Senga settles in, but early homers loom large

NEW YORK -- It looked like right-hander Kodai Senga was in for a short outing on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field after laboring early. But he settled down and pitched into the seventh inning. Going deep into the game, however, didn’t help the Mets in a 5-3 loss to the Cardinals.

The first three innings for Senga were troublesome as he allowed four runs without his best forkball. In the first inning, St. Louis had the bases loaded with two outs, but Senga managed to get out of the jam without allowing a run by striking out Nolan Gorman.

After Brandon Nimmo gave New York a 1-0 lead with a leadoff home run off right-hander Adam Wainwright in the bottom of the inning, Senga was hurt in the top of the second when Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run home run to give St. Louis a two-run lead.

Senga was burned by the long ball once again when he allowed a solo homer to Jordan Walker in the third to make it a 4-1 game.

“Missed location to good hitters,” Senga said through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara. “I knew I couldn’t throw it to those hitters. I happened to miss my location and threw it there. That’s what led to those longer hits.”

But Senga settled down and held the Cardinals scoreless for the next 3 2/3 innings before right-hander Jeff Brigham entered the game.

“I think mechanically, the first three innings, I was a little bit off. As the game went on, I was able to make adjustments on the fly,” Senga said.

Mets manager Buck Showalter praised Senga’s work against St. Louis. Senga went deep in the game knowing New York was short in the bullpen. The club is playing a man down with reliever Drew Smith suspended for 10 games after being ejected for using sticky substances against the Yankees this past Tuesday.

“It’s so easy to constantly come down [to the podium] and say Senga gave us a chance to win, but he battled through [the game],” Showalter said. “I don’t have much fault with him. He handled himself well again. He had a very competitive outing. He got us deep in the game, which is really important being [that we are] short in the bullpen. A job well done that gave us a chance today. He pitched very competitively.”

Showalter continued his praise by saying that Senga is a mentally tough guy and doesn’t let adversity bother him, which he proved on Saturday. According to Showalter, it helps that Senga has respect for the competition.

“He doesn’t let it consume him and he doesn’t get intimidated by it,” the skipper said. “Whatever happens -- good or bad -- he keeps pitching. I would have liked him to get through the seventh inning, but he had given us what he could.”

Wainwright, on the other hand, picked up his third victory of the season, pitching 6 1/3 innings and allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks.

“He’s tough,” said Mark Canha, who played first and went 0-for-3 against Wainwright. “He just knows how to pitch. He doesn’t make too many mistakes. That makes it tough when any guy does that. He’s crafty. He throws three different pitches for strikes. He kind of stays away from the hot zones of the hitters. He knows how to locate everything so he doesn’t get hurt too badly.”