The Mets got good news on Kodai Senga.
The right-hander was diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain in his right hamstring — the lowest level of severity — and is expected to be re-evaluated before the end of the month, manager Carlos Mendoza said.
“We’re looking at probably two weeks, 14 days, before we re-evaluate again,” Mendoza said after Friday’s 7-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. “Hopefully he’s symptom-free and we’ll get him back up again.”
Senga landed on the 15-day injured list Friday, a day after suffered the injury while covering first base in the sixth inning of a 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals.
During that bang-bang play, Senga ran to the base, leapt for a high throw from Pete Alonso and stepped on the bag before grabbing his right hamstring and dropping to the ground. Senga’s translator told Alonso the right-hander felt a pull in his hamstring on the step before the throw.
Senga underwent an MRI on Friday.
“It depends on the player,” Mendoza said of Senga’s recovery time. “It’s two weeks of very little physical activity. Hopefully — I’ve got to get with the trainers — we keep the arm going, but he’s got to be symptom-free before we start ramping him up. So it could be four, five, six [weeks].”
Senga, 32, boasts a team-best 1.47 ERA through 13 starts. He is 7-3 with 70 strikeouts in 73.2 innings.
It’s been a bounce-back season for the Japanese right-hander, who missed all but one start during the 2024 regular season due to shoulder and calf strains.
Senga was diagnosed with the shoulder injury during that year’s spring training, and he was briefly shut down again that May after experiencing nerve inflammation in his triceps.
“We’ve got some really good trainers and a good system in place, and now that we went through [that] with the athlete, with Senga, I’m pretty confident [in] the communication, the feedback,” Mendoza said. “We’ll continue to listen to him. He’s very meticulous about what he does. … I’m not anticipating issues here.”
The scene in Thursday’s game was reminiscent of Senga’s lone regular-season start last year, when the right-hander injured his calf during his debut in July, leaving him writhing in pain.
Paul Blackburn, who surrendered four runs in a third of an inning Friday, is expected to start Wednesday in Senga’s place.
Starting pitchers Frankie Montas (lat) and Sean Manaea (oblique) are both in the middle of rehab assignments and nearing their season debuts.
