METS 8, BRAVES 4: METS EARN BITTERSWEET VICTORY IN SENGA’S SEASON DEBUT
The Mets defeated the Braves 8-4 to leapfrog over Atlanta in the NL Wild Card standings. The Mets unloaded for three home runs and seven runs in the third inning and Kodai Senga was brilliant in his season debut, striking out nine in 5 1⁄3 innings en route to his first win of the season. But it was a bittersweet victory, as Senga left the game due to injury as he was cruising in the sixth.
Senga struck out the first batter of the game Jarred Kelenic on his patented ghost fork, portending good things for his evening. However, the Braves got on the board first in the form of an Adam Duvall two-run homer off Senga in the second. That home run represented all of the runs and one of just two hits Senga would give up over 5 1⁄3 innings of work, over which he struck out a whopping nine batters while walking only one.
The Mets’ bats got to work against Charlie Morton in the third, dropping a seven spot on him that featured three home runs. The rally began with Austin Riley booting a grounder off the bat of Tyrone Taylor that allowed Taylor to reach first base safely. Morton then hit Francisco Lindor with a pitch and walked Brandon Nimmo to load the bases. Immediately after he almost grounded into a double play on a ball that bounced just foul, J.D. Martinez smacked a grand slam that put the Mets in front 4-2. Morton recorded the first out of the inning, but then Jeff McNeil doubled and Mark Vientos hit the second homer of the inning to extend the Mets’ lead to 6-2. After José Iglesias grounded out for the second out, “OMG” blared from the speakers at Citi Field for a third time when Francisco Alvarez, who has been struggling at the plate, went deep for the Mets’ seventh run of the inning. That chased Morton from the game in favor of the freshly recalled Daysbel Hernández who was finally able to put the inning to bed.
The Mets added another run in the fourth on a bases loaded walk by Hernández to extend their lead to six runs. But a night that was supposed to be pure euphoria at Citi Field turned sour quickly in the sixth. Austin Riley popped the ball up near the mound and as Kodai Senga moved off the mound to track the ball, he grabbed his lower leg and crumpled to the ground in obvious pain. As Senga laid on the ground, everyone watching feared the worst, haunted by flashbacks of Edwin Díaz’s knee injury a year ago. Gary Cohen invoked Mike Soroka’s name on the broadcast, recalling his Achilles injury. But Senga got up and walked off the field under his own power and the injury was later diagnosed as a calf strain. The severity of the strain and how long it will sideline him is unclear, but at least Senga and the Mets seem to have avoided the worst.
Eric Orze, back up from Triple-A, came in the game to replace Senga and immediately surrendered a solo homer to Marcell Ozuna to keep his ERA infinite. He walked the next batter, but then settled in to retire the next two batters and pitch a scoreless seventh inning as well, cutting his season ERA down to a comparatively respectable 21.60. Aaron Bummer, A.J. Minter, and Jesse Chavez combined for four scoreless innings of relief for the Braves to keep the game from getting further out of hand. Adam Ottavino had a shaky eighth inning, but ultimately escaped unscathed thanks to Travis d’Arnaud swinging at a bad pitch and José Iglesias making an excellent diving stop on a rope off the bat of Eddie Rosario to save a run and end the inning.
Jake Diekman gave up a solo home run to Adam Duvall to lead off the ninth inning and cut the Mets’ lead to 8-4, but he bounced back to record all three outs of the inning via the strikeout to secure the Mets’ fifth victory in a row. After being as many as ten games behind Atlanta, the Mets have now passed the Braves in the standings and are currently in possession of the first Wild Card spot in the National League. But a fog of concern hangs over this otherwise jubilant night, as we await further details on the severity of Kodai Senga’s injury.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: J.D. Martinez, +25.0% WPA
Big Mets loser: Kodai Senga, somehow, -5.1% WPA
Mets pitchers: -3.5% WPA
Mets hitters: +53.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: J.D. Martinez’s grand slam in the third, +25.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Adam Duvall’s two-run home run off Kodai Senga in the second, -19.1% WPA
2024-07-27T02:25:48Z dg43tfdfdgfd