ST. LOUIS — Kodai Senga’s relaunch was a hit, but the same couldn’t be said of the Mets lineup on Tuesday night.
In this version of Arch Madness, the Mets managed only three hits in a 3-0 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The series rubber game is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
The Mets took only four at-bats with runners in scoring position, and Juan Soto’s sixth-inning double accounted for the team’s only extra-base hit. Bo Bichette, who heard boos Sunday at Citi Field, finished 0-for-3, dropping his batting average after five games to .091.
But at least there was Senga, a key piece of the rotation on whom the Mets are counting following his late-season nosedive last year. This sure resembled the pitcher the Mets saw for most of last season’s first half and in 2023 when he was a National League All-Star selection.
On this night he gave the Mets six innings in which he allowed two earned runs on four hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. He punctuated the 92-pitch outing by striking out the side in his final inning.
“It was a great start to the year — it makes me excited for this year,” Senga said through his interpreter. “Being out there, I can start to deduce, ‘What is this hitter thinking? What are they looking for? What aren’t they looking for?’ It’s a good feeling. I am excited.”
The start was Senga’s first since last Aug. 31 — after which he accepted a demotion to the minor leagues and finished his season with Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets saw signs of a Senga resurgence in spring training, and many carried into this start.
Among them was Senga’s velocity: he peaked at 99 mph with his four-seam fastball and averaged 97.4 mph with the pitch. It was a jump of 2.7 mph from last season.
Senga recorded 16 swings and misses, seven of which were on his four-seam fastball. His forkball was used as a strikeout pitch three times. The other six strikeouts he produced were on fastballs.
“The last time I was out on the mound and in the dugout I had to be thinking about my body and making sure it was going to do what I needed it to do,” Senga said, referring to last season. “But on the flip side today I didn’t have to worry about any of that. I can face hitters and I really felt like a starting pitcher again.”
Senga struck out the side in the second, but the Cardinals jumped on him with three straight hard-hit balls in the third that produced two runs.
Victor Scott II launched a leadoff double beyond Luis Robert Jr.’s outstretched glove in left-center to start the rally. JJ Wetherholt delivered an RBI single and Ivan Herrera hammered a double, extending the Cardinals’ lead to 2-0. But Senga retired the next three batters to keep Herrera, who got as far as third base, stranded.
“Hindsight is 20/20: It was a mixture of pitch selection and location,” Senga said of the Cardinals’ three hits in the inning. “But at the end of the day giving up the first runs in the game isn’t always a good sign, so that is something to work on.”
Senga retired eight straight batters before walking Herrera with two outs in the fifth. Alec Burleson followed with a walk, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Justin Willard. The right-hander responded by retiring Masyn Winn to end the threat.
“If he’s healthy, we’re going to see this a lot,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “A lot of guys saw 2023 and we have just got to make sure he recovers well and he continues to feel well because that is electric.”
Soto doubled leading off the sixth against Andre Pallante and Bichette walked. But the rally died facing reliever Gordon Graceffo, who retired Robert Jr. before Young hit a line drive to shortstop and Bichette was late retreating to first base and got doubled up to end the inning.
Richard Lovelady needed only two pitches in the seventh to sink the Mets further in the hole: Ramon Urias blasted a homer leading off the inning to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 3-0.
