Senga Kodai (30, New York Mets), who became a losing pitcher despite 2 runs in 6⅔ innings, felt happiness instead of frustration. This is because he reunited with Shohei Ohtani (29, Los Angeles Angels) of the same Japanese nationality who conquered the American stage with a two-time batting job.
Senga started on the 26th (hereinafter Korean time) in the 2023 Major League Baseball home game against the Los Angeles Angels held at Citi Field in Flushing, New York, USA, and made a good pitch in 6⅔ innings, 4 hits, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts and 2 runs, but lost 7 seasons due to lack of support from other lines (10 wins) was the second.
From the first episode, a confrontation between Ohtani and Japanese pitcher was concluded. The result is Senga’s defeat. With no runners on the first run, he allowed a straight walk against Ohtani. However, there were no flaws. He struck out Brandon Drury swinging and caught Mike Moustakas on a grounder to third base to end the inning.
In the second inning, he was hit in a row by leaders Luis Rengipo and Logan Ohapi, and was in danger of getting first and second base safely. This time, he did not concede by striking out Hunter Renfro and Mickey Moniak in a row, and blocking Randall Grichuk with a third baseman ground ball.
He conceded the first run in the third inning when it was still 0-0. Again, I couldn’t get over Ohtani’s wall. Leader Nolan Chanuel’s sand ball, Ohtani’s batting speed of 115.4 miles (185 km) allowed 2nd and 3rd basers Drury a sacrifice fly and one RBI against Moustakas, a heavy timely hit in succession.
Senga regained stability from the 4th inning. Starting with a tripartite with two strikeouts, he met Ohtani after one out in the fifth inning and gave up another walk, but he struck out Drury on a ground ball to second baseman and Mustakas on a miss swing, and Ohafi walked on first base in the sixth inning. He overcame the crisis with Renfro’s double play.
Even in the 7th inning, with the score trailing 1-2, Senga, who was on the mound, showed off a powerful pitch by striking out the first batters Moniac and Grichuck in a row. Batters were helpless by the so-called ghost fork, the main weapon. Afterwards, he was replaced by Adam Colarek and ended the game unfortunately. 105 pitches.
Although he became a losing pitcher, Senga’s breaking ball was sharp enough to impress the enemy general. According to MLB.com, the official MLB website, Angels manager Phil Nevin said, “Senga’s splitter looks the best pitch I’ve ever seen. He threw a ball that was impossible to hit, and Ohtani hit that kind of ball.” 바카라사이트
Senga was able to forget the results of the day for a while as he engaged Ohtani on the dream stage of the major leagues. “I think Ohtani is a very special player,” said Senga. Ohtani makes everything special with his existence itself,” he said. I hope Ohtani will continue to do his best.”
Senga, who belonged to the Softbank Hawks, showed a good pitching with an average ERA of 1.94 in 22 games in the 2022 season, 11 wins and 6 losses, and ranked second in the Japanese Professional Baseball Central League in average ERA, most wins, and third in strikeouts (156). Afterwards, he obtained qualification as an overseas free agent, submitted an application to exercise his free agent rights to the Softbank club at the end of October last year, and finally achieved his dream of advancing to the United States by signing a five-year, $75 million contract with the Mets in December.
Senga is having an impressive debut season with the Mets, going 10-7 with a 3.17 ERA in 24 games.