Senga Strong, Strikes Out Nine in Season Debut

After the way Kodai Senga finished 2025, he entered this season with something to prove. He passed his first test.

Senga hurled six innings of two-run ball Tuesday night in the Mets’ 3-0 loss to the Cardinals. He struck out nine, walked three and gave up four hits. The first pitch he threw was a 97.9 mph fastball. The last pitch he threw, his 92nd, was a 98 mph fastball that caught Nathan Church looking to end the sixth inning.

“It was a great start to the year,” he said through a Japanese interpreter after the game. “It makes me excited for this year. Being out there and I can think about, I can start to deduce, What is this hitter thinking? What are they looking for? What’s something that they’re not looking for? Being out there and able to do that, it’s a good feeling. I’m excited.”

The last time Senga struck out nine was in the one regular-season start he made in 2024. He also struck out the side twice in one game for the first time in his career.

“He was really good today,” Carlos Mendoza told reporters. “From the very first pitch, we saw the velo and for him to be able to maintain the velocity throughout the outing up to 90 pitches and you saw 97 (mph). I thought the cutter was really good. Other than that third inning that he left a couple of pitches up in the zone, especially to (Iván) Herrera, he was pretty good. So that’s exciting.”

His final stat line might have been better if Luis Robert Jr. didn’t misjudge a line drive in the third and then miss a cut-off man on the next play that set up St. Louis with runners on second and third. Iván Herrera then broke a scoreless tie with a two-run double.

Senga was excellent at the start of last season. His ERA was 1.47 when he strained his hamstring covering first base in June. He returned a month later, but never found his rhythm and accepted a demotion to the minor leagues in early September after posting a 5.90 ERA over nine starts.

“The last time I was out on the mound and in the dugout, I had to be thinking about my body and making sure it’s going to do what I need it to do,” Senga said. “But on the flip side, today I didn’t have to worry about any of that. I can face the hitters and it really felt like I’m a starting pitcher again.”

Mendoza saw shades of Senga’s rookie season when he pitched to a 2.98 ERA, struck out 202, made the All-Star team and was seventh in Cy Young voting.

“If he’s healthy, we’re gonna see that a lot,” the manager said. “I think a lot of guys saw 2023. It’s just we gotta make sure that he recovers well and that he continues to feel good because that’s electric there.”

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