Mets bats erupt and new additions shine in sunny Citi Field rout

Plus, should we be concerned about Kodai Senga?

(AP News)

What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets stomped the Giants on Saturday, 12-6 (box)

• RHP Kodai Senga struggled for a third straight outing, surrendering four runs on five hits in four innings, including three doubles and a homer

• 1B Pete Alonso smashed a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to open the scoring; he went 2-for-4 with the homer, a double, three RBI, and a walk

• SS Francisco Lindor had a huge day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with four RBI, including a two-out bases-loaded double in the seventh

• CF Cedric Mullins had an eventful starting debut, collecting his first hit, first stolen base, and first two runs as a Met

• The bullpen was lights out, turning in four scoreless innings in relief of Senga until an ultimately harmless ninth inning homer to Giants SS Willy Adames

• The offense went 8-for-17 with RISP

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Roster Moves 📰

• RHP Rico García designated for assignment

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Injury Updates 🏥

• LHP Brandon Waddell (Double-A, rehab): 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

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Stat of the Day 📊

• Pete Alonso’s first inning home run was the 250th of his career — he needs just three more to supplant Darryl Strawberry as the Mets’ new franchise home run leader

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Playoff Race 🏁

The Mets won and the Phillies lost on Saturday, and pushed 1/2 game ahead of the Phillies for first place in the National League East.

The Mets have seven games remaining against the Phillies - three at the end of August in New York, and four at the beginning of September in Philadelphia. They have won four of the first six games against the Phillies so far in 2025.

Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 95.2% chance of reaching the playoffs in 2025, although they have the fifth hardest schedule the rest of the way:

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Who’s Hot 🥵

• RHP Reed Garrett has been Mr. Reliable recently, delivering a 1.29 ERA, a 0.57 WHIP, and 10 strikeouts in his last seven innings of work

• C Francisco Álvarez looks increasingly confident at the plate, slashing .255/.356/.510 with three homers in his last 15 games

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Who’s Cold 🥶

• RF Juan Soto is hitting just .143/.250/.321 with 18 strikeouts in his last 15 games

• LF Brandon Nimmo has 11 strikeouts in his last 30 at-bats and is slashing .200/.273/.267 in his last seven games

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Play of the Game 🌟

Heading into Saturday’s game, Francisco Lindor was slumping badly. Hitting just .206 with a mere 16 RBIs in July, he was in desperate need of a breakout.

He got it.

Of Lindor’s four RBIs, this bunt single is the one I enjoyed watching most. In the bottom of the fourth inning, following a Brandon Nimmo RBI single, Lindor surprised the San Francisco defense by bunting an 0-1 slider in at the knees straight past the mound.

Giants 1B Dom Smith (one of many former Mets featured in this weekend’s series) fielded the ball, but turned to check Nimmo’s progress to second rather than trying to make a play at home. Baty scored, the Mets took the lead, and Lindor had his second RBI of the day.

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• LF Jared Young (Triple-A): 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 K

• C Hayden Senger (Triple-A): 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI

• DH Kevin Parada (Double-A): 2-for-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K

• C Chris Suero (No. 15 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RI

• RF Randy Guzman (Single-A): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL (Game 1) / (Game 2) | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG (Game 1) / (Game 2) | Triple-A SYR

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (63-48) vs. Giants (55-56)

Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY

Starters: RHP Frankie Montas (3-1, 5.46 ERA) vs. LHP Carson Whisenhunt (0-0, 7.20 ERA)

When: 1:40 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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The offense woke up, but is Kodai Senga okay? ✍️

NY Post

Yesterday’s game was one we all needed.

From Pete’s monstrous first-inning mash to multi-RBI days from Lindor and Nimmo, three of the Fab Four drove in 10 of the Mets’ 12 runs — hopefully a harbinger of better at-bats to come.

Speaking of Pete’s homer, let’s watch it again:

It’s important for us to take a moment every now and then to remember exactly what we’re watching with Alonso. We’re about to see the franchise’s greatest homegrown home run hitter claim his predestined crown. From his 53-homer rookie campaign to his legacy-sealing 2024 NL Wild Card bomb, the Polar Bear is as synonymous with the Mets as Tony Gwynn is with the Padres: equally as beloved, if not twice as powerful. Not every team is so lucky to have a guy like that in the clubhouse, let alone on the field and in the box every damn day.

Alonso’s homer set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. The Mets drove in their deluge of runs on 13 hits, with production showing up both early and often thanks to the bats of Lindor and Nimmo. With a comfortable lead that just kept getting bigger, the bullpen was able to back up Kodai Senga with a series of lights-out performances, including the scoreless debut of newly acquired RHP Tyler Rogers.

NY Post

Speaking of Senga…what’s going on there?

I’m not trying to sound alarms or declare a crisis (yet); the guy’s still rocking a 2.31 ERA. But it can’t be ignored that his last three starts have been a bit rough, to put it kindly:

• 7/21: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

• 7/28: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K

• 8/02: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

Before sustaining the June 12th hamstring injury that sidelined him for a month, Senga was one of the best pitchers in baseball. In his first 13 games, he was the proud owner of a 1.47 ERA with 70 strikeouts and just 12 earned runs over 73⅔ innings. He was holding batters to a .195/.283/.318 slash line with a measly .270 wOBA.

Since his return in July, he’s been less fortunate.

Though Senga looked Cy Young worthy to start the season, I wanted to go back through his available 2025 data to see if there have been any season-long regression patterns. I didn’t find much, honestly — on paper, much of his deeper statistical output this season has been on par with 2023’s performance.

That said, there were a few things that caught my eye:

His average fastball velo is down. Senga’s average velocity is down across his entire repertoire, but it’s the sharp dip in his fastball that catches my eye first. In 2023, his 95.7 mph average fastball velocity ranked in the 74th percentile; this year, it's down to 93.7 mph, placing him in the 40th percentile. As a result, it’s become a much more hittable pitch: opponents are slugging .538 with a .383 wOBA against it. Compare that to 2023’s much more manageable .399 SLG/.322 wOBA.

Opponents’ wOBA against Senga’s fastball in 2023 [L] vs. 2025 (Baseball Savant)

His pitch shapes have been too predictable. When looking at 3D pitch maps, Senga’s fastball and cutter shapes are virtually the same, give or take a few inches in vertical drop. Out of his hand, his fastball moves comparably to the league-average, with about half an inch more vertical break and arm-side run than the standard heater. However, when it’s being delivered at a below-league-average velocity, it’s to be expected that it’ll be hit harder and more frequently than before. The cutter, meanwhile, has a shape that almost mimics the fastball, arriving at the plate on a far straighter plane than it did previously. With this pitch coming in on hitters quite a bit slower than the fastball, it has become vastly easier for hitters to handle:

• Opp. vs. Cutter, 2023: .244 BA, .339 SLG, .320 wOBA, 18.5% Whiff, 8.8% K, 16.8% Put Away

• Opp. vs. Cutter, 2025: .271 BA, .424 SLG, .392 wOBA, 16.4% Whiff, 2.9% K, 6.9% Put Away

When a pitcher’s two most-used pitches are their two most hittable ones, there’s a clear adjustment that needs to be made.

His walks are up, while strikeouts are down. This is the biggest area for concern. Though he isn’t walking vastly more batters than he did in 2023, he’s striking out significantly fewer — down from a 29.1% strikeout rate to just 23.4% in 2025. Since there hasn’t been an accompanying change in his average pitches per inning or his WHIP, this testifies to an increase in wasted pitches. Senga’s also not performing as strongly when behind in the count this season, losing the walk/strikeout battle in full counts at a 2:1 clip (vs. 1.35:1 in 2023). It seems like he’s seeing more three-ball counts in general, which is certainly something to keep an eye on as we inch closer to October.

And still, despite the existence of these issues, none of them have plagued Senga to the point of collapse this season, until his recent return.

It appears clear that the problems he’s experiencing all trace back to the hamstring. Given that Senga’s injury occurred in his driving leg, and that his average velocity is down along with his ability to find the zone as consistently as before, it seems likely that his road to recovery may still be a bit longer than was previously believed.

I don’t say any of this to suggest he’s a liability for the rest of the season, though; on the contrary, I’m looking for solace in unexpected places. I’m trying to find comfort in the top brass’s confidence that this is a momentary speed bump and not the start of a roller coaster.

All I can say is that I hope he gets it figured out soon, for everyone’s sake.

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Around the League 🚩

• The inaugural Speedway Classic between the Reds and Braves was twice delayed by rain and ultimately suspended in the bottom of the first inning; it will resume today at 1 PM EDT on FOX

• Tarik Skubal and the Tigers defeated Zack Wheeler and the Phillies in one of the premier pitching matchups of the season

• The Marlins beat the Yankees 2-0 on the back of two homers from Agustín Ramírez, the headlining prospect of the Jazz Chisholm, Jr. trade

• Dodgers LHP Blake Snell made his first start since April 2nd, allowing three runs and notching eight strikeouts in his five innings of work