Kodai Senga was electric, piling up 10 Ks thru the first five innings, leading the Mets to an 11-1 win over the Diamondbacks Thursday afternoon at Citi Field. The Mets took three of the four games in the series and could have won the other game if their pen didn’t stink.
Both starters benefitted from the shadows early in this 4:10 p.m. start. But Merrill Kelly broke in the third inning while Senga just kept motoring. At one point, all of the outs by the Diamondbacks were either strikeouts or fly ball to center field.
Senga ran into trouble in the sixth inning, as he issued two walks and had the bases loaded. But he escaped without any runs scoring and by that time, the Mets were up by seven runs. With the outing, Senga lowered his ERA to 2.95 on the year, good for third best in the NL.
Brandon Nimmo stroked a two-run double to give the Mets the lead in the third inning. He was one of three Mets with two RBIs apiece. DJ Stewart had a two-run single and Jeff McNeil hit a two-run homer in a five-run fifth inning. McNeil lofted his home run to right field, once again showing the right approach and getting the ball in the air, rather than hitting another 4-3 worm killer.
And once the game was out of reach, Francisco Alvarez added an RBI double and Jonathan Arauz launched a pinch-hit, 3-run homer.
It’s really nice to see the offense the Mets have put up the past three games, especially since two of those came against the D’Backs’ best pitchers. And speaking of the D’Backs, if they don’t make the playoffs this year, they’ll have to look at their results against the Mets, as they won just one of seven games against a team that is currently 10 games under .500 on the year.
Gut Reaction: Senga has established himself as a consistent and exceptional starter in MLB. He was masterful this afternoon. Stewart just keeps on rolling. The starting pitching has been excellent but the hitting has been rejuvenated. They are now scoring runs. The Mets had a good series at the expense of a playoff team. Now let’s take the Cincinnati series.
A “what could have been” series.
I can’t find the exact record but against the 5 teams currently in the ra e for the final wc spot (giants, Phillies, reds, dbacks, marlins) the Mets have been almost dominant. 3-10 against the braves on the other hand. The playoffs should be a realistic expectation next season.
SFG: 4-3
PHI: 4-2
CIN: 1-2
ARI: 6-1
MIA: 5-2
TOT: 20-10
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/2023-schedule-scores.shtml
Of course, this is subject to change, as they have 3 left against the Reds, 6 versus the Marlins and 7 against the Phillies
and 3-3 vs the Cubs
on the other hand
0-3 vs Kansas City
0-3 vs Detroit
7-6 vs the Nationals
2-4 vs the Rockies
9-16 vs 4 of the worst teams in baseball
Flip that record and we’re 75-72 1/2 game out of the final wild card with most of the head to head tiebreakers