Kodai Senga's solid major league debut, Tommy Pham powers up, and what has been the glue for the Mets so far in 2023?
Kodai Senga had the ghost fork working after a shaky first inning, with 7 of his 8 strikeouts coming off his signature pitch
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets defeated the Marlins 5-1 to take their series from Miami (Box)
Kodai Senga suffered a shaky first but settled in nicely afterwards to pitch 5.1 innings while striking out eight with three walks and only one runs allowed
The bullpen was again stellar and did not give up a run after Senga exited. The combination of Dennis Santana, John Curtiss, and Stephen Nogosek nailed down the victory to give Senga his first major league win
Tommy Pham played center and hit leadoff in place of Brandon Nimmo and went 3-for-4 with a HR and three RBIs
Eduardo Escobar’s struggles continued to start the young season as he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts
Tim Locastro got the start in left and fit in nicely with this team by getting hit by a pitch. He also scored two runs
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets vs. Brewers
Where: American Family Field - Milwaukee, WI
Starters: RHP Carlos Carrasco vs. RHP Freddy Peralta
When: 2:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY, MLBN
The bullpen has looked good to start the season even without Edwin Díaz… ✍🏻
The news that Edwin Díaz would most likely miss the entire 2023 season was a massive blow to the team and fans alike. While no one could ever replace the electric closer, the group Billy Eppler put together in the offseason has been getting the job done early in the season.
Over the course of opening series against Miami, the bullpen pitched 13.2 innings, gave up one run, walked three, and struck out 16. John Curtiss was the only one who really struggled, but he bounced back strong in his second appearance and pitched a clean inning in the series finale on Sunday.
Drew Smith looked fantastic Opening Day, but after getting two quick outs in his second outing on Saturday, he struggled a bit and was picked up by Brooks Raley. David Robertson so far seems to have won Buck Showalter’s trust as the closer as well, picking up the save in the opener and closed out the day for Tylor Megill on Saturday in a non-save situation.
Both Tommy Hunter and Dennis Santana were solid in their bridge roles in getting to the back end of the bullpen as well.
All of this success was made possible by the work Billy Eppler has done putting this group of relievers together and creating quality depth in the middle innings which clearly has an ability to pitch higher-leverage innings. It’s early of course and four games is among the smallest of samples to analyze, and the Marlins lineup, while improved from a year ago, is not among the most formidable in baseball for sure.
But this organization has not had much success in developing relievers and piecing together bullpens as a whole, largely due to misusing relievers and poorly constructing that part of the pitching staff in general over the years.
Perhaps this one is a little different? So far, the bullpen has served as the club’s crazy glue.
If the bullpen can repeat the performance from this opening weekend and pick each other up, chances are the Mets will be in a good position at the end of the year.
Around the League 🚩
Old friend Dominic Smith helped lead the Nationals a 4-1 to victory over the Braves
Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner struggled in his first start, and now will be sent for an evaluation after he complained of arm fatigue
Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani hit back-to-back home runs that both travelled well over 400 ft. in a game the Angels managed to win 6-0
The Phillies were swept by the Rangers losing 2-1 in the final game of the series
The Red Sox finished off a sweep of the Orioles where they scored 27 runs in the series