The New York Mets are 45-24, but one of their best pitchers just landed on the injured list. Kodai Senga suffered a hamstring injury covering the first base bag on a ground ball in the sixth inning.
Washington Nationals CJ Abrams hit a ground ball to Pete Alonso, who threw the ball to Senga to secure the out. However, Senga went down in pain after getting the out. Senga pitched in one regular-season game last year, dealing with shoulder and calf injuries. This season, he was pacing Major League Baseball with a 1.47 ERA in 13 starts. Alonso felt "awful" about Senga's injury resulting from a throw he made, which he admitted could have been better.
"I’m just trying to make a play for my pitcher," Alonso told SNY. "The ball took me in the hole, he is a pretty quick runner. I was trying to get rid of it as quickly and as accurately as I could -- the throw was good because it was over the base, but obviously it was too high.
"It sucks being a part of that, Senga is one of our guys here -- things happen on the baseball field, I just wish it didn’t turn out like that."
Senga sent his translator out to let Alonso know that he felt the injury a step before he jumped, letting Alonso know that it was not his fault. Injuries are part of the game, but now the Mets have lost their ace for the time being. Fortunately for the Mets, their starting rotation is deep and has been great, posting a league-best 2.79 ERA.
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Griffin Canning, Tylor Megill, Clay Holmes and David Peterson have all been great. The Mets should be getting Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas back soon as well. Losing Senga is a big blow, but one the Mets can absorb thanks to the rest of their rotation.
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