Kodai Senga’s outing typifies Mets’ lingering starting rotation issue

Until Wednesday, the Mets didn’t even know if Kodai Senga would be able to start their series finale against the Diamondbacks.

Their ace became the latest player to navigate a virus, and he needed an IV “a couple days ago” before throwing his bullpen session and required another Thursday before starting. 

But by the time Senga exited, he produced the latest example of the issue continuing to dampen a promising start by the Mets’ rotation.

His numbers, on paper, were strong — five hits, one run and six strikeouts in a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks — just as Mets starters, on paper, have the best combined ERA in baseball (2.24).

But his pitch count ballooned to 87 by the end of the fourth inning, and he couldn’t provide any depth or ease the workload for a taxed bullpen. 

“Not great,” Senga said of how he felt, “but I made the decision to go out there and pitch, so as a starter, I wanted to go six-plus innings.” 

Senga’s outing started out with six strikeouts across the first three frames, though he more than doubled his pitch count after six outs (28) during that 29-pitch third inning. 

Then, in the fourth, Senga allowed a run on Alek Thomas’ RBI single, but he forced Corbin Carroll to fly out with the bases loaded to end the frame.

Senga got away from his forkball and opted for sinkers against lefties instead, manager Carlos Mendoza said, and the Diamondbacks “made him work.” 

Senga walked just three batters, but nine of his final 13 hitters forced counts with at least two balls.

Any rhythm and flow from consecutive 14-pitch frames evaporated, even as his ERA marginally rose from 1.26 to 1.38 after his sixth start of the season. 

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“At times, especially as of late, we haven’t been able to get length out of them,” Mendoza said, “and then you’re asking four, five innings out of your bullpen every day. That’s hard to do.” 

At some point over the course of the season, Mendoza said, the Mets will get some length from outings.

But a starter threw more than five innings just once (Tylor Megill) since Senga’s previous start against the Nationals on April 25, and even that was just Senga’s second instance of tossing at least six innings this season. 

Thursday, even their ace couldn’t stop the concerning trend. 

“They’re not going deep in games,” Mendoza said of his starters, “but they’re keeping us there. We’ll figure it out.”