Kodai Senga Continues Excellent Start To The Season

Kodai Senga would be the first to admit he didn’t have his sharpest stuff in Saturday’s 3-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

It wasn’t that the St. Louis Cardinals — now losers of three straight at Citi Field — batted him around the ballpark. But Senga’s signature forkball wasn’t missing bats like it usually does. He managed just four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings, a far cry from the whiff-heavy outings he’s flashed before, like his dominant showing in West Sacramento.

Still, like so many Mets aces before him, Senga found a way. He dug deep and kept the scoreboard clean, extending his streak of scoreless innings since surrendering a run in the first inning of his season debut.

The Cardinals put plenty of traffic on the basepaths, reaching scoring position multiple times. But Senga never wavered. He stayed poised, composed, and in control. His manager noted he looked like a different pitcher, not because he was rattled or overwhelmed, but because he leaned on his entire arsenal. And he needed every bit of it across an 89-pitch effort.

Once Reed Garrett came in and cleaned up Senga’s mess in the sixth, the book officially closed on the 32-year-old right-hander. Senga hasn’t allowed a run in his last three starts, a stretch now spanning 17 2/3 innings. With Saturday’s outing in the books, his ERA dipped from 1.06 to 0.79. That 0.79 mark is the second-lowest in the major leagues.

Not bad.

For a team that now leads the league in ERA (2.27), there were still plenty of questions about the rotation, and none bigger than Senga. Last year was supposed to be his breakout, the year he made a real push for the Cy Young. Instead, it was a mess. Injuries kept him off the mound for almost the entire regular season, and when he did return, he was a non-factor in the playoffs. His health was in doubt. So was the idea that 2023 wasn’t just a fluke.

So far this year? Different story.

It’s early, but if this is the version of Senga the Mets get moving forward, the rest of the league’s got a problem.

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