Kodai

Senga

Senga struck out two batters in a perfect ninth inning. He picked up his eighth save despite Devin Williams being activated earlier in the day. It appears Senga is still the favorite for saves with the Mets. New York has five more games remaining this week.

Williams ended up missing six weeks with a shoulder strain. He figures to make a couple of structured appearances this week, likely prior to the ninth inning. Kodai Senga is likely still the favorite for saves in the Mets pen.

Senga entered the ninth inning with a three-run lead and gave up back-to-back one-out doubles before recording back-to-back strikeouts to end the game. The Marlins brought the tying run to the plate, but it was still another relatively low-stress outing for the fill-in closer Senga, who now has seven saves.

Senga’s save was his sixth of the season. He recorded one strikeout in a perfect ninth inning. Senga has converted all six of his save opportunities for the Mets since he started closing games in August.

Senga got the call to protect a one-run lead in the final frame and made things interesting by issuing a leadoff walk to Jonny DeLuca. He bounced back by getting Richie Palacious to ground into a fielder’s choice before coaxing a fly out from Taylor Walls and striking out Yandy Díaz to end it. It was a nice bounce-back for Senga after giving up a walk-off homer to the White Sox in his previous save chance last weekend.

This leaves Senga 0-9 on the season. This was the first time Senga had pitched on back-to-back days since being moved to the pen (and, obviously, also before that.) His velocity was down a tad on his nine pitches, the last of which was a fastball hit for a walkoff homer by Tristan Peters. It’s a bad result, but he still hasn’t blown a save in four tries and he should keep closing for the Mets for now.

Senga got into big trouble in the ninth, allowing three straight to reach with one out, but the Padres then made the baffling decision to have Austin Hays bat for Sung-Mun Song, and Hays, who last collected a hit against a right-hander on May 1, grounded into game-ending double play. The run Senga allowed was the first he’s given up in six appearances this month.

Kodai Senga was given the night off after working two of the previous three days. Duarte, on the other hand, was allowed to make it three out of four days. He should rest Tuesday, with Senga likely back available for the ninth.

Senga now has all three of the Mets’ saves since August 10. Devin Williams is on the IL with a strained shoulder, and his absence isn’t expected to be long. It remains to be seen whether Senga sticks in the ninth once Williams returns. For now, the veteran right-hander is having success, which hasn’t always been the case in recent years. His only appearances since Williams went down have come in save situations.

Senga is the Mets closer right now. This is the second lead he was tasked to protect this week and he’s secured both opportunities. This one got a bit hairy as he let the tying run come to the plate in a three-run game. Still, he got out of it with a nasty ghost fork and looks like a relatively trustworthy ninth inning option moving forward.