Carson Benge homers in big league debut to help Mets pound Pirates in opener

NEW YORK (AP) — In his fourth major league plate appearance, Carson Benge connected.

And when he saw the ball sail over the right-field fence, the 23-year-old New York Mets rookie couldn't help but shout and jump for joy as he rounded first base.

“I kind of blacked out running around the bases. I don't really remember too much," Benge said. “I know I got it good off the bat.”

Benge homered in his big league debut for his first career hit and was one of several Mets newcomers who played pivotal roles as New York pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-7 in its season opener.

After winning the right-field job at the end of spring training, Benge also walked twice and stole a base Thursday. He said he had 22 family members and friends in the sellout crowd of 41,449 at Citi Field, including his parents and girlfriend.

“Definitely anxious to get out there, ready to start playing,” Benge said, describing his emotions before the game. “Definitely everything I thought it was going to be.”

Benge is rated the organization's second-best prospect and No. 16 in baseball by MLB Pipeline. He was selected 19th overall by New York in the 2024 amateur draft from Oklahoma State, where he and Mets pitcher Nolan McLean were both two-way players.

“Who he is is super consistent,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Benge. “I’m not surprised by it because of the personality there. Opening day, first big league game for him, packed house and he just goes out there and plays his game.”

His first time up, Benge struck out swinging on three pitches from reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes — all fastballs clocked 96-98 mph.

“Just calm down,” Benge said he told himself. “Just like, deep breath, calm down. Great atmosphere, great fans, just trying to bring myself back down so I can compete.”

Benge whiffed again in the third inning, but then walked and scored in the fifth. With one out in the sixth, he took a rip at the first pitch he saw from reliever Justin Lawrence and drove an 82 mph sweeper to right, joining Kaz Matsui in April 2004 at Atlanta as the only Mets players to homer in their major league debut on opening day.

“It was awesome,” teammate Bo Bichette said. “He let it out rounding first, too.”

After circling the bases, Benge high-fived teammates and popped out of the dugout for a curtain call.

“I kind of saw everyone just like standing, and I just didn't know what to do,” he said. “So, it worked out.”

Benge was later presented with the souvenir ball and said he'll give it to his parents so it doesn't get lost.

Francisco Alvarez followed with a long shot that reached the second deck in left, giving New York back-to-back homers from the bottom two batters in the order.

“It was amazing. The crowd was the loudest I’ve ever heard, times five. So being able to hear that was pretty sick,” Benge said.

He wasn't the only Mets newbie who made a significant contribution, either.

Freddy Peralta, a two-time All-Star acquired from Milwaukee in January, won his New York debut on the mound with seven strikeouts and no walks in five innings.

Tobias Myers, obtained from the Brewers in the same trade, followed with three innings of one-run ball.

Bichette lofted an early sacrifice fly as the Mets chased Skenes in the first inning and later grinded through a 13-pitch at-bat before finally striking out. Luis Robert Jr. provided a pair of RBI singles, Jorge Polanco reached base safely three times and Marcus Semien had two hits.

It wasn't always smooth, but Bichette at third base and Polanco at first made all their plays at new positions as New York played errorless ball and didn't issue any walks.

“It's awesome. I mean, everybody's trying to get their feet wet,” Bichette said. "It was really cool. It's an exciting team. We have the potential to win a lot of games, and we'll just try to build off this and learn each other, build camaraderie, all that kind of stuff."

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New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) celebrates scoring a home run during the sixth inning of his debut MLB game, an opening-day baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) celebrates scoring a home run during the sixth inning of his debut MLB game, an opening-day baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) celebrates after hitting a home run in the sixth inning of an opening-day baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Mets center fielder Carson Benge (3) bats at his debut MLB game during the fifth inning of an opening-day baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) celebrates after hitting a home run in the sixth inning of an opening-day baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

A novel by Nobel laureate Han Kang, Karen Hao's examination of artificial intelligence and OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) and a memoir by the author Arundhati Roy were among the winners Thursday of the annual National Book Critics Circle awards.

Han's "We Do Not Part,” translated by e.yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, addresses a 1948-1949 uprising on Jeju, an island south of the Korean mainland, in which thousands of people were killed.

Heather Scott Partington, who chaired the awards' fiction committee, described the novel as “a work of blinding melancholy, bleak weather, and murmuring syntax” and said it "lingers like an atmospheric and arresting dream.”

The lifetime achievement award went to author and journalist Frances FitzGerald, whose 1972 "Fire in the Lake” was an early and prescient take on the Vietnam War.

NPR and PBS were presented with the achievement award honoring institutions that have made significant contributions to book culture.

"At a time when some question the value of public, service-minded media, we salute PBS and NPR for all you have done for both book culture and American democracy,” said Jacob M. Appel, who chaired the selection process for the award.

Winners of other categories:

— Hao's “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI” won for nonfiction.

— Roy's “Mother Mary Comes to Me” won for autobiography.

— Alex Green's “A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled” won for biography.

— Kevin Young's “Night Watch” won for poetry.

— “Sad Tiger” by Neige Sinno and translated by Natasha Lehrer won the translation prize honoring both the author and translator.

The National Book Critics Circle was founded in New York in 1974 and consists of more than 850 critics and editors. Its annual awards honor the best books published in the past year in the United States.

FILE - Author Frances FitzGerald attends the 68th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street Nov. 15, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Writer and activist Arundhati Roy participates in a protest at the press club of India in New Delhi, India, Oct. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

FILE - Nobel laureate in literature Han Kang speaks during the Nobel Banquet in City Hall in Stockholm, Dec. 10, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP, File)WLD