Kodai Senga injury: After sustaining a left calf strain, the Mets starter misses his first start of the season.
Senga had a shoulder injury during spring training that has kept him out of action for the whole season. The much-anticipated season debut of right-hander Kodai Senga of the New York Mets ended abruptly due to an injury during his start on Friday night.
The Mets declared that Senga had strained his left calf and exited the game. He was hurt in the sixth inning of the Atlanta Braves game when he raced off the mound to avoid an infield pop up (GameTracker).
The injury is shown here. Senga collapsed with his calf in his hand after what appeared to be an innocent play. Senga was excellent in his 2024 debut before the injury, allowing the Braves to score just two runs on two hits and a walk in five and a half innings.
He had only thrown 72 pitches and had already struck out nine. Senga was unable to play in the spring due to an injury on his shoulder capsule. Prior to his comeback, he made four minor-league rehab starts and gave up six runs in 13 innings pitched.
Senga is dealing with a calf problem, while the Mets lost valued rookie Christian Scott to a UCL sprain last week. With Senga joining them in a six-man rotation, New York still has five starters and won’t necessarily need to find a replacement. The other starters in the lineup are Sean Manaea, Tyler Megill, David Peterson, Jose Quintana, and Luis Severino.
Nevertheless, with José Buttó emerging as a key reserve pitcher, the Mets would be forced to use all of their available pitchers if Senga were to go on the injured list. In order to make room on the roster for Senga on Friday, the team assigned Adrian Houser, a capable swingman/spot starter. In Triple-A, they have veteran Joey Lucchesi on hand in case they need depth.
The Mets have a limited amount of time to find outside pitching assistance if they want to do so because Tuesday is, of course, the trade deadline. Even after getting Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek, they still need bullpen help, so maybe a depth starter is now on the shopping list. Too many arms are never enough.
Senga, who was signed by the Mets for the first time after playing for 11 seasons with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in Japan, pitched 166 1/3 innings with a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts in his most recent season. In the previous offseason, he signed a five-year, $75 million contract with New York.
The Mets held a 54-48 record going into Friday’s game, and since the perhaps arbitrary date of June 3, they had a 30-13 record. In baseball at the time, that record stood as the best.