Mets' Kodai Senga turns in best start of season in win over lowly Rockies
Kodai Senga of the Mets pitches during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
That which seemed destined materialized quickly on Saturday at Citi Field.
The Mets looked every bit like a team that had four times the number of wins as the Rockies as Kodai Senga turned in perhaps his finest pitching performance of the season and the Mets scored runs in bunches — four in the first inning and three in the fourth — in an 8-2 victory over Colorado before 41,681.
The Mets (36-22) have won six of their last seven games and have captured three straight series. They can complete a three-game sweep of the Rockies (9-49) on Sunday before heading to Los Angeles for a second series against the Dodgers in a rematch of the 2024 National League Championship Series. The Mets took two of three from the 2024 World Series champs from May 23-25 at Citi Field.
Senga was nothing short of brilliant for six innings before unraveling slightly in the seventh. He gave up a solo home run to Ezequiel Tovar in the first inning — only the third he’s allowed in 11 starts — and nothing else until the seventh. After the home run, the righthander retired 17 straight Colorado batters.
“He was outstanding,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He had [his forkball] right away and they kept swinging at it . . . [It] made the fastball look like 98, 99 when he was 95, 96 because how much he was throwing it . . . All of his pitches [worked] and he attacked, got ahead and got some chases.”
Senga (6-3, 1.60) pitched to four batters in the seventh, issuing a pair of walks around a lineout and giving up a run-scoring single by Thairo Estrada that brought his outing to an end after 92 pitches. His final line: 6 1⁄3 innings, two runs allowed, two hits, two walks, seven strikeouts.
“I want to finish my outings on a strong note, unlike today,” Senga said through an interpreter. “In previous outings, too, when my pitch count rises — whether it’s fatigue or just mechanically I start to become a little bit off. . . . I need to spend this time between this next start and rethink, revise and get stronger.”
The Mets gave Senga plenty to work with in the first inning. The first three Mets reached base — Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo on singles and Juan Soto on a five-pitch walk — to load the bases. Brett Baty unloaded them with a triple off the left-centerfield wall for a 3-1 lead.
“I thought I hit it pretty hard, but it looked like he had a bead on it and I was like, ‘All right, at least we’ll get one run in,’ but then it ended up hitting the wall,” Baty said.
Baty scored on Tyrone Taylor’s two-out single.
“Four runs in the first is always big and it gave [Senga] the confidence to just go out there and pump strikes and let his stuff play,” Baty said.
Baty has been on a hitting tear since returning from his brief demotion to the minors on May 5, batting .290 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in 21 games. His hot hitting and stellar defense — he made another great play, coming in for a barehanded pickup on a weak grounder, and also caught a hot line drive — have pushed Mark Vientos into making more starts at designated hitter than at third base.
The Mets’ three-run rally in the fourth featured back-to-back home runs by Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto, the ninth of the season for each. Both came off a sinker from Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela (1-10, 7.14).
Nimmo’s two-run shot was a 417-footer to right-centerfield. Soto’s was a 404-footer to left-centerfield. He hadn’t homered since May 9 — a stretch of 17 games — but he does have six RBIs in his last seven games.
When he returned to rightfield for the fifth inning, fans serenaded him by chanting his name and he acknowledged them with a wave.
“Just a great feeling when you feel the support like that,” he said.
“Francisco and I were [celebrating] down there and heard the sound of the bat and crowd going wild and we looked out and [were] able to see [Soto] go the other way,” Nimmo said. “That’s when he’s his best and [there’s] just signs of good things to come.”
Notes & quotes: Jeff McNeil hit a solo shot in the eighth, his third homer of the season. He also had his first stolen base . . . Nimmo came out of the game with a calf cramp but said it should not affect his availability for Sunday’s game.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
