Kodai Senga finds the cutter-fastball groove in Mets bullpen debut, but the Braves still hit back

The Mets used a sixth-inning bullpen visit to give Kodai Senga a different job description, and for stretches it looked like the change could help. At Truist Park on Friday, the bullpen door opened and Senga jogged through in a late-game situation, continuing a new experiment after nearly three years of stops and starts that never quite translated into consistent starter-level results.

According to MLB’s report on the outing, this was not exactly what the Mets had in mind for the season when they envisioned a $75 million starter returning to top-end form. But since moving to a bullpen role last week, Senga has been pitching in a way that plays more to his strengths, with his best results coming when he stays patient and commits to his sequencing rather than trying to force outcomes early.

In that bullpen span, Senga has allowed three runs over 7 2/3 innings. The Mets’ recent pain has been that all three runs came on homers, and the only problem with that statistic is who carried the damage. Kyle Schwarber and Matt Olson, two of the league’s top sluggers, were the hitters credited with the homers in Senga’s work since the role change.

On Friday, the first real damage did not come from Senga at all. The Braves’ early scoring was connected to starter Christian Scott and reliever A.J. Minter, leaving Atlanta with a two-run lead before Senga entered. MLB’s recap says Senga was then tasked with protecting the lead, and he mostly kept the game on the rails by leaning on his fastball to set up his signature ghost fork.

What stood out in MLB’s description of the outing was how closely Senga’s swing-and-miss looked tied to his plan. He registered 98.5 mph on the radar while working through batters “just about everyone but Olson,” per the recap. The report also framed the inning as a matchup where Senga’s fastball-first approach produced its own kind of order, with the ghost fork operating as the payoff pitch when hitters were forced to respect velocity and command.

The Mets’ setback came when Senga drifted from that formula. MLB’s account says the damage arrived when he threw a cutter that proved too “loopy” to Olson. That pitch, not the fastball-and-ghost-fork pattern, was what ultimately allowed the Braves to add to their lead, contributing to a 5-3 Atlanta win.

Looking ahead, the Mets’ bullpen-and-rotation planning may hinge on how quickly Senga can turn this relief look into repeatable innings. MLB’s recap notes it was unclear what the next step is for him, including whether he could be used again based on a future rotation opening. For now, his return to the bullpen role has put him back into the conversation for a staff that needs reliable arms, even if his immediate runway still depends on how opponents respond to his pitching identity.