Mets fail to get big hit as they fall to Marlins in Kodai Senga's first start of season

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Apr 1, 2025

Published in Baseball

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MIAMI — This was where it all started for Kodai Senga two years ago. A heralded veteran out of Japan making his MLB debut, Senga kicked off a stellar season with a Mets win over the Miami Marlins, showcasing the infamous “ghost fork” that everyone in baseball had been talking about.

Senga’s journey back to the Miami mound wasn’t easy. He pitched only 10 1/3 innings over the course of the 2024 calendar year, with five of those innings coming in the postseason, when it wasn’t clear if he was even ready for competitive action after a year of battling a shoulder injury and a calf strain. His first outing of 2025 wasn’t necessarily easy for him either, with the Marlins taking four runs (two earned) off of him in a 4-2 loss Tuesday night at LoanDepot Park.

Still, it was a big moment for the Mets to have their ace back. He faced Miami’s own ace, Sandy Alcantara, one of the best in the National League, and had it not been for a ball that took bad hops on Francisco Lindor, they would have been toe-to-toe the entire way. They each went five innings and allowed a pair of earned runs. Alcantara (1-0) struck out four and didn’t allow a single walk in 70 pitches, while Senga struck out eight and walked one using 77 pitches.

The Marlins (4-2) jumped on Senga right away in the first inning, with leadoff hitter Xavier Edwards doubling and Kyle Stowers hitting a two-run homer before the right-hander even recorded an out. But Brandon Nimmo hit his second home run in as many nights to lead off the second inning to cut the lead. Luisangel Acuña hit a ground-rule double in the third and a one-out single by Lindor sent him home to even the score at 2-2.

Senga (0-1) countered by retiring the side in order in the bottom of the third, and Alcantara did the same to the Mets in the top of the fourth. But in the bottom of the inning, Otto Lopez hit a hard grounder to Lindor at shortstop, and the ball kicked off his glove. It was similar to what happened in the bottom of the second, when Dane Myers hit a chopper to Lindor. He charged the ball in the dirt but it bounced right off of the glove.

Myers was then caught stealing to end the inning. But the Mets couldn’t get around the fourth-inning error.

Senga struck out Matt Mervis for the first out, and Griffin Conine grounded into a force-out for the second. Jonah Bride worked the count full before getting ball four, and Graham Pauley cleared the bases with a deep double to left field.

Mervis also had a ball bounce off of his glove in the top of the seventh, when Jesse Winker took a two-out, 2-1 sinker from Ronny Henriquez down the line on the right side. Luis Torrens, who came into the contest with three extra-base hits in his first four games of the season, hit a deep fly to center field, but it was short of a home run. Myers camped out underneath for the third out.

Max Kranick held the Fish scoreless the rest of the way, giving the Mets a chance to come back. They put two on with one out in the ninth against Anthony Veneziano, a rookie right-hander from New Jersey, but the Marlins then went to the bullpen for right-hander Anthony Bender to counter Mark Vientos.

But Vientos hit one directly to Conine in right field, and Winker hit a grounder to first base.

The series is tied 1-1, and concludes Wednesday afternoon with right-hander Clay Holmes facing right-hander Connor Gillispie, the last of six straight road games to start the season for the Mets.