Kodai Senga weathers Pirates storm, Brett Baty notches go-ahead homer in Mets' 2-1 win

Kodai Senga worked himself around trouble in a solid outing and Brett Baty cranked a solo home run in the seventh to give the Mets a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night at Citi Field.

Senga and the four men who followed out of the bullpen gave the visitors chances, but held them to 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position to leave 12 men on base. New York improved to 28-15 on the season and 17-4 in Queens. The Mets are now 10-8 in one-run games.

Here are the takeaways…

– Senga bookended a 1-2-3 first by getting Adam Frazier swinging on a forkball in the dirt and blowing a fastball past Bryan Reynolds.

Ke’Bryan Hayes would jump on a fastball on the inside corner for a one-out triple to left center in the second, benefiting from Tyrone Taylor losing his feet on the track. But the righty got a pop-up to shallow center, tracked down by Baty (playing second base), and Jared Triolo to wave at a forkball in the dirt to strand the runner.  

After a one-out single to right, Frazier slapped a ball to third that ate up Mark Vientos, skipping off the ground into his chest to put runners at second and third. Senga again got out of trouble, making Isiah Kiner-Falefa look foolish on a forkball in the dirt before inducing a grounder to Vientos to strand two.

Senga put himself in trouble again with a walk and a single to cover the corners with nobody out. But the Houdini act continued as Alexander Canario, Triolo, and Ji HwanBae all went down swinging at the forkball. A one-out walk and a wild pitch put another Pirate in scoring position in the fifth, but Senga got a groundout to third and a lazy fly to right. Through 15 outs, Pittsburgh was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position with six left on base.

A two-out single in the sixth brought Carlos Mendoza to the mound to take Senga’s temperature, but the righty got one more batter. Unfortunately, Triolo smacked a ball that went through the webbing of Vientos’ glove to put runners at second and third on the double. 

Reed Garrett entered and had trouble, walking Bae on four-straight to load the bases and got ahead of Henry Davis 0-2, but walked in the tying run, missing on four straight. A weak grounder to first ended the jam and left the bases loaded. 

Senga’s final line: 5.2 innings, one run, six hits, two walks, seven strikeouts on 102 pitches (68 strikes). His ERA jumped to 1.22 on the year.

– Juan Soto rocketed a ball right up the middle for a hit in the first inning. He promptly swiped second base easily off Pirates starter Mitch Keller, who does not hold runners well. With two down, Brandon Nimmo lined a double to the left-center gap on a lovely swing to take the ball the other way and plate the game’s first run. 

Keller settled in and retired nine of the next 11 batters he faced, including getting Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso swinging for the second time of the night each. (Soto worked a walk in the third and Vientos got the Mets’ second hit of the game with a one-out single in the fourth.)

Lindor and Alonso both finished 0-for-4. Soto 1-for-2 with two walks.

– Baty smacked a single through the right side to start the home half of the fifth, but Keller continued to groove, retiring the next eight batters. That streak came to an end when Baty lined an opposite-field home run that just got over the left field wall. The 365-foot shot (104.4 mph off the bat) gave the Mets a 2-1 lead and a much-needed big hit.

 – Max Kranick needed eight pitches for a perfect seventh with a strikeout. Ryne Stanek allowed a one-out single, but two strikeouts and an infield pop-up meant it would be a Mets lead in the ninth.

Edwin Diaz put himself in trouble in the ninth. After a one-out four-pitch walk, Frazier promptly swiped second base and a slow bouncer to Lindor was gloved, but a wide throw pulled Alonso off the bag. Diaz allowed his second first-pitch steal of the inning to put two in scoring position.

But the closer froze Reynolds on a 3-2 fastball that was right down the pike and got Joey Bart to line a grounder up the middle right at Luisangel Acuña to end the game.

Game MVP: Brett Baty

Baty played well at second (before moving to third for the ninth inning) and now has six hits (four homers) in his last 13 at-bats with seven RBI.

Highlights

What’s next

The series concludes on Wednesday with a 7:10 p.m. first pitch. Right-hander Clay Holmes (2.74 ERA, 1.242 WHIP in 42.2 innings) gets the ball and will go against left-hander Bailey Falter (4.36 ERA, 1.131 WHIP in 43.1 innings).

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