Kodai Senga allowed two runs in 2 2/3 innings Saturday against the Cardinals in his spring debut.
Senga gave up a couple of homers, though one of those was a 341-footer from Miguel Ugueto that wasn’t even a hard-hit ball. He allowed just one other hit, walked none and struck out two. He topped out at 98.9 mph, and his 18 fastballs averaged 96.7 mph, which is two mph better than last year. Obviously, that’s pretty encouraging. The league hit .273 and slugged .530 against Senga’s fastball when he averaged 94.7 mph last year. When he averaged 95.7 mph as an MLB rookie in 2023, the league hit .243 and slugged .397 against the pitch.