Kodai Senga was strong in just his second regular-season start since the beginning of the 2024 season, but he did not get enough support from the rest of his New York Mets in a 4-2 loss on Tuesday night against the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park.
The right-hander allowed just three hits while striking out eight and allowing just one walk over five innings of work. He and the Mets (2-3) were undone by a key Francisco Lindor error (one of two on the night) and a lack of offensive production — the latter becoming a theme already in the early goings of the 2025 season.
“I felt like we played a clean game, except two pitches on my two ground balls,” Lindor said. “I take a lot of pride in it, it doesn’t feel good.”
Both of the earned runs on Senga’s ledger came on the first two batters that he faced, allowing a lead-off double to Xavier Edwards and a two-run home run to Kyle Stowers.
“I think I lacked a little bit of calmness and just kind of gave them easy pitches to hit,” Senga said.
But he got over the early bobble quickly and cut through the next 10 batters without issue while his deficit was halved by Brandon Nimmo’s second home run in as many games. The only man who reached base during that span was Dane Myers on the first of two Lindor errors. He was thrown out trying to steal second by Luis Torrens to end the second.
Senga rebounded by striking out the side in the third, moments after Lindor snapped an 0-for-12 to start the season and tied the game with an RBI single.
“Other than the first two batters of the game, he was really good,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Senga.
But Lindor’s glove struck again in the fourth when he booted an Otto Lopez grounder to lead off the fourth.
“Usually, errors happen when you take your eyes off the baseball,” Lindor said. “I saw both of them hit my glove. So my head, everything was on the baseball. Just missed it. It’s our job to finish the plays, and today was on me.”
Senga struck out Matt Mervis and induced a Griffin Conine grounder, which would have ended the inning. Instead, with two outs, he walked Jonah Bride and gave up a two-run double to Graham Pauley to make it a 4-2 game.
Mets bats were shut down by 2023 NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, who allowed two runs on three hits with four strikeouts in five innings of work. They were then limited to just two hits in the final four innings by four Miami relievers.
