Mets blank Athletics as Kodai Senga goes seven strong innings
Mets pitcher Kodai Senga throws to the Athletics during the second inning of a game Sunday in West Sacramento, Calif. Credit: AP/Sara Nevis
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On the day they faced a former favorite, Luis Severino, the Mets countered with one of the reasons they were so comfortable letting him go in free agency during the offseason: a healthy and excellent Kodai Senga.
Senga sparkled for seven efficient innings in the Mets’ 8-0 win over the Athletics on Sunday, matching the longest scoreless outing of his major-league career.
“It’s a great steppingstone to get my body to adapt,” Senga said through an interpreter, “so I can throw further into the game continuously throughout the season.”
Since dropping two of three to Houston to open the season, the Mets (10-5) have won four consecutive series.
Senga scattered four hits — none after the third inning — and two walks. Of his four strikeouts, two were against his final two batters. His hardest pitch of the day was his last, a 98-mph fastball that nipped the lower outside corner against Gio Urshela.
“Obviously, our plan was to attack every hitter,” catcher Luis Torrens said. “Especially today, everything played well. We got good results.”
Senga, content to pitch to contact against the aggressively swinging A’s, said: “Torrens was able to call the pitches to get weak contact.”
If there was a moment in which he teetered, it was in the bottom of the third, when Max Muncy and Lawrence Butler opened with back-to-back singles. Brent Rooker sent a grounder to third base, where a sliding Brett Baty — starting at his natural position for the first time this season — initiated a slick double play.
An enthusiastic Senga pointed at Baty and said in English: “Attaboy.”
Senga cruised to such a degree that by the time he finished the seventh, he had thrown only 79 pitches, a season high but short of the 85 the Mets had targeted in his slower-than-usual buildup after his injury-marred 2024.
Manager Carlos Mendoza said he considered letting Senga start the eighth but decided against it.
“We’ve been keeping him at five innings the whole time,” Mendoza said. “It’s already a big jump to seven innings. We were looking at 85 pitches. After that long inning — because of the offense; we scored a lot of runs — I thought that was enough for him.”
This was the first time in 2025 that a Mets starting pitcher even saw the seventh inning, never mind completed it.
“I’d only gone to five innings previously, so I didn’t really have [going deeper] in mind,” Senga said. “And within the past two years, I haven’t thrown very many innings. So I thought the seventh would be the last.”
The Mets blew it open late by taking advantage of the Athletics’ poor pitching and bad defense. They scored two runs in the seventh, one in the eighth and four in the ninth.
Severino was effective but not as efficient, needing 28 pitches in the first frame and 27 in the fourth. In 5 2⁄3 innings, he limited the Mets to a lone run plus four hits and three walks.
The Mets didn’t break through until the sixth, when Torrens — who has known Severino since 2012, when they were Yankees minor-leaguers — punched a single through the right side of the infield to bring in Pete Alonso (walk).
Severino said Friday that he badly wanted to return to the Mets, offering to come back for two years and $40 million. That would have been significantly less than the $67 million across three years that he received from the Athletics.
The Mets’ front office wasn’t interested in retaining Severino, but those in the dugout were pleased to see him doing well.
“He did a very good job. Everything looks pretty sharp. I’m happy for him,” Torrens said.
Mendoza said: “I’m glad we got his pitch count up early, because knowing Sevy, he wants to go the distance all the time. I thought he was really good.”
Notes & quotes: Jose Siri (left shin bruise) might go on the injured list, Mendoza said. The Mets will have a better sense Monday, by which point it will be easier to call somebody up. Siri still was in major pain and using crutches early Sunday, a day after fouling a pitch into his leg . . . Francisco Alvarez (left hand surgery) caught an entire game Sunday for the first time since joining Low-A St. Lucie on a rehab assignment. He is due to join Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday . . . The struggling Baty had a positive and well-rounded game. In addition to starting two double plays, he worked a 10-pitch at-bat (ending in a strikeout) and contributed an RBI triple in the big ninth inning. “That’s what you want to see. You want him to have fun,” Mendoza said. “It’s good to see him having some good results. He’s a good player.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
