A night full of forward momentum as the Mets edge the Mariners 2-1

Ronny Mauricio had two hits, Brett Baty singled in his return, and Kodai Senga continued his masterful season as the Mets played spoiler to the Mariners

Michael Baron

Sep 2, 2023

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets edged the Mariners by a score of 2-1 at Citi Field on Friday (box)
Kodai Senga fanned 12 batters over seven innings while allowing just a run on five hits
Brandon Nimmo homered in the sixth and Daniel Vogelbach laced a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth against Andrés Muñoz to give the Mets the lead for good
Ronny Mauricio made his big league debut on Friday, and laced a double and a single over his first three at-bats
Brett Baty also made his return from Triple-A and singled in three tries

Kodai Senga! 👻

His 12 strikeouts on Friday tied a career-high
Joins Dwight Gooden (six) as the only Mets rookie with three or more starts of 12 or more strikeouts
Joins Hideo Nomo (5), Kerry Wood (5) and Spencer Strider (3) as the only rookies with three or more starts of 12 or more strikeouts in the Wild Card Era (Since 1995)
His 176 strikeouts this season moved him into third all-time for most strikeouts by a Mets rookie pitcher passing Noah Syndergaard (166), Jon Matlack (169) and Tom Seaver (170)
Senga is three strikeouts shy of passing Jerry Koosman for second all-time for most strikeouts by a Mets rookie.
Became the first Mets rookie pitcher to have back-to-back double-digit strikeout games since Noah Synderagaard on September 25 - October 3, 2015
Per Elias, Senga is the first Japanese-born rookie to accomplish the feat since Masahiro Tanaka did so from June 11 - 17, 2014

Ronny Mauricio! 🧨

Recorded a double in his first big league plate appearance - the 117.3 mph exit velocity was the hardest hit ball by a Met in 2023 and was the fourth hardest hit ball by a Met in the StatCast Era
Per Sarah Langs, Mauricio’s first big league hit was the hardest-hit first career hit by any player to debut since the Statcast Era began
Became the first Met since Steven Matz to have a multi-hit game in his MLB debut (6/28/2015)

Roster Moves 🗞️

Recalled INF Ronny Mauricio from Triple-A Syracuse
Recalled INF Brett Baty from Triple-A Syracuse
Recalled RHP José Buttó from Triple-A Syracuse
Optioned INF Denny Mendick to Triple-A Syracuse

Prospect Watch 🔎

INF Wilfredo Lara (Single-A St. Lucie): 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI
INF JT Schwartz (Double-A Binghamton): 3-for-4, 2 RBI, R
RHP Layonel Ovalles (Single-A Brooklyn): 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 6 K

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (62-73) vs. Mariners (76-58)

Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY

Starting pitchers: LHP David Peterson (3-7, 5.23 ERA) vs. RHP Luis Castillo (11-7, 3.01 ERA)

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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A rare progressive day in 2023 for the Mets ✍️

There haven’t been too many days like Friday in 2023 for the Mets. In fact, I don’t think I can recall any that demonstrated so much promise this season.

The 2023 season has been so much one step forward, two steps backwards, hence why the club is where it is in last place in the National League East.

But on Friday, the Mets brought back Brett Baty and finally decided to bring up Ronny Mauricio, who had been nothing short of electric in the minor leagues throughout the season.

It was arguably at least a month - if not two months - too late for Mauricio, although Mets GM Billy Eppler continued to insist they wanted to see more from Mauricio. That could mean a number of things from a maturity perspective to improvements defensively at positions other than shortstop. But there should never have been any question about Mauricio’s switch hitting abilities, and his offense was on full display on Friday night with an electrifying performance (literally, as I think lightening came off his bat for his first big league hit).

Yes, it’s just one night, but between Mauricio’s debut and Brett Baty’s return and improved demeanor, it was a night of much needed progress for the youth movement of this club. What it means going forward is anyone’s guess but it’s time to see what these two plus Mark Vientos have at this level, for better or for worse.

It’s been a while since a Mets hitter was up there with a little bit of glitz and pizazz too, and he’s the first with any sort of hype since Francisco Álvarez made his big league debut last year.

Then there was Kodai Senga who continued to make his run to the top of the rookie leaderboards on Friday. He has gotten so much better in a very short span of time. Recall at the beginning of the season that Senga wasn’t struggling so much with his performance as much as he was struggling to really find his footing in these games. There were times he didn’t look comfortable at all out there and now he very much has am, “hold my beer” presence on the mound to him. That ghost fork is utterly filthy, his efficiency has improved dramatically and he’s pitching like an established veteran who’s been doing this (here, anyway) for 15 years.

I still think Senga profiles as a 2-3 starter in this league, which is more than fine given what he’s shown. He might end up being the Mets no. 1 starter next year depending on what they do in free agency, but we will see how it shakes out. Senga’s certainly not a part of why the Mets are where they are this season, and very much a part of any future solution, as he’s shown during the course of the 2023 season.

It was a fun night, it was an interesting night, and this club needs a lot more of both during the season’s final month. And Mauricio should help do just that for them, one way or another.

Around the League 🚩

All three AL West title contenders lost last night - the Yankees and Jason Dominguez beat Justin Verlander and the Astros 6-2, and the Twins beat the Rangers 5-1 despite six shutout innings from Max Scherzer
The Braves beat the Dodgers again, this time by a score of 6-3 at Dodger Stadium for their second straight win in that series
The Brewers edged the Phillies 7-5 in Milwaukee thanks to a bases-clearing error in the eighth inning