NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie Carson Benge delivered his first big league walk-off hit, a 10th-inning single that atoned for a first-inning misplay and lifted the Mets past the Detroit Tigers 3-2 on Wednesday night after New York star Juan Soto left the game with an ankle injury.
New York trailed 2-0 in the first after Benge dropped Dillon Dingler's catchable fly ball near the right-field warning track, which fell for a double, and Riley Greene followed with a two-run single off Christian Scott.
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New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) hits a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) celebrates with New York Mets' Luis Torrens after hitting a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Mets' Carson Benge, center, is dunked with gatorade after hitting a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Mets' Carson Benge (3), right, celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Tyrone Taylor had an RBI grounder in the second off Framber Valdez, who made his first start since a five-game suspension for intentionally hitting Boston’s Trevor Story with a pitch. Bo Bichette tied the score with a bloop RBI single in the seventh against Kyle Finnegan.
Soto was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh, four innings after he fouled a pitch off his right foot. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said X-rays were negative and Soto was day to day.
Benge, who debuted on opening day, hit a sharp one-out single to center off Drew Anderson (1-1) easily scored automatic runner A.J. Ewing, who made his own debut Tuesday. Benge had been thrown own out at the plate by shortstop Zack Short on a delayed double steal for the final out of the seventh as catcher Dillon Dingler applied the tag.
Brooks Raley (1-1) walked Matt Vierling with two outs in the 10th before he retiring Wenceel Pérez on a flyout.
Scott gave two runs and struck out five in 4 2/3 innings. He is winless in 13 major league starts, tying Colorado's Jon Gray in 2015 and '16 for most consecutive starts without a win opening a big league career.
Valdez allowed two runs and struck out seven.
Tigers RHP Keider Montero (2-2, 3.18 ERA) opposes Mets RHP Nolan McLean (1-2, 2.78 ERA) on Thursday.
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New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) hits a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) celebrates with New York Mets' Luis Torrens after hitting a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Mets' Carson Benge, center, is dunked with gatorade after hitting a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Mets' Carson Benge (3) celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
New York Mets' Carson Benge (3), right, celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off RBI single during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
DUBLIN (AP) — European nations are seeking an envoy to represent them in talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine war, concerned that a U.S.-backed process will leave them sidelined and Kyiv vulnerable as Moscow and Washington decide the fate of a conflict that has roiled the continent.
Whether Europe should be represented by one person or a team — and who should take on the role — is being debated Friday as leaders from the 27-nation European Union meet at a summit in Dublin. Senior EU officials and politicians have been suggested, but there is no consensus yet.
What the job might entail is also unclear and contested. But there is broad agreement by governments from the U.K. to Ukraine on the need for Europe to join the ongoing negotiations involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington.
“This needs to be resolved," Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said as he arrived at the summit.
“I would hope that today’s discussions bring clarity around this,” he said. "It needs to be, in my view, finally decided upon within the next week or two.”
Ukraine is eager for support from its European allies. It's reluctant to leave the talks solely in the hands of a U.S. administration that has often seemed to lean toward Moscow’s views. Russia does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.
European leaders also distrust U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate on their behalf after a series of tense standoffs over trade, Greenland and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.
“Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin. “There is no more U.S. support."
“At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans,” he said.
European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will press Trump to back a peace settlement that weakens not just Ukraine but broader European security. Putin has demanded NATO troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders and that no European forces be deployed in Ukraine.
As envoys from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi, several European countries, including the U.K., France and Germany, attended discussions nearby.
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after they met in Dublin late Thursday that Europe would be part of the next round of talks. Zelenskyy said Europe would send a negotiating team, adding, "They will have a voice.”
“We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table,” Kushner said. He said Putin "is willing to give it a try.”
Supporters of a single envoy, like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argue that the absence of a united European voice has allowed individual countries or small groups to engage in freelance diplomacy.
“There are too many different groupings discussing the issue,” she said.
Meloni has criticized a series of seemingly uncoordinated initiatives, including an October call to Putin by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, that she said could undermine European interests.
Martin said that European representation at the negotiations “can't just be European Union” because the Coalition of the Willing — a group of over two dozen countries that have pledged military support to help maintain a future peace in Ukraine — “has involved far more than the European Union.”
“It's a European continentwide issue,” he said, pointing to Norway and Britain's support for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Europe must first name a representative. “The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar."
The question of who represents Europe is an old one. Europe itself is loosely defined. Is it the 27-nation EU, the 32-nation NATO military alliance made up mostly of European countries, the 29-nation Schengen zone, or the 47-nation European Political Community?
That has long frustrated Washington.
After this week's U.S.-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates, Kushner said that “if Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation.”
That echoes the famous question often misattributed to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?”
France, Germany and the U.K., the region’s top three economies collectively known as the European trio, or E3, have so far been the most engaged European group in negotiations. But while London is deeply involved with Ukraine, the U.K. left the EU in 2020.
An E3 envoy would leave out the other 25 EU nations and rankle smaller nations, like those bordering Russia and Belarus on the bloc’s eastern flank, which face constant hybrid threats, including influence campaigns and disruptive drones.
Some back a top EU official for the job. Even inside Brussels, however, there are two leading contenders: European Council President Antonio Costa and the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas.
“European security cannot be discussed without a European voice at the table,” Costa said in Dublin on Thursday. “That European voice needs to be a team effort between European nations, the European Union and NATO.”
Earlier this year, Costa faced criticism within the EU after his office set up a hush-hush back-channel with Moscow.
Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, laid claim to the envoy role Friday, saying, “I’m the one who is representing Europe in the foreign and security policy.”
“I know that the Russians don’t want me, but, you know, do we have a say, who is representing Russia?” she said. "We can’t send any person that has no institutional role like the Americans are sending.”
Another name that has been floated is Stubb, the Finnish president. He has warm relations with Trump and met in Oslo with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Kushner in October.
But some leaders deeply distrust the U.S.-brokered talks. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was critical of the negotiations, reflecting the pessimism of EU countries formerly dominated by the Soviet Union.
“In my opinion, calling them negotiations is an exaggeration," Tusk said Thursday. “We will not build a new security architecture simply because the Russian president, or someone in the United States, wishes it."
With Trump due to head to Beijing next week to meet Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said European leaders feared another “Anchorage moment,” a reference to the Alaska summit where they were stunned by Trump's overtures to the Russian leader in the absence of without Ukrainian or European envoys.
“Please, no surprises,” Merz said. "Continue to play in team Europe and in the team with Ukraine.”
Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.
Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, from left, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron chat during the EU Summit in Dublin, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin welcomes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the EU Summit in Dublin, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff, right, Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, left, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak to the media at the airport in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, speaks with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a round table meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham, left, sits next to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with other European leaders in attendance, during the Ukraine security meeting as part of the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Dublin, Ireland, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP, Pool)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron meet during the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands next to French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin as they pose for a family photo of all participants during the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Dublin, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
