Dave VW
June 3, 2024
On a cold and rainy day at Shea, the Mets' bats and bullpen stayed hot to force another first-place tie in the NL East with the Braves.
Kenny Rogers, making his 5th start for New York, didn't have it and was removed after 3 ineffective innings due to "back spasms." However, he'd be fine and would actually make his next start on short rest. After his removal, the combination of Pat Mahomes, Turk Wendell and Armando Benitez fired 6 shutout innings, only allowing 1 hit while striking out 11. Pure dominance.
Mike Piazza had staked Rogers to a 3-2 lead in the 1st inning with a 3-run homer, his 6th longball in his last 7 games. Shawon Dunston tied the score at 4-4 in the 3rd on an RBI groundout, and Rickey Henderson (who reached base in all 5 of his plate appearances), plated the go-ahead run with a timely 2-out RBI single in the 6th. The Mets tacked on 2 more in the 7th for insurance.
Rey Ordonez made one of his more spectacular plays of the season in the 1st inning. With 2 runs already in and runners on 1st and 2nd, Craig Paquette hit one up the middle destined for center field, but Ordonez dove, gloved the ball and scooped it to Edgardo Alfonzo, who then relayed to 1st for an inning-ending double play.
Benitez struck out the side in the 9th to get the save, and in doing so reached 100 strikeouts for the season. He became just the third to tally 100 Ks while pitching exclusively in relief in Mets history, following Skip Lockwood in 1976 and Jeff Reardon in 1980. Benitez is the only pitcher (as of 2024) to do it twice, however. Since, Seth Lugo (2019) and Edwin Diaz (2022) have also joined the club.
For the Cardinals, Adam Kennedy made his Major League debut starting at 2B and went 0-for-4. This was also Kent Mercker's last appearance for St. Louis, as he'd be traded a few days later to the Red Sox.
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