Benge walk-off single in 10th gives Mets 3-2 win over Tigers, atones for earlier misplay

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.

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)

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA lawyers claimed UEFA is harassing Gianni Infantino, in a court filing urging a Florida judge to deny the European soccer body’s request for evidence discovery about a World Cup private investor plan that has rocked the sport.

The 21-page filing to the court in the Southern District of Florida late Monday, and seen by The Associated Press, said UEFA was wrong to suggest the FIFA president sought to profit personally from the project that provoked a furor in July and was dropped within days.

UEFA later asked for authorization of discovery with three courts — including in Manhattan, against Josh Kushner’s New York-based investment firm, and Miami, where FIFA has an office base — aiming to help prepare a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland for financial mismanagement.

“UEFA’s conduct demonstrates that its (court filing) was made in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment,” lawyers for FIFA argue in the document.

The filing also notes the Nov. 18 deadline for potential candidates to enter the FIFA presidential election contest next March in Morocco, where Infantino plans to seek a fourth and final term in office through 2031.

“This court should reject any attempt to influence FIFA’s presidential election based on these grounds,” FIFA lawyers wrote in the filing Monday.

UEFA led a global backlash to the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan and is preparing an election challenge to Infantino, who had seemed set to win unopposed until creating the biggest crisis of his near 11-year presidency.

Infantino’s plan was to create the FFE subsidiary and sell at least 20% of nonprofit FIFA’s future commercial rights for $4.2 billion to investors led by Josh Kushner, the brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

UEFA’s court filings one month ago claimed the value was a “fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit,” amid speculation he eyed a CEO-like role at the subsidiary on a higher salary than his current $6 million presidential pay package.

FIFA lawyers claimed UEFA “falsely asserts that Mr. Infantino sought to have a personal financial interest in the FFE project.”

The secretive plan was revealed July 28 by media reports and led FIFA’s now-ousted chief operating officer Kevin Lamour to criticize Infantino’s leadership. The FIFA boss’s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs partner, also resigned in protest at the deal he said was bad for soccer.

Infantino later apologized for errors in how the sell-off plan was handled, and has since offered to open an independent external review of the soccer body’s governance.

FIFA has consistently said the commercial spinoff was intended to accelerate development of soccer worldwide, outside the wealthy power base of Europe.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

FIFA President Gianni Infantino poses for photos with volunteers after the Women's U20 World Cup final soccer match between Spain and North Korea in Lodz, Poland, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends the Women's U20 World Cup final soccer match between Spain and North Korea in Lodz, Poland, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)