Mets' Kodai Senga overcomes rocky start, strikes out eight Marlins to win MLB debut win
Kodai Senga’s first MLB outing got off to a bumpy start, but he ultimately settled in for a successful debut in the Mets' 5-1 win over the Miami Marlins.
The 30-year-old, making his first Mets start following an illustrious career in Japan, got into a jam right away, allowing an RBI double to Jorge Soler before loading the bases with nobody out in the first inning. To his credit, though, Senga settled in and retired the next three hitters, two via strikeout, to get out of the inning with just one run allowed.
The right-hander ended up going 5.1 innings, allowing one earned run on just three hits. He struck out eight (all on the ghost fork) and walked three, throwing 89 pitches.
Senga was undoubtedly amped up for his first major league start, and what probably didn’t help his cause was the Mets putting together a long top of the first inning against Trevor Rogers. Making Rogers throw 36 pitches in the first helped give Senga a two-run lead, but he was also in the dugout for an extended period of time.
After throwing 36 pitches in the first inning, Senga started his second inning with a walk and a pitch clock violation, but a nicely turned 4-6-3 double play got him through the frame. He then breezed through an easy third inning and continued rolling right along, racking up strikeouts with that patented ghost fork while hitting the high 90s with his fastball.
"First inning, definitely a lot of nerves. My legs felt like a ghost," Senga said, via a translator. "I think once I got into that little bit of a pinch, I started to settle down and calm myself down a little bit."
Buck Showalter said after the game that he was one batter away from getting Stephen Nogosek warmed up in the bullpen in the first inning, but Senga was able to dial in.
"The resiliency that he’s known for," Showalter said when asked about what he saw from Senga in the first. "That’s one of the things that I was interested to see. These are some of the best hitters in the world and he responded really well. I think you saw some of the things that made him a guy we wanted to acquire.
"The guys made some defensive plays behind him too, which was good. Just started getting command of some pitches and started getting counts in his favor and making them rush to get to the fastball. That opened up a lot of avenues for him."
Senga said afterwards that he'll hold onto the ball used for his first pitch, as well as the one he threw for his first strikeout.
And while he hadn't yet checked to see how many messages he had after making his debut, he certainly gave his friends back home plenty to cheer about.
