MIAMI — Kodai Senga was lights-out through 4 1/3 innings in his MLB debut if you don’t count the first one.
A game that saw a rough first inning for the Mets ended with a win in the Japanese right-hander’s MLB debut Sunday at LoanDeport Park. Senga (1-0) settled in to look like the dominant pitcher he was in Japan, limiting the Marlins to only a single run over 5 1/3 innings, striking out eight and walking three in the Mets’ 5-1 win. He joined Matt Harvey and Collin McHugh as the only Mets pitchers to strike out eight or more hitters and only allow one or fewer runs in their MLB debut.
Tommy Pham went 3-for-4 with his first home run of the season off Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers (0-1) and also had a double, two RBI, a walk, a run scored and a stolen base.
The Mets spotted Senga a 2-0 lead in the first, thanks to an RBI single by Jeff McNeil and an error by Rogers. Senga needed 36 pitches to get through the first inning and threw 28 before even recording an out. His control was all over the place and he was falling behind in counts.
Senga fell behind on 2022 AL batting champ Luis Arraez, the Marlins’ leadoff man, before evening the count and trying to put him away with the vaunted ghost fork. Arraez poked it up the middle.
The next ghost fork got past catcher Tomas Nido and Arraez advanced on the wild pitch, putting him in position to score easily on Jorge Soler’s double to right field.
With the Mets’ lead cut in half, Senga issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. Was this what the Mets were paying Senga $75 million over five years for? Players don’t come over from Japan or anywhere else with the guarantee that they will succeed. The only thing guaranteed is the money the teams are paying them. The Mets have a history of bad contracts and bad contract timing.
With the bases loaded and none out, it was natural to wonder, was this one of those contracts? Would Senga become yet another Mets mistake?
But then Yuli Gurriel was so flummoxed on a forkball he swung through strike three and lost control of his bat in the process. Senga retired the next two in order to get out of the inning with only one run allowed.
Senga walked Jacob Stallings to lead off the second, but got Joey Wendle out and McNeil made a fantastic flip to turn an inning-ending double play. He needed only seven pitches to get through the third inning, and he raised his fists to salute right fielder Starling Marte after he caught a sinking line drive for the third out.
As it turns out, the ghost fork plays: He threw eight of them for third strikes.
Pham was inserted into the lineup to spell Brandon Nimmo for a day, batting leadoff and playing center field. His home run came in the fifth after Tim Locastro was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He took Rogers back 433 feet to put the Mets up 4-1. Pham doubled home Locastro in the sixth inning after the outfielder was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, this time by Huascar Brazoban.
The Mets took the first series of the season 3-1 and will head to Milwaukee next for a three-game set against the Brewers before returning home Thursday to open the 2023 home slate.