Mets’ Carson Benge hits ‘Little League home run’ after 3 wild errors to open game vs. Royals

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The Kansas City Royals handed Carson Benge a “Little League home run” on Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field after several bad errors. 

It was a brutal start to the game for the team that, just 24 hours prior, scored a run in every single inning in historic fashion during a blowout win.

Benge, in the opening inning of the New York Mets’ matchup with the Royals, hit a short ground ball back to Kansas City starter Seth Lugo. It wasn’t completely straightforward, but should have been easy enough for Lugo to handle. But instead, Lugo sent the ball flying well past first base — which allowed Benge to keep moving. 

Then, to make matters worse, Jac Caglianone absolutely sailed his attempted throw over to third after recovering the ball. One more error, a throw well past home plate, allowed Benge to make it safely in. Just like that, the Mets were up 3-0 after his “home run.” 

Benge entered Tuesday’s contest with a .258 batting average with 11 home runs and 35 RBI. The 23-year-old, a first-round draft pick in 2024, was brought up to start for the Mets in right field for Opening Day.

The Royals rolled to a dominant 15-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, and scored a run in every single inning they had an at-bat. That made them the first team in the league to pull that feat off since the Chicago White Sox did so back in 2016. 

But despite that offensive explosion, Tuesday’s blip showed that the Royals clearly still have some work to do. They entered the series with the Mets having lost eight of 11 games with a 37-54 record, which has them in last in the AL Central race. 

This post will be updated with more information shortly.