The New York Mets closed out their season with a 6-4 loss to the Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon, finishing the year with a 74-88 record.
Francisco Lindor provided one of the afternoon’s biggest moments in the second inning, hitting his 300th career home run. The milestone blast followed a two-run homer from Ronny Mauricio and gave New York a 4-1 lead, but it proved to be the Mets’ final run of the season.
Washington erased the deficit against Sean Manaea, who allowed five earned runs on seven hits over six innings. Andrés Chaparro accounted for two of those runs with a pair of home runs. Manaea walked one, struck out three and threw 100 pitches, including 63 strikes.
Manaea finished the season with a 4.78 earned-run average and a 1.30 walks-and-hits-per-inning ratio across 150.2 innings in 33 appearances, including 19 starts. He posted a 6.35 earned-run average over his final seven starts.
Mauricio continued his strong finish with his second consecutive multihit game and his second home run in as many days. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and has now homered twice as a right-handed hitter this season after entering the weekend with only one career home run from that side.
Carson Benge also closed his rookie season on a strong note, collecting three hits for the second straight day. His first-inning RBI single put New York on the scoreboard.
Benge finished with a .282 batting average, .346 on-base percentage and .430 slugging percentage, along with 20 home runs, 65 runs batted in, 22 doubles, three triples, 86 runs scored and 22 stolen bases in 156 games. He hit .377 with a 1.056 on-base plus slugging percentage over his final 15 games.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to kyle@fingerlakes1.com.