PHOENIX — Kodai Senga sure didn’t appear long for Wednesday’s outing after walking five batters over his first three innings.
But not only was the Mets right-hander, with help defensively, successful in preventing those Diamondbacks runners from scoring, he started throwing strikes.
Senga survived and the results were extremely palatable.
With Senga throwing six shutout innings, the Mets won 7-1 in the series rubber game at Chase Field to complete a 3-3 road trip.
“Those first three innings were rough, I didn’t have anything,” Senga said through his interpreter. “And out of experience, when I know that certain things are not going certain ways, I have no quick fixes for that. I was able to find that and get through six innings.”
Juan Soto handled much of the offensive heft with two home runs and three RBIs.
It was his second multi-homer game of the season, with both occurring against the D’backs.
Senga saw his ERA drop to 1.16 on a day he allowed only two hits and struck out four, departing after 89 pitches.
It was Senga’s fourth start this season in which he didn’t surrender an earned run.
Senga was asked how he would evaluate his season over seven starts.
“It’s hard to give a black or white answer, good or bad,” Senga said. “It’s probably somewhere in between, but during each start I can find certain objectives that I need to hit or things I need to fix and if I can one by one hit those marks, then this year will be successful.”
The performance provided a boost for the Mets, who could appreciate getting six innings from a starter for the second straight game, lessening the bullpen’s responsibility. On Tuesday, David Peterson gave the Mets six innings in which he allowed four earned runs in a loss.
Max Kranick allowed one run over 1 ¹/₃ innings before Huascar Brazobán got the final two outs in the eighth. Ryne Stanek pitched a scoreless ninth.
“It felt like the first few innings [Senga] was battling with command, lot of misses arm side and a few walks,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But then he found something there. He got better as the game went on and gave us six solid innings, so he was pretty good.”
Senga received early defensive help to keep the game scoreless.
Alek Thomas hit a double to left-center in the second, on which Eugenio Suárez was thrown out at the plate on a Tyrone Taylor to Francisco Lindor to Luis Torrens relay.
“Good pitchers find a way even when they don’t have their best stuff,” Mendoza said.
After walking two batters to start the third, Senga escaped by getting Pavin Smith to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Senga also benefited from Torrens throwing out Corbin Carroll attempting to steal second base in the first inning.
Soto homered in the sixth for the game’s first run.
Luisangel Acuña delivered an RBI single in the seventh that extended the Mets lead to 2-0.
Torrens’ double leading off fueled the rally. Acuña swiped second for his ninth stolen base this season. Jeff McNeil’s ensuing triple widened the Mets lead to 3-0.
Soto homered on a cutter from Jalen Beeks leading off the eighth.
The two-homer game was Soto’s second against Arizona in less than a week — he also blasted two in last Thursday’s series finale at Citi Field.
Carroll launched a leadoff homer in the eighth against Kranick to pull the D’backs within 4-1.
Kranick allowed two additional hits in the inning before Brazobán was summoned and got the final two outs. Included was a strikeout of the dangerous Suárez.
Lindor smashed a two-run double in the ninth to give the Mets a cushion. José Azocar and Taylor each walked in the inning, before Lindor delivered his second double of the afternoon. Soto’s sacrifice fly gave the Mets a 7-1 lead.
