Kodai Senga dazzles in MLB debut after rocky first inning

MIAMI — Kodai Senga didn’t anticipate any nerves in his MLB debut, but once he stood on the mound for the first time, they started to overtake him.

“My legs felt like a ghost,” he said.

Senga was lights-out through 4 1/3 innings in his MLB debut, not counting the first one.

A rough first inning ended with a win in the Japanese right-hander’s debut Sunday at loanDeport Park. Senga (1-0) settled in to look like the dominant pitcher he was in Japan, limiting the Miami Marlins to only a single run over 5 1/3 innings, striking out eight and walking three in the Mets’ 5-1 win.

He joined Matt Harvey and Collin McHugh as the only Mets pitchers to strike out eight or more hitters and allow one or fewer runs in their MLB debut. His eight strikeouts are tied for the fourth-most by a Japanese pitcher in their first Major League game, with only three others posting more: Kazuhisa Ishii (10 on April 6, 2002), Daisuke Matsuzaka (10 on April 7, 2007) and Hideki Irabu (nine on July 10, 1997).

“Step by step, I got more more used to the moment,” Senga said. “(Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner’s) mound visit helped and a lot of guys kept giving me words of confidence, especially Francisco (Lindor), he was really good with that.”

Lindor didn’t have to say much, he just needed the pitcher to make sure he trusted his own stuff.

“I said, ‘I got your back,’” Lindor said. “And don’t ever apologize.”

Tommy Pham went 3-for-4 with his first home run of the season off Marlins left-hander Trevor Rogers (0-1) and also had a double, two RBI, a walk, a run scored and a stolen base.

The Mets spotted Senga a 2-0 lead in the first, thanks to an RBI single by Jeff McNeil and an error by Rogers. It looked as though that lead would be erased when threw 28 pitches before even recording an out. His control was all over the place and he was falling behind in counts.

Senga fell behind on 2022 AL batting champ Luis Arraez, the Marlins’ leadoff man, before evening the count and trying to put him away with the vaunted ghost fork. Arraez poked it up the middle.

The next ghost fork got past catcher Tomas Nido and Arraez advanced on the wild pitch, putting him in position to score easily on Jorge Soler’s double to right field.

With the Mets’ lead cut in half, Senga issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. The Mets got Stephen Nogosek up in the bullpen, but told him to hold off on throwing.

“One more hitter and we would have moved quickly,” Showalter said. Was this what the Mets were paying Senga $75 million over five years for? Players don’t come over from Japan or anywhere else with the guarantee that they will succeed. The only thing guaranteed is the money the teams are paying them.

With the bases loaded and none out, it was natural to wonder, would Senga become yet another Mets mistake?

But then Yuli Gurriel was so flummoxed on a forkball he swung through strike three and lost control of his bat. Senga retired the next two in order to get out of the inning with only one run allowed.

“Once I got into a little bit of a pinch, I started to settle down and calm myself down a little bit,” Senga said.

Senga pitched around a leadoff walk ing the second inning. McNeil made a fantastic flip to turn an inning-ending double play. He needed only seven pitches to get through the third inning. A defensive adjustment suggested by first base coach Wayne Kirby helped Starling Marte run down a sinking line drive in right field for the final out. Senga raised his fists to salute him.

“A couple plays were made behind him where he kind of got out of that stoic look,” Showalter said. You could tell how much the competitive part meant to him.”

The ghost fork plays: He threw eight of them for third strikes.

“A lot of swings and misses on that,” Pham said. “I had a center field view and based on their swings, it was disgusting. The ball was just falling off the table.”

Pham was inserted into the lineup to spell Brandon Nimmo for a day, batting leadoff and playing center field. His home run came in the fifth after Tim Locastro was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He took Rogers back 433 feet to put the Mets up 4-1. Pham doubled home Locastro in the sixth inning after the outfielder was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, this time by Huascar Brazoban.

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