WEST SACRAMENTO — Lastly, the Mets have their ace again, and he pitched each bit like one to assist the Mets end off a sequence towards the A’s.
Kodai Senga tossed seven scoreless innings, the primary pitcher to throw seven for the Mets this season. The best-hander dueled former Mets starter Luis Severino for greater than 5 innings earlier than Luis Torrens hit an RBI single to present Senga some run assist in an 8-0 win at Sutter Well being Park.
Senga was extraordinarily environment friendly towards a lineup that swung early and sometimes. He used his sinker to get outs on the bottom and wanted solely 79 pitches. It was the primary seven-inning begin for Senga since Sept. 1, 2023.
“I think it’s a great stepping stone to get my body to adapt so I can throw further into the game and continuously throughout the season,” Senga stated by way of a workforce translator.
The Mets (10-5) wanted Senga to go deep, and he delivered. A workforce dinner was held after the Mets arrived in Sacramento, and with the beginning rotation sitting collectively, they mentioned their want to present the workforce extra size of their outings. Till Sunday, solely David Peterson had pitched greater than 5 innings, tossing six twice.
The bullpen has been stellar to date, however the starters needed to drag their weight, particularly with the Sacramento sequence being the primary in a sequence of 4 with out an off day.
“We knew at some point those guys were going to step up,” supervisor Carlos Mendoza stated of his beginning rotation. “They’re really good at what they do, and we saw it yesterday with Peterson going, and today, with Senga. Like I’ve said, just like hitting, it’s contagious, so hopefully we keep it going that way. And if not, we’ve got guys back there that can help us too.”
The best-hander allowed 4 hits and two walks, hanging out 4 within the win (2-1). The sinker was key. Senga appreciated the place Torrens known as the pitch, and he appreciated the 2 5-4-3 double performs turned by Brett Baty as nicely, telling the third baseman “Attaboy” after one within the second inning.
Mendoza thought-about utilizing him once more within the eighth, however with Senga having thrown solely 5 innings previous to Sunday, he didn’t really feel that he was conditioned for an additional up.
With the Mets piling on the runs in later innings, Mendoza was in a position to make use of A.J. Minter and Max Kranick to complete the sport.
“I thought about it, but we’ve been keeping him at five innings the whole time, and it’s already a pretty big jump,” Mendoza stated. “At seven innings, we were looking at 85 pitches. And after that long inning because of the offense, we saw a lot of runs, and I thought that was enough.”
The Mets added extra runs late within the sport, capitalizing on poor protection from the A’s to attain two runs within the seventh and one within the eighth, earlier than exploding for 4 runs within the prime of the ninth.
However earlier than that, Severino introduced the warmth for the A’s (6-10) with a fastball that sat round 98 MPH. He pitched a two-on, none-out scenario within the first with the assistance of a double play. He struck out three within the second, working round a two-out single by Torrens, and with two on and two out within the fourth, he battled Brett Baty for 10 pitches earlier than hanging out the scuffling infielder.
Severino was fired up coming off the mound and was almost out of the sixth unscathed when the Mets lastly broke by way of. Alonso labored a leadoff stroll earlier than getting to 3rd on two ground-ball outs, placing him in place to attain simply from third on the only by Torrens.
Severino lasted 5 1/3, giving up just one run on 4 hits, strolling three and hanging out six in his third lack of the season (0-3).
“I’m glad we got his pitch count up early,” Mendoza stated. “Knowing Sevy, he wants to go the distance every time.”
Each merchandise of the Yankees’ system, Torrens and Severino have recognized each other for since 2012. Having caught Severino for therefore a few years helped Torrens learn the pitcher, however he downplayed any large impact. With Francisco Alvarez working his method again from March hamate bone surgical procedure, Torrens has been getting the majority of the enjoying time behind the plate. A forearm contusion sidelined him final week, however he returned to motion Friday, going 1-for-5 with an RBI double.
He went 3-for-4 with two RBI, a double and a stroll Sunday, arising large within the sixth towards his previous battery-mate Severino, and doubling over the pinnacle of heart fielder Seth Brown within the ninth. He’s hitting .333 on the season with 4 doubles and a house run.
He’s utilizing the entire area proper now, which Mendoza thinks is vital to his strategy.
“Especially with runners in scoring position, he’s not afraid to go the other way,” Mendoza stated. “He can impact the baseball and pull it when he wants to. But I think he’s just going to give you a good at-bat overall [by] knowing the situation, [and] having the ability to slow the game down. I think it’s just coming down to getting good pitches and thinking small and using the whole field.”
Initially Printed: April 13, 2025 at 7:03 PM EDT
