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Carson Benge didn't get off to a great start for the Mets in his first taste of the majors, but the rookie has slowly but surely begun his ascension and came through with a solo home run that sparked New York's offense in an eventual 4-2 win against the Colorado Rockies.

Over his last 11 games, Benge is 10-for-33 and his batting average has climbed to .192 on the season. While still not great, the rookie hasn't let a rough start to his career get the best of him and has continued to work and stay the course, trusting that the process and his talent will eventually win out.

"I’d say there were definitely a little growing pains in there and I’m sure there’s still a few many to come," Benge said after the game. "But just being able to step in there with my same level of confidence I’ve always had is definitely a big thing."

Benge's steady approach when things weren't going his (or the Mets) way is a testament to his maturity. And still just 23 years old, it's something that has impressed manager Carlos Mendoza since day one.

"I’ve been impressed with how he’s handled the whole situation, how steady he’s been, how professional, how mature he’s been," Mendoza said. "And those are some really good signs from a young player, especially getting a taste at the big league level for the first time."

Making the Opening Day roster after a spectacular spring training and tasked with playing right field, Benge had a lot on his plate served to him from the jump. However, on a team full of veterans he had the luxury of being able to go at his own pace and not put too much pressure on himself as he found his footing.

But with injuries to many of those veterans that New York was leaning on, suddenly the Mets needed Benge, and others, to come to the forefront. 

For example, when Juan Soto went down earlier this season (and even when he returned), Benge had to move over to left field and handled it with ease. Now with Luis Robert Jr. sidelined with an injury, Benge has also played some center field, including on Monday where he made another nice catch following his pulchritudinous play in right field on Sunday.

There's no doubt Benge's defense has been solid all season, which is definitely important, but for him to stick in the majors and live up to his top-prospect hype his offense would have to follow suit. And lately, it has.

"It’s a good sign," Mendoza said about Benge's improved offense. "And it’s good not only for the team, but good for him to start playing with some confidence."

If Benge can continue his development at the plate, one that includes patience which has led to three walks in his last two games after he walked just five times in April, it helps a Mets offense that has endured a team-wide slump for much of the season.

But even during his and the team's slump, Benge stayed positive through it all and his teammates had his back every step of the way.

"I feel like all the guys here, they had my back and they all believe in me so why can’t I believe in myself?" he said.

Blue Jays 1 Rays 5

That was a very frustrating game. The Jays had ten hits, but just one extra base hit, a double by Yohendrick Piñango. It is hard to have 10 hits and only get one run. You really have to work at it.

And, the Rays scored three in the first. Eric Lauer showed us how much he hated the idea of the opener by showing why we should have an opener for his starts. The first three batters went single, walk, home run. And, really, the Rays could have stopped there.

After that Lauer was ok. He was still giving up hard hit balls, but they found gloves. He went 54.1, with 5 hits, 3 earned, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.

Spencer Miles finished off the fifth very nicely. But in the sixth, he went ground out, single, strikeout, single, single. He came out of the game for

Mason Fluharty, who gave up a two run single and that was pretty much the game.

Tommy Nance and Joe Mantiply pitched a scoreless inning each.

On offense…there were a lot of singles. Nine singles and the one double. Piñango had three hits. No one else had more than one. Daulton Varsho had the 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Vlad had the only RBI driving home Piñango (who is hitting .500 at the moment, I don’t know how you send him down when Nathan Lukes or Addison Barger come back from the IL).

Ten hits, but one for eight with RISP.

I always hate excuses for not hitting with RISP but I suppose they could be pressing. But these guys went to the World Series last year, they should know how to drive in a run, now and then.

Defensively, they were fine, other than Ernie Clement who had a tough time. I thought he made two errors, but I see the Official Scorer disagrees. I tell you, make me official scorer and I’ll have fielding averages back to where they were in the 1930s. I know it is an old man rant, but when a guy throws wide of first by 10 feet from 30 feet away, THAT’S AN ERROR. And when the same guy goes 15 feet to his left to get a ball and then has it go off his glove, THAT’S AN ERROR. Call them errors.

The Jays are now 16-19. Last year, after 35 games, they were 16-19. So all is not lost. But ‘all’ might be behind the couch, and maybe they better look their soon.

No Jay of the Day today. Vlad had the high mark with a .03 WPA. Let’s give honorable mention to Piñango for the three hits and the only extra base hit.

Other Award: Lauer (-.12, sorry Eric, you are going to see an opener next time around), Varsho (-.09 for his 0 for 4, 3 k), Gimenez (-.08, 0 for 4), Clement (-0.7, plus the two errors), and Fluharty (-.08).

Cinco de Mayo tomorrow. We have Kevin Gausman (2-2, 3.10) vs. Drew Rasmussen (2-1, 2.64). Another 6:40 start time. They need time to all their fans into the park.

Names are a funny thing. Today’s Phillies starter has a name that accurately describes him: Aaron Nola is from Louisiana, where one can find New Orleans, or NOLA (he’s from Baton Rouge, but I have a good time with these puns, so I’m gonna laissez les bons temps rouler). Today’s Marlins starter has a name, that, unfortunately for the Phillies, did not describe him accurately: the quality of Janson Junk’s offerings was quite high today. Also, he’s not a junkballer, which seems like a tremendous missed opportunity.

The Phillies put Bryce Harper aboard against Junk via two-out double in the first, though couldn’t plate him. Similarly, the Marlins put one aboard against Nola, with the other three batters making outs.

The Phillies made a bit of progress in the second, putting two aboard, as Brandon Marsh smacked a single to right, and Alec Bohm reached on a bobbled ball error from Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez. But the end result was the same as their first frame, as they scored no runs. The inning ended when Justin Crawford fought Junk across nine pitches, ultimately grounding out to second.

The pattern was clear, and it was beautiful: one runner in the first, two runners in the second. If it held, the Phillies would get three in the third, then the Phillies would get their fourth baserunner, and their first run, in the fourth. It was elegant and symmetrical, and just-so, and Bryce Harper ruined it by hitting a solo homer to right in the third. Extremely inconsiderate of him.

More considerate was Nola, who provided a steady hand for the visitors. He allowed some scattered baserunners through four, but allowing none to advance past first. He was aided in this by Garrett Stubbs, who put out two Fish trying to steal second.

But the Phillies produced a lot of junk against Junk, and as the sixth dawned, they had still just the one run to their name. Junk, after a start that very much did not live up (down?) to his name, took his leave after inducing an out from Harper and surrendering a single to Adolis García. He was replaced with a hurler who had a significantly more noble-sounding name: John King. King, by royal decree, exiled the remaining Phillies back to their dugout.

Nola kept the Fish flailing through the sixth, with the home club still unable to reach third base. But the Phillies did some phlailing of their own, finishing four consecutive innings without getting a baserunner past first. Nola’s day ended after six (5 H, 5 K, 0 BB, 0 ER), and Tanner Banks came on. Would he live up to his name, by being cash money?

He would. The inning got off to a bit of a rough start as Xavier Edwards made it to first when Trea Turner bobbled a ball. But Banks was unfazed, and tossed the next three Fish back into the sea. Speaking of bodies of water, the next Marlin on the mound was Lake Bachar. Would he live up to his name, by drowning the Phillies?

He would. Harper broke his bat as he bounced a ball into center for a single, but Bachar battled back, putting Harper’s compatriots away and stranding everyone’s favorite fan of the Phanatic on first. The Phillies, still clinging to a 1-0 lead, put José Alvarado on the mound to keep the Marlins on the hook in the eighth. Like Banks and Nola before him, he proved unsolvable for Miami. We thus entered the ninth in a holding pattern. And it held, at least for the Phillies, who went down in order.

Brad Keller was tasked with sending the Marlins home without a run to hang their caps on. He allowed a leadoff single to Kyle Stowers (immediately replaced with Javier Sanoja as a pinch runner), then induced a classic double play ball to put the Marlins on the brink. Edwards came to the plate in the thrilling, chilling position of being both the potential tying run and the potential final out.

He was neither. He singled to right, then saw the game end as Liam Hicks broke his bat on a little chopper to Stott. Thus, we saw exactly what we hoped to see. Namely, a Phillies win.

The Phillies are 15-20. They return home to start a three-game set against their old neighbors, the Athletics, tomorrow at 6:40.

The Mariners, fresh off a brutal sweep at the hands of the Royals, now have to face one of the best teams in baseball, the Atlanta Braves. Read more about what’s coming in the series preview.

To make matters worse, the Mariners are getting steadily more injured without much help on the immediate horizon. Brendan Donovan will start a rehab assignment with Arkansas tomorrow, but he won’t be back for this series; Victor Robles is currently on a rehab assignment in Tacoma but similarly won’t be with the club until next series at the earliest. Cal Raleigh remains out with his mysterious side injury, with no indication from the club about the severity of the injury. The bullpen took another hit today with the news that Gabe Speier is headed to the IL with shoulder inflammation; Matt Brash remains out with his lat issue. The injury bug saw his shadow and that means six more weeks of winter, in which winter is “Leo Rivas, everyday third baseman” and “Mitch Garver, everyday catcher” and “recruiting bullpen help from local travel teams.” It’s rough out here, folks.

Lineups:

This picture is doing everything it can to spark joy.

Local kid JR Ritchie, who grew up on Bainbridge Island, gets the start tonight for the Braves, so don’t be too surprised if you hear a lot of cheering when he strikes a Mariner out – apparently he’s going to have quite a support squad in the building.

Injury updates:

Unfortunately these are all bad, for the Mariners. LHP Gabe Speier is headed to the IL with shoulder inflammation. Read more here.

Atlanta, conversely, is getting healthier. They welcome back their catcher Sean Murphy today; catcher and old AL West foe Jonah Heim was DFA’d in a corresponding move, which unfortunately means there’s a chance he could be a Texas Ranger again. The Braves are still fairly beat up, though; Michael Harris II isn’t in tonight’s lineup as he battles a quad injury, and Ronald Acuña Jr. will miss this entire series with a hamstring injury.

Tonight’s game information:

Game time: 6:40 PT

TV: Mariners TV, with Aaron Goldsmith and Dave Valle, with Angie Mentink as the field analyst

Radio: Seattle Sports 710 AM, with Rick Rizzs and Aaron Goldsmith

The San Francisco Giants begin a three-game home series against the San Diego Padres tonight from Oracle Park.

Game #35

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 6:45 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

Michael Kay honored the late John Sterling on Monday night by replicating his well-known home run call for Aaron Judge in the bottom of the first inning. 

Sterling, the longtime Yankees broadcaster, died Monday at 87 years old.

Kay paid homage to his friend and former broadcast partner — having called games on the radio with Sterling from 1992-2001 on 770 AM WABC — when Judge hit a two-run blast to right center field to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead over the Orioles. 

“It is high! It is far! It is gone!” Kay belted, using the same home run call that Sterling made famous while calling Yankee games. “Aaron Judge! A Judgian blast! Here comes the Judge!”

"It is high! It is far! It is GONE! Aaron Judge! A Judgian blast! Here comes the Judge!"

Michael Kay with the John Sterling tribute call on an Aaron Judge home run in the first inning. #MLBpic.twitter.com/wzf4MVthCM

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 4, 2026

All were phrases that Sterling used to call an Aaron Judge home run. 

Sterling was synonymous with Yankee baseball, calling games on the radio for 36 years. 

His death led to tributes from across the baseball world, and Kay became emotional during his radio show on ESPN New York earlier Monday in recalling Sterling’s reasoning for making such a big push to walk again. 

Kay said that Sterling had been bedridden and lost the ability to walk after open-heart surgery following “so many heart attacks that it would’ve killed most people.”

The Yankees TV voice said that Sterling had been “really pushing” his rehab in order to walk his oldest daughter down the aisle when she gets married over the summer. 

“’Michael, I have to walk her down the aisle’,” Kay recalled him saying to him, having to pause as he became emotional. “And that’s why he was hanging on. But he had trouble about a week ago, heart failure, and he finally succumbed today. But he’ll be walking her down as he looks down on his family.

“The one thing he wanted to do, he was unable to make it.”

Sterling’s presence was felt around Yankee Stadium quite a bit on Monday as the Yankees battled the Orioles. 

The players wore hats with “JS” written on the back of them, and prior to the game, a moment of silence was held as Kay and Suzyn Waldman — Sterling’s broadcast partner — laid flowers at home plate.

Prior to the game, Judge told reporters that “fans all around the country are going to remember his voice” when he was asked about Sterling.

“I’m just going to remember he brought that New York theatre to the ballpark is the best way to describe it,” Judge said.

The last time the White Sox saw the Angels was just last week, and it ended with a White Sox sweep at home. This time, the Good Guys are coming off a series win against the Padres during this latest West Coast road trip, and seeing the somehow even worse-for-wear Angels for the second and last time this season.

A quick update: Randal Grichuk has agreed to a one-year, $1.25 million contract with the White Sox. I will leave a screenshot of a viral post from April 17, 2019, for no particular reason.

In other news, Austin Hays has landed back on the injured list (retroactive to May 2) with a left calf strain, and Tanner Murray (shoulder surgery) has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Now onto tonight’s late-night lineup. Davis Martin is on the mound tonight for the visitors. Martin has been electric, with a record of 4-1, 33 strikeouts, and a stellar ERA of just 1.95 over 37 innings. Sam Antonacci leads off, and Drew Romo is behind the plate.

José Soriano will be on the mound for the home team. Soriano was just named American League Pitcher of the Month, and is the third pitcher all-time to finish April with 5+ wins, 49+ strikeouts, and an ERA of less than 1.00, joining Randy Johnson (2000 Diamondbacks) and Jered Weaver (2011 Angels).

We’ll hopefully be in for a good duel tonight.

Tonight’s matchup starts at 8:38 p.m. CT. You can watch on CHSN or listen on ESPN Chicago 1000.

The Atlanta Braves just can’t loose a series, and they intend to keep it that way.

The Seattle Mariners are sitting third in their division and hoping to turn their season around before the halfway mark, starting by taking down the MLB record-leading Braves.

Tonight’s showdown will feature JR Ritchie kicking off near his hometown. Let’s see if he and the offense can give the Mariners a commanding start to make his statement back.

First pitch is set for 9:40 p.m. EDT

Preview

Lineup

Anthony Volpe will likely be starting at shortstop Tuesday, when he plays his first non-rehab-assignment minor league game in more than three years.

But as he begins a stint with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with an uncertain end date after being optioned there Sunday night at the end of his rehab assignment, it bears watching if and when the Yankees will have him start to work at other positions to give him a better chance to eventually return to The Bronx.

“We’ll see,” manager Aaron Boone said Monday before the series finale against the Orioles. “Right now, he’s going to play shortstop. If we have those conversations as the days unfold, we’ll have those. But not right now.”

That left the door slightly more open than Boone had Sunday before the Yankees announced the decision to send Volpe to Triple-A, with José Caballero having done enough over the first 34 games to take over the starting shortstop job for the time being.

And while a downturn from Caballero could create an opening for Volpe to come back up, after he started 455 games at shortstop out of the Yankees’ 486 games from 2023-25, the complicating factor is that top prospect George Lombard Jr. is now at Triple-A after a promotion from Double-A.

Lombard, also a natural shortstop, has been sprinkling in some third base and (last year) second base, but it is hard to believe he will stop playing shortstop altogether. And when he does, where will that leave Volpe?

“George, like he’s done a lot, will bounce around,” Boone said. “We’ll keep revisiting this as we move through it. But George has already had a lot of experience playing third, second, short, all very well. It won’t be anything too different for George.”

Aaron Judge, who spoke to Volpe by phone for 30-40 minutes Sunday night, said the shortstop being optioned was “tough” and a “surprise,” but also acknowledged that Caballero playing well made it “kind of tough to move things around.” The captain hinted that Volpe becoming more versatile could work in his favor.

“I know he’s going to be more motivated than ever to come back here,” Judge said. “Anthony’s a big piece of what we’re doing here moving forward.

“I’m excited to see him come back here, if there’s a way to find — if it’s even him as a utility guy, anything, just to get himself back up here.”

Boone, who also spoke with Volpe on Sunday night, said the 25-year-old took the news “like a pro.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

“I’m sure he’s not thrilled about it and doesn’t necessarily love that idea, because he’s obviously worked really hard to go through this [rehab from shoulder surgery],” Boone said. “Going into this, we expected him to be, once his rehab was up, to be here and playing. So that’s obviously changed over the last few weeks. But I think there’s part of him that gets it too. Anthony’s a pro and I have no doubt he’ll handle it in the best way possible.”

Boone, who has been one of Volpe’s biggest supporters throughout his big league career, insisted that the decision to option him does not change how the organization feels about him now or in the future.

“But in this moment of time, we felt like this was absolutely the right thing to do,” Boone said. “Hopefully this gives him even some more time to accumulate those everyday reps and things like that and we’ll keep evaluating.”

Ben Rice was out of the lineup Monday after leaving Sunday’s game with a left hand contusion.

The first baseman was “still sore,” Boone said, and felt like he could not get his best swing off. But the Yankees were hoping to get him back in the lineup in the coming days.