Carlos Mendoza knew he only had Kodai Senga for 70 pitches Friday night.
The right-hander made just one rehab outing prior to being activated from the injured list, and with the All-Star break looming the team didn’t want to push him too far as he made his highly-anticipated return.
Still, Senga was terrific across his four innings of work.
The Royals certainly put him to the test as they put runners on base in each frame against him, but as has been the case all season long, he battled and made tough pitches when the Mets needed him to.
It started in the bottom of the first when the first two runners reached on a single and a double, then he used a pair of strikeouts and a liner right back through the box to help him escape the inning unscathed.
“I was a little nervous getting back out on a big-league mound for the first time in a little bit,” Senga admitted through a translator. “Those two runners got on early and I thought to myself this is not a good look for me, and somehow I was able to get out of it.”
After seemingly settling down, he found himself in trouble again after issuing back-to-back two out walks in the second, but he was able to dance out of danger again with some help from a nifty play by Ronny Mauricio at the hot corner.
Kansas City pieced together another two-out rally with a pair of knocks in the third, but Senga went to work and quickly eliminated rookie Jac Caglianone with four consecutive nasty forkballs out of the zone.
He finished his day with a perfect fourth — closing his line with no runs allowed on four hits and a pair of walks while striking out four to lower his ERA to a stellar 1.39 on the year.
“I thought he was really good,” Mendoza said. “First inning they made him work right away, second ands third nobody out and he gets out of it. I thought the fastball had life, the split was really good and got them to chase, the cutter, the slider — everything.
“He looked like he didn’t miss a beat, that’s a really good sign heading into the break.”
That certainly is a great sign for the Mets, who could desperately use both Senga and Sean Manaea healthy and leading the way at the top of their struggling rotation.
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