NEW YORK — A rollicking night at Citi Field was interrupted in the sixth inning when Kodai Senga, making his first start of the season, collapsed to the turf holding his left calf.
Senga suffered the injury while getting out of the way of an infield popup. He immediately grabbed for the calf and stayed on the grass for a couple of minutes before walking off on his own. The Mets announced the injury as a left calf strain for Senga.
A strain means a trip to the injured list is imminent for Senga. How long he’ll be out depends on the severity of it — in which case, his ability to walk off the field could be a good sign. Some pitchers return from a calf strain in about 15 to 20 days. Others can take months. The Mets’ two calf strains last year, for Omar Narváez and Luis Guillorme, knocked each player out for two months.
Before the injury, Senga had been submitting a fine debut performance. After surrendering a blistering two-run homer to the Braves’ Adam Duvall in the second, Senga retired 12 of the final 13 hitters he faced. He racked up nine strikeouts on the night compared to one walk, getting his fastball by batters in the zone and inducing chase on his trademark forkball.
The Mets led at the time of Senga’s departure 8-2; a win would see them leapfrog Atlanta into the top wild card in the National League. New York was 10 games behind Atlanta as recently as June 2.
Any additional time Senga misses would be critical to the Mets, who have been counting on the return of their ace to buttress their rotation. New York has missed having a frontline, bat-missing ace all season, and Senga’s imminent return had left the club fairly comfortable with the state of its starting rotation ahead of the trade deadline.
The Mets already placed rookie starter Christian Scott on the 15-day IL earlier this week with a right elbow strain.
(Photo: Pamela Smith / Associated Press)
