own, going four for four with his eighth HR of the season. The 25-year old has been terrific in his limited playing time for Los Angeles, hitting .287/.36/.564 with a 159 wRC+ that is just one point behind Shohei Ohtani for the team lead. With Will Smith dealing with some neck stiffness, Rushing could be in for additional run in the lineup over the coming days.