Carson Benge lifts first spring homer, Christian Scott strong in return as Mets beat Team Israel

The Mets came back to beat Team Israel, 5-2, in a exhibition matchup Wednesday at Clover Park. 

Here are some takeaways...

- Carson Benge continues to make a strong impression in his bid for an Opening Day roster spot. The 23-year-old outfielder accounted for the Mets' only offense in the early going of this one, taking a 1-2 offering from Israel lefty Ryan Prager just over the right field fence for an opposite-field solo home run. 

Benge played five innings in the field, and finished the day 1-for-3.

- David Peterson was strong in his first outing of the spring. He struck out a pair to dance his way out of a man on third with nobody out jam in the top of the first, worked around a one-out walk in the second, then used a double-play ball to erase a leadoff single in the third. 

The southpaw closed his line with two walks, a hit, and four punchouts over three innings. 

- Christian Scott followed Peterson, and he was tremendous in what was his first game action since July 2024. The returning right-hander worked around a two-out single and a stolen base in the fourth, then struck out three around a two-out single in the top of the fifth -- Scott came back out for the sixth and retired the final two batters he faced. 

He averaged 95 mph on his fastball as he struck out five over 2.2 innings of work. 

- Adbert Alzolay gave up the game-tying solo home run in the top of the seventh, then Nick Burdi handed Israel their first lead of the day with back-to-back extra base-hits in the eighth. 

- The Mets came storming back in the bottom half of the inning, though, led by some of their young talent. After versatile prospect Chris Suero started things with a leadoff walk, Jose Rojas lined a double, followed by a Ji Hwan Bae two-run single, then third base prospect Jacob Reimer laced an RBI single to make it a two-run game. 

Yohairo Cuevas followed that with an RBI single of his own, capping off the four-run eight inning surge. 

Highlights

Carson Benge with a homer the other way to get the Mets on the board vs. Team Israel! pic.twitter.com/PDaTHK689T

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 4, 2026

What's next

The Mets return to Grapefruit League play as they face off with the Nationals on Thursday afternoon.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. in West Palm Beach.