Kodai Senga Struggles in Saturday’s Rehab Outing

Kodai Senga took the mound in Syracuse for his fourth and potentially final rehab start on Saturday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t anywhere near as dominant as his third, and Senga was pulled in the fourth after throwing 79 pitches.

The back-breaking inning for Senga came in the fourth. After three scoreless innings against the Rochester Red Wings (Nationals), Senga failed to record an out.

The inning started with a bloop double to former Met Travis Blankenhorn and single by Joey Meneses. Brady House then followed with a no-doubt homer to left on a hanging slider.

Even after the bases were cleared and Senga was given a clean slate, it got worse. Drew Millas followed with a double and came home to score on a single by Stone Garrett. Then Garrett came home to score after he advanced to second on a wild pitch and was driven in by a Dylan Crews single up the middle.

Five runs in a blink of an eye. And Senga couldn’t record an out in the fourth inning. It went about as poor as one could imagine.

Still, the results aren’t what’s important. Senga reaching the high pitch count with no health issues is what the Mets were looking for.

Kodai Senga struggled tonight in his rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse:

3+ IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 79 pitches/47 strikes

Average fastball velo was down a bit tonight at 94.1 and max was 95.7.

— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) July 20, 2024

The arm looked healthy while throwing. Senga’s average velocity was down, but he was still sitting 94 miles per hour and reached 95. The slider and ghost fork flashed their former selves at times, but errant control in the fourth bit Senga.

It wasn’t pretty, but it might be enough to send Senga back to the majors. On Friday, Carlos Mendoza stated that Senga could join the Mets if everything went well in his rehab start on Saturday. Barring any news of injury after today’s start, there’s no reason to believe Senga would stay in Syracuse.

It’s also worth mentioning that Senga was facing an above-average Rochester lineup. It featured multiple names that have had cups of coffee in the majors, and was headlined by MLB Pipelines No. 4 Prospect Dylan Crews.

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