Baseball

Kodai Senga Closes Out His Strong Rookie Year by Allowing Two Runs; Marlins Beat Mets 4-2

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
New York Mets’ Kodai Senga, of Japan, pitches during the first inning in the second baseball game of a doubleheader against the Miami Marlins, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, in New York.

Reuters

12:13 JST, September 28, 2023

Xavier Edwards scored the tie-breaking run on an error in the ninth inning Wednesday night for the visiting Miami Marlins, who climbed into a tie for the final National League wild card spot by edging the New York Mets 4-2 in the second game of a doubleheader.

Pete Alonso went 4-for-4 with a homer and four runs scored in the opener as the Mets (72-86) rolled to an 11-2 win.

That result dropped the Marlins a game behind the Chicago Cubs in the race for the third wild card. But the Cubs fell to the Atlanta Braves 6-5 in 10 innings shortly before Andrew Nardi threw a hitless ninth to close out Miami’s win in the nightcap.

The Marlins and Cubs are both 82-76, but Miami would win the tiebreaker by virtue of a 4-2 win in the season series.

Edwards singled leading off the ninth against Adam Ottavino (1-7) and stole second before going to third on Jon Berti’s single. After Josh Bell was intentionally walked, Yuri Gurriel hit a slow roller to third that was bobbled twice by Brett Baty as Edwards raced home for the lead.

Bryan De La Cruz laced an RBI single one out later.

Matt Moore (5-1) threw a scoreless eighth before Nardi earned his third save.

Berti led the game off with a homer, while Jesus Sanchez gave the Marlins another short-lived lead with a two-out shot in the fourth inning.

Miami starter Johnny Cueto allowed two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out four over 4 1/3 innings.

Francisco Lindor hit a pair of solo homers for the Mets to become the third major leaguer this season with 30 homers and 30 steals. Lindor, who has 30 stolen bases, is the fifth Mets player to record a 30/30 season and the first to do so since David Wright had 30 homers and 34 stolen bases in 2007.

Mets starter Kodai Senga closed out his strong rookie year by allowing two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out eight over five innings. Senga finished 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts.

He is the first rookie to post a sub-3.00 ERA and 200 strikeouts since Hideo Nomo did so for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995.