The sun was shining and Kodai Senga dominating, with a comfortable lead in Thursday’s sixth inning.
And then a mostly perfect Mets afternoon at Citi Field got ruined.
Senga, covering first base on a grounder to Pete Alonso, received a high throw and after landing on the base grabbed for his right hamstring. The Mets ace tumbled to the ground and was unable to continue in the team’s 4-3 victory that completed a three-game sweep of the Nationals.
Senga will be placed on the injured list with a strained hamstring, manager Carlos Mendoza said, and will get an MRI on Friday to determine the severity.
A starting rotation that began the day overfilled — Paul Blackburn, the team’s sixth starter has been working from the bullpen — has now lost Senga, whose season was on an All-Star game trajectory.
The Mets have other reinforcements nearing, with Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea in the midst of minor league rehab assignments, so perhaps losing Senga for a stretch wouldn’t be severe for the team.
But losing a pitcher who threw 5 2/3 shutout innings on this day to lower his MLB-leading ERA to 1.47 doesn’t help the cause. Senga allowed one hit and one walk with five strikeouts.
Senga missed four months to begin the 2024 season before pitching his first game in late July. But the fun lasted only 5 1/3 innings before he departed with a calf strain — sustained as he shuffled from the mound on a pop up — and was sidelined into October. He returned to pitch, at less than full strength, in the NLDS and NLCS.
The Mets, who won their sixth straight game, have sweeps in three of their last four series. They will begin a three-game series against Tampa Bay on Friday.
Jeff McNeil’s torrid stretch continued with fourth homer in five games to give the Mets a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto walked both in the inning before McNeil cleared the right-field fence for his seventh homer this season.
McNeil’s power surge included two homers on Sunday in Colorado. He opened the homestand by delivering a walk-off RBI single in the 10th inning against the Nationals.
Brandon Nimmo’s third homer in two games extended the Mets’ lead to 4-0 in the fifth.
Jose Castillo, Huascar Brazoban, Ryne Stanek and Edwin Diaz combined to work the final 3 1/3 innings. Stanek was charged with two runs in the ninth before Diaz surrendered another.
Diaz recorded the final out with the tying and go-ahead runs at third and second base, respectively.
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