Kodai Senga Sharp In 3-0 Loss To Nationals
Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
After the bad news that the New York Mets (7-11) got with Edwin Diaz’s season-ending injury, they needed something good to happen.
The Mets did lose 3-0 to the Nationals down in West Palm Beach, but the team did get a good start from right-hander Kodai Senga in his second spring start with the team.
Despite the loss, Senga put up a strong outing. He got off to a rough start in the bottom of the first. Lane Thomas led off the inning with a double and eventually came around to score on an Alex Call sacrifice fly to put the Nats up 1-0.
After that inning, Senga was able to limit the damage and he ended his outing by striking out the side (all swinging) in the third. He went three innings, allowed one run on three hits, and struck out five on 47 pitches (34 strikes).
Kodai Senga strikes out the side in the 3rd inning pic.twitter.com/yhi7wMNzg8
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 16, 2023
The Nationals would add two more runs in the bottom of the sixth against Elieser Hernández. Luis Garcia and Ildemaro Vargas led off the inning with base hits. They both would score on a Jeter Downs RBI triple.
The Mets offense was unable to do much against the six Washington Nationals pitchers they faced (Wily Peralta was the starter). Tim Locastro continued his strong spring as he went 1-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base. Tomás Nido and Mark Vientos each recorded a hit, but the Mets as a team were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
David Robertson came in after Senga and he allowed one hit in a scoreless fourth inning as he auditions for the closer role. Even though he allowed a double to Vargas, he was able to induce three groundball outs.
Zach Muckenhirn and Jimmy Yacabonis were the last two Mets pitchers. They both threw perfect innings and Muckenhirn had two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 seventh.
Player Of The Game
Kodai Senga gets the player of the game for having a good bounce-back outing as he showed no effects from the finger injury that caused him to miss his last start. He was able to get more swings-and-misses as evident by the five strikeouts that he had. He allowed just three hits and one run while striking out five in three innings of work. It was the kind of outing that Senga needed, and it was an outing that the Mets would have no doubt been pleased to see too.
In West Palm to see Senga. Interesting guy to watch. His velocity has ranged from 81 to 97 and everything in between with different pitches. Gave up one run in 3 innings, 5 K's. Impressive 3rd inning: struck out side, including fooling Dom Smith badly on 84 mph breaking ball.
— John Harper (@NYNJHarper) March 16, 2023
On Deck
The Mets will be back in action on Friday night at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie when they take on a Miami Marlins split squad. You can catch the game on SNY at 6:10 p.m ET. Carlos Carrasco (0-1, 5.00 ERA) will get the start for the Mets against Marlins’ right-handed pitching prospect Eury Pérez (0-0, 5.87).
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