NEW YORK \u2014 The Mets are losing patience with starter Kodai Senga after a mystifying start on Tuesday that quickly devolved from dominant to disastrous.<\/p>\n
Senga zipped through the first inning, relying heavily on a lively four-seam fastball to set down the Chicago Cubs in order. But he would last only 3 2\/3 innings in a 9-6 loss, allowing seven runs, five walks and two home runs.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerforming matters here and having outings like these are not gonna cut it,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said. \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure we\u2019re gonna have a decision, but that ain\u2019t gonna do it. We need better. They know that, and we\u2019re to a point where you gotta go out there and earn it. So that\u2019s the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senga is 0-6 with a 10.08 ERA in seven starts this season, with 22 walks in 27 2\/3 innings. This was his second start since coming off the injured list, where he landed in late April with lumbar spine inflammation. He also dealt with ulnar nerve irritation during his absence.<\/p>\n
Even so, Senga looked strong early on Tuesday, using his fastball for 12 of 15 pitches in the top of the first and striking out Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch. But he switched to a more varied arsenal in the second, loading the bases with a walk, single and hit batter. The Cubs soon rallied for five runs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe goes out there in that first inning, and that\u2019s the guy that you hope he\u2019s capable of doing that,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cHe\u2019s throwing 98, 99, using the four-season fastball and just blowing it by people. And then in the second inning, he gets away from it. We\u2019re in the dugout kind of asking ourselves, \u2018What\u2019s going on here? It\u2019s hard to explain.\u2019 It happens so quick. It\u2019s just frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through an interpreter, Senga said that as a starter, \u201cit\u2019s hard to throw only fastballs throughout the whole outing.\u201d He said his struggles were probably half mental and half physical, and seemed to understand that his rotation spot is now tenuous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first inning version of myself, if I can replicate that over and over again, I think I absolutely do belong in the rotation,\u201d Senga said. \u201cBut if I struggle to find the strike zone, it becomes a tough conversation. That\u2019s a decision Mendy and the front office will make. I\u2019ll just continue to prepare so when I do go out there the next time, I can perform at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christian Scott is out with right hip impingement but could return to the rotation this weekend. Even so, the Mets are also dealing with consistently poor outings by David Peterson, who has a 6.09 ERA in 16 games as a starter or bulk reliever.<\/p>\n
Asked before the game about Senga and Peterson, David Stearns, the president of baseball operations, indicated that both were running out of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of our rotation, it\u2019s a turn-by-turn evaluation, and we do need to see production there,\u201d Stearns said. \u201cWe need to figure out a way to get ourselves later into games in competitive positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mets will use Nolan McLean in the first game of Wednesday\u2019s doubleheader, with Sean Manaea in the nightcap. The games could also mark the return of shortstop Francisco Lindor, who has missed 54 games since straining his left calf on April 22.<\/p>\n
Lindor had two hits for Triple-A Syracuse in his second rehabilitation game on Tuesday in Allentown, Pa.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got to drive back from Lehigh (Valley), but we\u2019ll see,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cI mean, I don\u2019t want to get ahead of myself saying that he\u2019s going to be active 100 percent tomorrow, but it\u2019s a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alas, even if Lindor plays, the Mets may not have him and Juan Soto in the same lineup, which has happened only once since April 3. Soto left Tuesday\u2019s game after four innings when his back locked up and did not speak to reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got treatment during the game, but he got to a point there, you could tell something was off,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cHe was making some faces there, and obviously, I checked with him. And he got to a point where it was bothering him to throw and just get his \u2018A\u2019 swing on it. So at that point, I thought it would be best to get him out of the game, have the trainers look at him. As of right now, he\u2019s day-to-day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The Mets are losing patience with starter Kodai Senga after a mystifying start on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,1189,99],"class_list":["post-722966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}