Mets make comeback, bullpen gets Belt’ed in loss

Kodai Senga, who looked like he began to really acclimate to the Major League game, took the ball on regular rest for the first time in the 2023 campaign this Sunday afternoon.

And, well, it was not what you want.

Senga threw a mere two and two thirds innings, walking five Blue Jays and surrendering four runs (three earned). He was wild and he was hittable, which is not a terribly good combination. Whit Merrifield drove in two with a double, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a laser beam of a home run, and the fourth run came on very poor play by Francisco Álvarez, when the young catcher tried to pick Matt Chapman off of second base and threw the ball into center field when it careened off his foot. Tommy Pham did not show much urgency in getting the ball in, and the runner scored from second on the error. They did get one run back in the third and one in the fifth, both on Tommy Pham home runs, but the vibes were bad.

Stephen Nogosek did an admirable job out of the pen to keep the Mets in it, tossing three scoreless innings in relief of Senga. Dominic Leone got the Mets through the sixth inning, and then the vibes turned around — for a short time.

Pete Alonso barely snuck a home run over that little orange line we all know and love in left field — which actually set the Citi Field home run record, which was cool as all heck — to make it 4-3, and Starling Marte hit an absolute heater of a home run to tie it and four and make us dream of salvaging a game against the Blue Jays.

Alas, Brandon Belt would have none of our hopes and dreams, as he quickly took his former Giants teammate Dominic Leone deep with a runner on first, nearly into the home run apple, to make it a 6-4 deficit in the seventh inning. That pretty much proved to be the game, as the Mets managed just one base runner — Mark Vientos on a well struck single off of Adam Cimber — in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to see the homestand end with a loss.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Starling Marte, +22.2% WPA
Big Mets loser: Kodai Senga, -28.6% WPA
Mets pitchers: -46.8% WPA
Mets hitters: -3.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Starling Marte’s solo home run in the sixth, +21.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Brandon Belt’s two run home in the seventh, -32.1% WPA