Mets 10, Phillies 3: Benge's 156th Hit Breaks the Rookie Record

A check-swing bouncer, a video board, and a 10-3

September 19, 2026 - Flushing - Carson Benge broke the Mets' rookie hits record on a check-swing grounder up the third-base line. The Citi Field board put 156 on the screen. He took his helmet off. The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-3, and the hit that passed Pete Alonso was the ugly one, not the homer.

Cloudy. 68 degrees. Wind 6 mph in from right. First pitch 4:10 p.m. Attendance 37,468. The game lasted 3 hours, 1 minute. New York had 11 hits. Philadelphia had nine and still left 10 men on.

"It's special," Benge said, per the MLB recap. "It's special to see the guys that have come through here, all the greats and the types of players that have come through here and been rookies here. So being able to hold that is pretty special."

Painter had a 3-1 lead. Alvarez took it in one swing.

Benge hit his 19th in the second, a 370-foot fly to right off Andrew Painter. 1-0. Philadelphia answered the way a club still playing for October is supposed to answer. Bryce Harper scored on Alec Bohm's single in the fourth. 1-1. Kyle Schwarber scored on Harper's sacrifice fly in the fifth. Trea Turner scored on Bohm's next single. 3-1.

That was the Phillies' night on offense. Bohm finished 2-for-3 with two RBI. Turner went 2-for-3 with two walks and a steal. Harper doubled. Schwarber doubled. The middle of the order reached and still could not add a fourth run.

Francisco Alvarez hit his 16th in the fifth, a fly to right-center, Marcus Semien and Brett Baty scoring with him. 4-3. Painter's lead was gone in one pitch. Baty singled Benge home in the sixth. Ronny Mauricio walked A.J. Ewing in. 6-3. The eighth finished it. Francisco Lindor walked Semien home. Juan Soto singled Baty home. Bo Bichette singled Nick Morabito home. Benge's 156th scored Lindor. 10-3.

"There's no clean way to get him out," interim manager Andy Green said, per the MLB recap.

Scott leaked three. The bullpen and the lineup covered him.

Christian Scott threw 4 2/3 innings. Six hits. Three runs. One walk. Seven strikeouts. Seventy-nine pitches. He had the 1-0 and then watched Philadelphia take 3-1 in the fifth. Jefry Yan threw 1 1/3 scoreless with three strikeouts and got the win. Cionel Pérez, Jonathan Pintaro, Dedniel Núñez, and Tobias Myers kept the last four innings at zero.

Painter (3-10) lasted 5 1/3. Four hits. Four earned. One walk. Seven strikeouts. Two homers. Eighty-five pitches. The homers were Benge's and Alvarez's. Orion Kerkering threw the eighth and allowed four earned on four hits and two walks. Brooks Raley did not record an out. That is how a 3-1 road lead becomes 10-3 at Citi Field.

Benge finished 3-for-4 with the homer, a walk, two runs, and two RBI. The MLB recap said he also walked in the sixth and singled for hit No. 155 in the seventh before the check-swing single in the eighth. Alvarez went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Baty went 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs, and an RBI. Semien walked twice and scored twice.

The MLB recap said Benge passed Alonso's 155-hit rookie mark from 2019, and that Ty Wigginton's 146 had stood for 16 seasons before Alonso. Elias, per that recap, put Benge with Corbin Carroll, Mike Trout, and Corey Seager as the only active players who hold a franchise rookie hits record. Nineteen homers, three triples, 19 doubles, 115 singles, 22 steals. The record hit was not one of the loud ones.

"He's just a baseball player, which is one of the best compliments you can give somebody," Green said, per the recap. "He hit the home run. You probably envision breaking the record with that home run early in the game. You break the record with a check-swing swinging bunt down the line. That's poetic."

A 10-3 that does not change October, and still filled the board

New York is 71-84. Benge, per the MLB recap: "Even though we're out of it, we've still got the best fans in the world. So being able to see that was pretty cool." Philadelphia is 85-70. The Atlanta Braves also won Saturday. The NL East math did not get kinder on the road.

Scott, per the MLB recap: "I feel like it's just really tough to get him to swing and miss multiple times in an at-bat. I feel like when he sees one pitch in an at-bat, he kind of learns from it."

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put New York at 20 team fantasy points, second on the slate. Benge had 11 hitting FP. Alvarez had 8. Philadelphia finished at minus-5.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*