Monday night at Citi Field turned into a defensive clinic before most fans had finished their first beer. The Mets' outfield gunned down 3 Padres runners at home plate within the first two innings against San Diego, and Barstool's baseball accounts noticed immediately.
A Padres runner slides in at home as the Mets catcher applies the tag, with the scoreboard showing the game still in the 2nd inning.
The carnage started in the first inning, when rookie right fielder Carson Benge threw out 2 Padres runners on back-to-back plays. Jake Cronenworth was cut down at the plate on a 99.9 mph laser after a Ty France single, and Manny Machado followed him to the dugout after a 103.9 mph throw on a Jackson Merrill hit — the third-hardest outfield assist recorded since Statcast started tracking arm strength in 2015. It made Benge the first player with two outfield assists at 99-plus mph in a single inning in the Statcast era.
That would've been a wild enough story on its own. Then fellow rookie A.J. Ewing topped it off in the top of the second, throwing out Xander Bogaerts on what looked like a would-be run-scoring single. No team had recorded 3 outfield assists at the plate that early in a game in more than a century of tracking, and the Mets pulled it off with two rookies still getting their feet wet in the majors.
A Padres outfielder's throw hangs in the air before the Mets catcher slaps the tag on a sliding runner for the out at home.
The arms weren't just highlight-reel filler — they were the ballgame. The Mets went on to beat the Padres 2-1 in the series opener, and every one of those assists killed a San Diego rally before it could put runs on the board. Benge and Ewing have been drawing buzz all season as part of New York's outfield of the future alongside Juan Soto, and Monday was the loudest proof yet that the hype has legs.
For a Mets team that's spent years hearing about its bullpen and its bats, a night defined by outfield cannons is a nice change of pace. If Benge and Ewing keep throwing runners out like this, opposing baserunners are going to think twice before testing Citi Field's outfield again.