Surging Mets produce 10-run 12th inning in win over Nationals

WASHINGTON -- Carson Benge led the New York Mets to another extra-inning victory, hitting an RBI single and a two-run double during a historic 10-run 12th inning in a wild 16-7 victory over the Washington Nationals on Monday night.

New York became the first National League team to score at least 10 runs in an extra inning since the 1919 Cincinnati Reds broke loose for 10 in the 13th inning at Brooklyn. The Mets, feverishly trying to get out of last place in the National League East, also won in extra innings for the second time in as many days.

"We're just doing our job. Showing up every day and trying to win games," New York shortstop Bo Bichette said. "When you win games, you start to feel what it feels like, and you just try to keep that going. It's fun to win, it's fun to come to the park right now."

The Nationals made four errors and left 19 runners on base but kept it close until falling apart in the 12th. Paxton Schultz (0-1) retired his first hitter on a sacrifice bunt, but the next six reached base, starting with Benge's infield single off Schultz's glove that put the Mets up 7-6.

Benge scored on Vidal Brujan's bunt single with the bases loaded, Brett Baty added a two-run single and Marcus Semien's RBI single made it 11-6.

By then, things had gone so horribly awry that Washington moved infielder Jorbit Vivas to the mound and put designated hitter Jose Tena in the field. There was clearly some confusion over whether that would be allowed, with Schultz coming back onto the field at one point, but umpires eventually let the Nationals make the move. A.J. Ewing hit an RBI single and Benge added a two-run double off Vivas.

New York improved to 6-4 in extra-inning games, the most any major league team has played this season. The Mets, fresh off a weekend win in the Subway Series with the rival New York Yankees, have won six of seven -- with three coming in extras. Benge came through with the go-ahead swing in all three.

"The resilience, the grit. It's a new series, it's a new day," New York manager Carlos Mendoza said in reference to moving past the win over the crosstown Yankees. "What happened yesterday doesn't matter. And that's the mentality for tomorrow. ... We won a very good game today, it was back and forth and we never got down. We kept punching. But like I said, we have to be able to turn the page."

Baty and Bichette homered for New York, which led 5-3 before the Nationals scored in the seventh and eighth. Both teams got a run in the 11th.

"It was a really competitive ballgame the whole way through," Baty said. "And then we kind of broke it open there in the 12th."

Huascar Brazoban (3-1) worked through a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 10th to keep the score tied. After the Mets took a 6-5 lead in the 11th, he gave up an RBI infield single to Joey Wiemer that tied it, but after a double by Vivas put runners on second and third with two outs, the Nationals couldn't push across the winning run.

Baty's 451-foot homer in the fourth cleared the center-field fence and ricocheted off a taller wall that's part of the batter's eye.

Schultz received his first career decision in his 27th big league appearance.

Nolan McLean (2-2) will start for the Mets against Washington's Foster Griffin (4-2) on Tuesday night as New York looks to continue its surge.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.br/]