Kodai Senga stellar as Mets defeat Cubs to end six-game skid
New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga delivers against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Mets picked up their first win since their trade-deadline teardown with an 11-2 victory over the Cubs on Monday night at soggy Citi Field.
The Mets snapped their six-game losing streak behind two home runs and six RBIs by Pete Alonso and six effective innings by Kodai Senga, who — with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander traded away — has become the team’s ace.
Senga’s young son and daughter made the trip from Japan for the game, and he got to pitch in front of them in the United States for the first time. Senga’s starts are not televised in Japan because the country is obsessed with Angels games featuring Shohei Ohtani.
“I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of them,” Senga said through an interpreter. “But once I got up on the mound, it was like always.”
Senga (8-6, 3.24 ERA) allowed two runs and seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. He threw 85 pitches and wanted to throw more.
With the Mets leading 7-2, Senga came out in the rain for the top of the seventh but exited after attempting to warm up. He clearly was not comfortable with the mound conditions. After several attempts by the grounds crew to smooth out the dirt and several warmup pitches, Senga handed the ball to Buck Showalter and left the game.
Before the Mets could call in a reliever, though, umpires stopped play and put the tarp on the field. The game resumed with Brooks Raley on the mound after a delay of 2:09.
Alonso (33 home runs) hit a three-run homer in the first and a two-run shot in the third off lefthander Drew Smyly (8-8, 5.05 ERA). It was Alonso’s 18th career multi-homer game.
Danny Mendick, starting at third in place of Brett Baty, hit a three-run homer in the seventh.
“It’s great,” Alonso said. “We played great team baseball. We pitched. We hit. We played great defense. We ran the bases well. It was just a full, complete team win. And, I mean, that’s awesome. Hopefully we carry this into tomorrow and we just continue to play good team baseball throughout the rest of the year. That’s all you can do, great team baseball, and wherever we’re at at the end of the year, that’s where we’ll be.”
Cubs catcher Tucker Barnhardt pitched the eighth. He threw only eephus pitches at about 36 to 44 mph. Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo grounded out before Francisco Alvarez banged one off the leftfield fence for a single. Francisco Lindor lined one to right for a single. That brought up Alonso, whose RBI single to left tied his career high for RBIs in a game. Mark Vientos grounded to second to end the inning.
“Sometimes as a position player, it’s like, man, I’d rather face the closer than a position player,” Alonso said. “I’m just happy I was able to put the ball hard between the lines.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
