NEW YORK METS NOTES:
METSCELLANEOUS: The Mets enjoyed a day off on Thursday…On Wednesday, the Mets defeated the Padres, 5-2, at Citi Field…Tonight, the Mets begin their second road trip of the season an 11-day, 10-game trip against the Athletics (three games), Dodgers (three games) and Giants (four games).
THEY’RE OUT OF MY LEAGUE: The Mets begin Interleague play tonight with a three game series against the Athletics…The new schedule format has New York playing a total of 43 Interleague games in 2023, more than double their previous high for a single season (20)…In 2022, the Mets went 9-11 against the American League…Overall, New York owns a 235-227 record in Interleague play…The team’s .509 winning percentage is the second-best among National League clubs.
INTERSTELLAR: Jeff McNeil owns a .345/.388/.486 slashline with 36 runs, 14 doubles, seven home runs and 34 RBI in 67 Interleague games, while Starling Marte has slashed .330/.389/.551 with 113 runs, 44 doubles, 11 triples, 27 home runs and 83 RBI in 170 Intearleague games…They rank first and second in average among active players in Interleague play (min. 250 PA)…McNeil’s .345 clip is the highest all-time by a Met.
INTERLEAGUE PETE: Pete Alonso batted .333/.410/.639 against AL opponents last season with 15 runs, four doubles, six home runs, 15 RBI and 10 walks…His six home runs were tied for the sixth-most in the majors…Alonso has hit 29 home runs in Interleague Play since the 2019 season…His 29 home runs against the American League is a franchise record, and the most among any player in that time frame…Mike Piazza was the previous record holder with 28 Interleague home runs.
OAK AGED: Pete Alonso is 6-12 with six runs two doubles, two home runs, seven RBI and two walks in three games at the home of the Athletics…Brandon Nimmo is 4-8 with four runs, two RBI and a walk in three games there…Jeff McNeil is 6-14 with three runs, a double, and RBI and a walk in three contests…In 19 games in Oakland, Francisco Lindor has hit .368/.383/.539 with 11 runs, seven doubles, two home runs, nine RBI and three walks…Starling Marte played 32 games at the ballpark and slashed .328/.359/.515 with 11 doubles, a triple, four home runs and 22 RBI…Mark Canha appeared in 323 games at the ballpark and has slashed .243/.348/.433 with 52 doubles, six triples, 45 homers, 146 RBI and 128 walks.
SCARY STUFF: Kodai Senga has 14 strikeouts in the first two starts of his career, tied with Steven Matz for the second-most by a Met to begin their major league career…His 14 strikeouts are tied with Daisuke Matsuzaka for the fourth-most by a Japanese-born player in their first two major league career starts…Masahiro Tanaka has the most strikeouts by a Japanese-born player in their first two career major league starts with 18…Senga has won his first two career starts and is the fourth player in Mets history to earn the win in their first two career major league starts joining Matz, Mike Pelfrey and Gary Gentry…Joins Kazuhisa Ishii, Hideki Irabu and Koji Uehara as the only Japanese-born pitchers to earn the win in their first two career major league starts…No Mets starting pitcher has won each of his first three career games.
DO THE RIGHT THING: Senga is holding right-handed hitters to a .080 (2-25) batting average…That is the fourth-lowest average in the majors and the second-lowest in the Senior Circuit…Only Drew Rasmussen (.053, 1-19), Shohei Ohtani (.067, 2-30) and Keegan Thompson (.071, 1-14) have lower average against right-handed hitters.
DOCTOR ROBERT-SON: David Robertson has appeared in six games and has yet to allow a run…He allowed only three hits with eight strikeouts…He is holding left-handed hitters to a .182 (2-11) batting average this season.
OTTAMATIC: Adam Ottavino earned his first save of the season on Wednesday…He has allowed only a solo homer in six games this season, giving him a 1.80 ERA (1 ER/5.0 IP) with one walk and seven strikeouts.
CURTAINS FROM CURTISS: John Curtiss hasn’t allowed a run in his last 4.1 innings with five strikeouts and has yielded one run overall in 5.1
innings (1.42 ERA) in five outings.
THE PEN IS MIGHTIER: The Mets have posted a 3.72 ERA with 19 walks and 49 punchouts from their bullpen this season…That places them tied for fourth in the National League…Over the last five games, the pen has pitched to a 1.93 ERA (4 ER/18.2 IP) with 10 walks and 22 strikeouts.
OUCH: The Mets are tied for the major league lead with 10 HBP…Mark Canha has been hit by 46 pitches at RingCentral Coliseum, the most in the history of the ballpark…Only five active players have been hit by more pitches in a single ballpark during their career…Courtesy Sportradar.
WALK THE WALK: The Mets rank third in the majors and second in the National League with 59 free passes this season…Brandon Nimmo is second in the majors with 12 walks…The Mets have recorded two walks with the bases loaded this season, which is tied for the third-most in the majors…In 2022, the team drew 10.
D-FENCE: The Mets have committed only two errors in 13 games this season…The team’s .996 fielding percentage is the best in the majors.
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US: The Mets have stolen 14 bases this season, which is tied for fourth in the majors and tied for second in the National League…Starling Marte fourth in the NL with four steals… Brandon Nimmo, who is tied for fifth in the NL, has stolen three bases
in 12 games this year…Nimmo stole a total of three bases in 151 games last season.
HOMER HAPPY: Pete Alonso has homered in four of his last seven games, hitting five home runs in that span…He is batting .346 (9-26) with seven runs, 10 RBI and three walks over that span…Alonso has hit six home runs this season, which is tied with Ryan Mountcastle for the major league lead.
ROAD WARRIOR: Alonso has hit 86 home runs on the road in his career… That places him in sixth place in franchise history…Next up is Carlos Beltran who hit 88 road home runs.
OPENING LIN-DOOR: Over the last seven games, Francisco Lindor is batting 8-26 (.308) with seven runs, three doubles, two home runs, seven RBI, three walks, one steal with a .400 OBP and a .654 SLG.
THE LEFTOVERS: The Mets has left 99 on base this season…That is tied for the sixth-most in the majors and the third-most in the National
League.
HITTING THE ROAD: New York is 3-4 on the road his year…The team finished the 2022 season going 47-34 on the road…Their .580 road winning percentage placed them third in the majors and second in the NL…It was tied for the fourth-best road record in team history and the highest road-winning percentage since 2007.
KODAI SENGA RHP #34
2023 STATS: 2-0, 1.59 ERA
SENGA’S PITCH ARSENAL
Pitch Type Usage Rate vs. LHB vs. RHB Avg. Velocity
Four-Seam Fastball 40.4% 38.7% 41.4% 96.6 mph
Forkball 23.6% 29.0% 20.7% 84.4 mph
Sweeper 20.2% 6.5% 27.6% 82.6 mph
Cutter 15.7% 25.8% 10.3% 90.7 mph
SENGA NEWS & NOTES
LAST TIME OUT: In his Citi Field debut, Senga earned the win on April 8 against the Marlins…Senga allowed one run over 6.0 innings on three hits, three walks and six strikeouts…His 14 strikeouts in the first two starts of his career tie with Steven Matz for the second-most by a Met to begin their major league career and is tied with Daisuke Matsuzaka for the fourth-most by a Japanese-born player in the first two starts of their major league career…Senga is also tied with Matz and Chris Bassitt for the fifth-most strikeouts by a Mets pitcher in their first two starts with the club.
ALL I DO IS WIN: Senga has won both of his starts this season, making him the fourth player in franchise history to earn the win in their first two career major league starts joining Steven Matz, Mike Pelfrey and Gary Gentry…Additionally, he joins Kazuhisa Ishii, Hideki Irabu and Koji Uehara as the only Japanese-born pitchers to earn the win in their first two career major league starts…Tampa Bay’s Josh Fleming and Boston’s Tanner Houck (2020) were the last starting pitchers to win each of their first three career games…No Mets starter has ever earned a win in each of his first three career games.
MLB DEBUT NOTES: Senga became the 64th pitcher whose major league debut came in a start for the Mets…New York has had one pitcher make his MLB debut as a starter in each of the previous three seasons: José Butto in 2022, Tylor Megill in 2021 and David Peterson in 2020 (the Mets won each of those three games)…Senga allowed one run over 5.1 innings on three hits, three walks and eight strikeouts in his major league debut…His eight strikeouts were tied for the fourth-most by a Japanese-born pitcher in their major league debut and tied for the third-most by a Mets pitcher in their major league debut.
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T: Included in Senga’s pitching repertoire is a unique pitch called the ‘ghost fork’…The pitch is so named because its break gives the appearance that it disappears out of the strike zone….All eight of Senga’s strikeouts on April 2 and four of his six strikeouts on April 8 came via the ‘ghost fork’. METS-JAPAN CONNECTION: Senga is the 14th Japanese-born player to appear in at least one game for the Mets, the most by any major league team…Prior to Senga, the last Japanese-born player to appear in a game for the Mets was OF Norichika Aoki in 2017.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Prior to joining the Mets, Senga spent 11 seasons in Japan’s NPB with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks…During his NPB career he posted a 87-44 record with a 2.59 ERA (313 ER/1,089.0 IP) and 1,252 strikeouts (10.3 K/9.0)…He was also a three-time NPB All-Star (2013, 2017 and 2019), a two-time Pacific League Best Nine Award winner (2019 and 2020) and a two-time Mitsui Golden Glove Award winner (2019 and 2020). 2022: Last season, Senga went 11-6 with a 1.94 ERA (31 ER/144.0 IP), 156 strikeouts, a 1.06 WHIP and a 0.4 HR/9 rate over 22 appearances.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: Senga appeared in four games in the 2017 World Baseball Classic for Team Japan…He posted a 0.82 ERA, throwing 11.0 innings and allowing one run on seven hits with 16 strikeouts and one walk…He also pitched in two games during the Tokyo Summer Olympics, throwing a total of 3.0 scoreless innings as Japan won the gold medal on its home turf.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS NOTES:
ABOUT THE A’S: Lost three of four at Baltimore to close out the last road trip and have now lost each of the first four series…it marks the third time in Oakland history the A’s have lost each of the first four series in a season (1987, 2001)…have lost seven of the last eight games and 10 of the last 12… are 3-10 (.231) overall and have the lowest winning percentage in the majors behind the Tigers (3-9, .250)…the 3-10 start matches the worst record after 13 games in Oakland history (1987, 1998, 2001)…the 1998 team lost game 14 to fall to 3-11…went 60-102 (.370) last year, which was the second lowest winning percentage in the majors and in Oakland history…this is the A’s 56th season in Oakland where they have won 17 American League West titles, four AL Wild Cards, six AL pennants and four World Championships… only the Atlanta Braves (22), New York Yankees (20) and Los Angeles Dodgers (20) have more division titles than the A’s…since the A’s moved to Oakland in 1968, only the Yankees (11), Cardinals (8) and Dodgers (8) have more league championships and only the Yankees have more world championships (7)… this is the Athletics franchise 123rd season in the American League…since 1901, the A’s have 17 AL West titles plus 15 AL pennants and nine World
Championships…only the Yankees (27) and Cardinals (11) have won more World Championships.
OFFENSE: The A’s have scored at least seven runs in each of the last three games and have 23 runs over that span after scoring just 28 times over the first 10 games…however, have lost two of the last three games and are now 1-3 when scoring seven or more runs in a game…are batting .327 (36-for110) with five home runs over the last three games after hitting .198 with eight home runs over the first 10 games…have the third lowest on-base percentage in the majors (.300), the fourth lowest OPS (.667), the fifth lowest batting average (.231) and are tied with the Mets for the fifth fewest runs scored (51)…last year, the A’s finished second to last in the majors in runs (568)…hit .216, which was the lowest in the majors and fourth lowest in Major League history in a season of 140 or more games…had a .281 on-base percentage, which was the lowest in the majors and the lowest by an ML team since the 1965 Mets (.277)…have been shutout three times this year, which is tied with the Brewers and Royals for the most in the majors…were successful in each of their first 10 stolen base attempts before Ryan Noda was caught stealing yesterday.
PITCHING: The A’s compiled a 9.47 ERA on the last road trip after posting a 5.79 ERA on the first homestand…have a 7.65 ERA overall, which is more than one earned run higher than the next closest team (Tigers, 6.24)…have allowed 101 runs, which is the most in Oakland history over the first 13 games…it is fourth most in Athletics history and the most since the Kansas City A’s allowed 115 in 1955…have the highest opponents OPS (.884), on-base percentage (.377) and slugging percentage (.507) in the majors and the second highest batting average (.286)…have allowed the most home runs (25), rank second in most walks (60) and most hit batters batters (11), tied for second in most wild pitches (8) and third in fewest strikeouts (92)… yielded 195 home runs last year, which were fourth most in the majors and seventh most in Athletics history.
STARTING AND RELIEVING: The A’s ERA breaks down to 9.93 by the starting pitchers and 5.24 by the bullpen…the starters ERA is more than three earned runs higher than the next closest team (Orioles, 6.86)…the A’s are the only team without a win from their starting pitchers…the season-opening streak of 13 consecutive games without a win from a starter is the longest such streak in Oakland history (last: 10 in 1979 and 1997)…starters have 58.0 innings pitched, which is third fewest in the majors…the bullpen has 55.0 innings pitched, which is tied for second most…had a save on Opening Day but have none since then…the one save is tied with the Cubs, Marlins and Phillies for the fewest in the majors…have three blown saves, which is tied for third most in the majors.
DEFENSIVE DOINGS: The A’s have committed 11 errors over the first 13 games, which are the most in the majors…have three outfield assists, which are tied for fifth most…have two passed balls, which are tied for the most… had just three passed balls all last year.
HOME AND AWAY: The A’s being their second homestand of the season tonight, a six-game stand against New York-NL (three games) and Chicago-NL (three games)…went 2-4 on the season-opening six-game homestand against Los Angeles-AL (1-2) and Cleveland (1-2)…were 29-51 (.362) at home last year, which set an Oakland record for lowest home winning percentage…had the second worst home record in the majors to Washington (26-
55, .321)…went 1-6 on their first road trip to Tampa Bay (0-3) and Baltimore (1-3)…were 31-51 (.378) on the road in 2022, which was the third worst road record in the American League.
NIGHT AND DAY: The A’s are 3-4 in night games and 0-6 during the day…are one of three teams in the majors without a win in day games (Dodgers, 0-2; Tigers, 0-7)…are batting .294 (73-for-248) with 39 runs in seven night games (5.6 runs per game), .146 (27-for-185) with 12 runs in six day games (2.0 runs per game)…have the fourth best night batting average in the majors and the lowest day batting average…have a 6.34 ERA (43 er in 61.0 ip) at night, 9.17 (53 er in 52.0 ip) during the day.
LEFT AND RIGHT: The A’s are 3-5 when the opponent starts a left-handed pitcher, 0-5 when they start a right-hander…are the only team in the majors without a win when the opponent starts a righty…are batting .262 against left-handed pitchers, .219 against right-handers.
THIS AND THAT: Two of the A’s three wins have been by one run and Oakland is 2-2 in one-run decisions…the four one-run games are tied for sixth most in the majors…have a run differential of -50, which is the lowest in the majors (Tigers, -40)…five of the A’s first 13 games have been decided in the winning teams last at bat and the A’s are 2-3 in those games…the A’s average time of game is 2 hours and 43 minutes, which is seventh slowest in the majors…have not averaged under 2:43 per game since 1979 when they averaged 2:34.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: James Kaprielian (0-1, 11.17 ERA)
FOR STARTERS: Is scheduled to make his third start of the season…begins his fourth season in the majors and is on his first Opening Day roster…began the 2022 season on the IL and made one start at Triple-A Las Vegas in 2021 before joining the A’s.
SEVEN INNINGS OR FEWER: Has tossed 5.0 innings or fewer in each of his two starts this year and has now pitched seven innings or fewer in all 49 of his career starts…that is the longest streak of consecutive starts of seven innings or fewer in Athletics history (previous: 47, Montas, Sept. 25, 2019-April 18, 2022).
THIS AND THAT: Left with an 8-5 lead in his first start but the bullpen allowed seven runs for the blown save…left with the lead in five of his starts last year only to have the bullpen blow the save…now has 21 career no decisions as a starter and has left with the lead and was the pitcher of record in 10 of those no decisions…the A’s were 13-13 in his starting assignments last year, which included an 8-4 record in his 12 no decisions…are 24-25 (.490) in his 49 career starts.
FIRST START: He had a no decision in the A’s 12-11, 10-inning loss to Cleveland on April 3 in Oakland…allowed five runs in 5.0 innings of work but left with an 8-5 lead…yielded two runs in the first and three more in the fourth on a Naylor home run and a Straw two-run double…Familia allowed two unearned runs in the sixth and Acevedo surrendered three in the eighth for the blown save…the A’s tied the game in the ninth before Cleveland scored twice in the 10th.
LAST START: He was the losing pitcher in the A’s 11-0 loss at Tampa Bay last Sunday…allowed seven runs in 4.2 innings of work and surrendered a career-high tying three home runs…logged a career-high 106 pitches…yielded a solo home run to Franco in the first, a grand slam to Brandon Lowe in the fourth and a two-run home run to Ramirez in the fifth…Rasmussen, Thompson and Adam combined to shut out the A’s on one hit.
OPPONENTS BATTING: His opponents batting average broke down to .237 (63-for-266) with a .696 opponents OPS against left-handed hitters compared to .241 (58-for-241) with a .777 OPS against right-handers…opponents hit .243 with the bases empty, .232 with runners on…11 of the 16 home runs he allowed were solo shots…his career splits are .235 with 27 home runs with the bases empty, .248 with 14 home runs with runners on… allowed 13 home runs in 69.0 innings and 14 starts before the All-Star Break, three home runs in 65.0 innings and 12 starts after the break…allowed a .193 average to the opponents number five hitter and has a .155 career average in that split.
EARLY AND LATE: Had a .184 opponents batting average and .579 OPS the first time through the order, .263 with a .766 OPS the second time and .302 with a 1.004 OPS after that…now has a .194 average and .600 OPS in his career the first time through the order, .270 with an .855 OPS after that… compiled a 2.77 ERA over the first two innings of a game, a 5.16 ERA from the third inning on…now has a 2.57 career ERA in the first and second innings, a 5.55 ERA after that.
SPLITS: Had a 4-4 record with a 3.67 ERA and .712 opponents OPS in 15 starts on the road, compared to 1-5 with a 5.09 ERA and .770 OPS in 11 starts at home…was 4-3 with a 3.30 ERA in 14 starts against American League West competition, 1-6 with a 5.46 ERA in 12 starts against all other teams…is now 8-5 with a 3.63 ERA in 29 career appearances against divisional foes, 5-10 with a 5.46 ERA in 25 games against everyone else…has seven of his 13 career wins against the Mariners (4) and Angels (3)…was 3-2 with a 4.47 ERA in 11 starts on four days rest, 2-6 with a 3.69 ERA in 14 starts on five days rest or more.
