Kodai Senga sensed something was wrong just before he took the mound in the opener of the National League Championship Series.
The New York Mets starter faced only 10 batters and managed to get just four outs, struggling with his control as the Los Angeles Dodgers jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second inning on Sunday night.
“I tried to make some adjustments on the fly but obviously I wasn’t able to,” Senga said through an interpreter. “I’m just disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to make adjustments.”
The Dodgers won the game 9-0. Game 2 is set for Monday afternoon.
The Japanese right-hander, making only his third start this year, walked four of his first eight batters, including three in a row during a 14-pitch stretch in the first inning. He threw strikes on just three of his first 16 pitches and seven out of 23 overall in that inning.
“I think a lot of factors go into it, but the biggest thing might be mechanical error,” Senga said. “Now I just need to reflect back on what happened and make adjustments so I can give a better outing next time.”
After walking Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernández with one out in the first, Max Muncy hit a two-run single up the middle, scoring Betts and a limping Freeman, who touched the plate with his left foot to protect his sprained right ankle.
Senga also had a wild pitch in the first that allowed runners to advance, along with a pitch clock violation in the second inning. He was replaced after his countryman Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI single to right, bringing in Gavin Lux, who had walked to lead off the inning.
“He didn’t have it,” rookie Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He didn’t have the life on his fastball and a lot of balls out of hand, non-competitive pitches, especially the split. You could tell that by the way they were taking those pitches—they were balls out of the hand.”
Senga gave up three runs and two hits while throwing 10 of his 30 pitches for strikes. Reed Garrett came in to relieve him.
Senga started Game 1 of the NL Division Series against Philadelphia and lasted only two innings, throwing 31 pitches.
He missed almost the first four months of the season due to a right shoulder capsule strain. Senga made his only regular-season start on July 26 but then missed the rest of the regular season because of a strained left calf and tightness in his right triceps.
Senga’s fastball averaged 93.5 mph, which is 2.3 mph lower than his season average. Mendoza said the team will evaluate how Senga responds in the next few days.
“Day by day, and then we’ll see how we get to Game 5 or whatever the case might be,” he said. “But I think it’s going to come down to how he’s going to bounce back.”
Down 3-0, the Mets got singles from Jesse Winker and Jose Iglesias to start the fifth inning. Winker hesitated between second and third, then continued to third and was thrown out when center fielder Kiké Hernández threw to second baseman Gavin Lux, who then passed the ball to third baseman Max Muncy.
“Off the bat I read first and third and then I kind of just got caught in no man’s land,” Winker said. “It was just a really bad, bad play by me. … Obviously the baserunning play kind of kicked the wind out of a potential rally. I think that’s what hurts the most.”
Hernández’s body weight shifted toward third as he swung his arm and threw to second, causing Winker to stop.
“Kiké’s heads-up kind of look—body going towards third and then throw behind the runner—just a heady baseball play,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
