New York Mets vs. Miami Marlins Pick & Prediction SEPTEMBER 20th 2023
New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga probably isn't the pitcher the Miami Marlins want to see right now.
The Marlins (79-73), who are a half-game behind the Chicago Cubs for the third and final wild-card berth in the National League, will host the Mets (70-81) on Wednesday evening in the finale of their three-game series.
Jacob Hoffman
But Senga is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA in two starts against the Marlins this season.
Then again, Senga has been good against just about everybody this year, as he is 11-7 with a 2.95 ERA overall.
In fact, he likely is contention for NL Rookie of the Year honors and also the Cy Young Award.
"He's got to be thought about for those awards. He has to be in the discussion," Mets manager Buck Showalter said of Senga, a 30-year-old who won 104 games with a 2.42 ERA while playing pro baseball in his native Japan from 2012-22.
"A lot of those awards are decided by how you end your season, and he's doing his part."
Showalter is right.
Senga is 4-2 with a 2.47 ERA in 11 starts in the second half of this season. Better yet, he is 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three September starts.
Using his famed "ghost forkball" and a 95-to-99-mph fastball, Senga is one of just two pitchers in the majors this year with an ERA lower than 3.00 and a strikeout rate of at least 11 batters per nine innings. The other is San Diego's Blake Snell, a favorite for the NL Cy Young Award.
Senga, however, will face a Marlins team that has won four of its past five games, including a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Mets on Tuesday night.
Marlins manager Skip Schumaker was thrilled with the win even though his team made two errors and one glaring base-running mistake.
"Not all wins are pretty," he said. "That was not our cleanest game. It was messy."
The Marlins played on Tuesday without star second baseman Luis Arraez, who leads the majors with a .354 batting average. He sprained his left ankle after bobbling a ball and stepping on it during pre-game fielding practice and is considered day-to-day.
The Marlins also got a scare in the seventh inning when reliever A.J. Puk was hit in the back by a 97-mph liner off the bat of New York's Brandon Nimmo.
However, Schumaker said after the game that Puk is "fine."
On Wednesday, the Marlins will start rookie right-hander Eury Perez (5-5, 3.06 ERA). Perez, 20, has fared well at home, posting a 3-1 record with a 1.69 ERA in eight starts.
However, the slender 6-foot-8, 220-pound phenom seemingly has run out of gas in the second half of the season. He went 5-3 with a 2.36 ERA in 11 first-half starts. In seven second-half starts, he is 0-2 with a 4.11 ERA.
Perez has yet to face the Mets in his career.
On the injury front, the Marlins saw the return of outfielder Bryan De La Cruz on Tuesday. After missing four straight games due to a right ankle injury, he went 1-for-4.
For the Mets, rookie third baseman Brett Baty missed his sixth straight game due to a groin injury.
--Field Level Media
New York Mets vs. Miami Marlins Recap APR 2TH 2023
Right-hander Kodai Senga struck out eight batters in his MLB debut, leading the New York Mets to a 5-1 win over the host Miami Marlins on Sunday afternoon.
Mets backup center fielder Tommy Pham went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and one walk as New York took three out of four games in this season-opening series. Pham finished a triple short of the cycle.
Senga (1-0), who played 11 years of pro ball in Japan, is considered an MLB rookie at age 30. He allowed three hits, three walks and one run in 5 1/3 innings. All eight of his strikeouts came on his best pitch, which has been called a "ghost forkball" because it disappears out of the zone.
Marlins starter Trevor Rogers (0-1) lasted just 4 1/3 innings, allowing four hits, two walks and four runs, three earned. He struck out four.
New York opened the scoring with two runs in the first. Pham hit a leadoff single and was erased on Francisco Lindor's would-be double-play grounder, but Marlins first baseman Yuli Gurriel dropped the relay throw.
Rogers then threw eight straight balls, walking Pete Alonso and Mark Canha to load the bases. With two outs, Jeff McNeil won a seven-pitch battle with Rogers, beating out a dribbler to the mound. Rogers was then charged with an error as his flip to first got past Gurriel, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. One run was unearned due to Rogers' error.
Miami's failure to complete the double play -- while not an error -- cost Rogers 20 extra pitches as well as the two runs.
Miami cut its deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the first as leadoff batter Luis Arraez singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Jorge Soler's double.
The Marlins went on in the same inning to load the bases with no outs as Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Avisail Garcia drew walks.
But after a mound visit, Senga struck out Gurriel and Jesus Sanchez before getting Jon Berti to line out to right.
The Mets stretched their lead to 4-1 in the fifth as Tim Locastro was hit by a pitch ahead of Pham's homer, which traveled 433 feet to left-center. He hit a 1-0 fastball.
Locastro was hit by a pitch again in the seventh. This time, he scored on Pham's double that eluded center fielder Chisholm, who was charging in and just missed the ball. This is Chisholm's first year as an outfielder.
Arraez accounted for two of the Marlins' four hits.
--Field Level Media