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NEW YORK — Kodai Senga is making it known what the Mets were missing throughout the majority of the 2024 season.
The 32-year-old right-hander continued his dominance early in the season on Saturday afternoon against the Cardinals.
Senga hurled 5⅔ scoreless innings, striking out four and scattering three hits and two walks to lead the Mets to a 3-0 victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 42,339 at Citi Field. It was the Mets' fourth shutout victory this season.
With another strong outing, Senga lowered his ERA to 0.79 — best in the National League and second in Major League Baseball. In the process, the Mets grabbed their third straight win over the Cardinals to improve to 14-7.
It has been a return to normalcy for Senga, who missed all but one regular season game in 2024 with a shoulder capsule strain and a calf strain.
Senga was once the ace of the team's staff in 2023 after Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were each traded away at the deadline. That season, Senga struck out 202 batters across 161⅔ innings with a 2.98 ERA to finish second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in the league's Cy Young race.
Now, his value in the rotation has been all the more important following injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas to start the season. And he's getting it done a little bit differently.
After once relying on swing and miss, Senga has pitched to more contact early in 2025.
On Saturday afternoon, Senga navigated some traffic in the second and fifth innings to keep a 17⅔ inning scoreless streak alive.
In the second, Senga issued a one-out walk to Alec Burlson and a double to Thomas Saggese put a pair of runners in scoring position. But the righty struck out Nolan Gorman on a forkball and got Yohel Pozo to fly out to center field.
The Cardinals threatened once again in the top of the fifth inning when Saggese led off the frame with a double into right field and moved over to third base on a wild pitch. But Gorman fanned on another forkball and Brett Baty threw out Saggese at home on a sharp ground ball to third. The inning ended on another fly ball.
The Cardinals mounted another threat against the Mets' A.J. Minter in the eighth inning, loading the bases on a trio of walks, but Francisco Lindor made a sharp defensive play, ranging to his left past second base to nab Burleson for the final out and keep them off the board.
The Mets pitching staff has not needed much run support through 21 games in the 2025 season. The unit entered Saturday's game leading the major leagues with a 2.39 ERA.
That trend continued on Saturday, with the Mets only needing to break through once to support Senga and the team's bullpen. That moment came in the third inning when Luisangel Acuña led off the frame with a double and then came across to score on a single up the middle by Juan Soto.
Pete Alonso tacked on another run on an RBI double into the left-center field gap to make it 2-0. The Mets first baseman added a solo home run into the second deck — his sixth long ball of the season — to build the Mets' advantage to 3-0 in the eighth inning.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Kodai Senga scoreless streak continues in win over Cardinals
Continue reading...
The 32-year-old right-hander continued his dominance early in the season on Saturday afternoon against the Cardinals.
Senga hurled 5⅔ scoreless innings, striking out four and scattering three hits and two walks to lead the Mets to a 3-0 victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 42,339 at Citi Field. It was the Mets' fourth shutout victory this season.
With another strong outing, Senga lowered his ERA to 0.79 — best in the National League and second in Major League Baseball. In the process, the Mets grabbed their third straight win over the Cardinals to improve to 14-7.
Kodai Senga back leading Mets rotation
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It has been a return to normalcy for Senga, who missed all but one regular season game in 2024 with a shoulder capsule strain and a calf strain.
Senga was once the ace of the team's staff in 2023 after Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were each traded away at the deadline. That season, Senga struck out 202 batters across 161⅔ innings with a 2.98 ERA to finish second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in the league's Cy Young race.
Now, his value in the rotation has been all the more important following injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas to start the season. And he's getting it done a little bit differently.
Working through trouble
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After once relying on swing and miss, Senga has pitched to more contact early in 2025.
On Saturday afternoon, Senga navigated some traffic in the second and fifth innings to keep a 17⅔ inning scoreless streak alive.
In the second, Senga issued a one-out walk to Alec Burlson and a double to Thomas Saggese put a pair of runners in scoring position. But the righty struck out Nolan Gorman on a forkball and got Yohel Pozo to fly out to center field.
The Cardinals threatened once again in the top of the fifth inning when Saggese led off the frame with a double into right field and moved over to third base on a wild pitch. But Gorman fanned on another forkball and Brett Baty threw out Saggese at home on a sharp ground ball to third. The inning ended on another fly ball.
The Cardinals mounted another threat against the Mets' A.J. Minter in the eighth inning, loading the bases on a trio of walks, but Francisco Lindor made a sharp defensive play, ranging to his left past second base to nab Burleson for the final out and keep them off the board.
Juan Soto, Pete Alonso pack the punch
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The Mets pitching staff has not needed much run support through 21 games in the 2025 season. The unit entered Saturday's game leading the major leagues with a 2.39 ERA.
That trend continued on Saturday, with the Mets only needing to break through once to support Senga and the team's bullpen. That moment came in the third inning when Luisangel Acuña led off the frame with a double and then came across to score on a single up the middle by Juan Soto.
Pete Alonso tacked on another run on an RBI double into the left-center field gap to make it 2-0. The Mets first baseman added a solo home run into the second deck — his sixth long ball of the season — to build the Mets' advantage to 3-0 in the eighth inning.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Kodai Senga scoreless streak continues in win over Cardinals
Continue reading...
