WATCH: Kodai Senga uses his signature pitch, Ghost Fork, to strikeout 8 batters, earns the win and teammate Tommy Pham goes 3/4 with a homerun

MIAMI — Kodai Senga barely survived the first inning of his major league debut Sunday and then mysteriously — with the help of a ghost or several — transformed into untouchable.

The Marlins were left flailing at the Japanese right-hander’s ghost forkball, striking out seven times on that pitch alone.

The Mets used that strong performance from Senga in rolling to a 5-1 victory at loanDepot park that gave them a series win to start the season.

Senga, whose glove features a picture of a blue ghost holding a pitchfork, lasted 5 ¹/₃ innings and allowed one earned run on three hits with eight strikeouts and three walks before the Mets’ bullpen went into lockdown mode, continuing a dominant stretch for that unit.

 

 

 

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Kodai Senga pitches against the Marlins in the first inning at loanDepot Park.USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

It wasn’t easy for Senga, who threw 36 pitches in the first inning as he struggled with control.

Jorge Soler hammered an RBI double after Luis Arraez opened the game with a single, and Senga walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Avisail Garcia in the inning as Senga extended his pitch total to 23 without recording an out.

But Yuli Gurriel threw his bat at strike three for Senga’s first major league strikeout and suddenly the tide shifted.

Jesus Sanchez struck out and Jon Berti flied out, leaving Senga on a course to continue.

“First inning, definitely a lot of nerves, my legs felt like a ghost and I think once I got into that little bit of a pinch I started to settle down and calm myself down a little bit,” Senga said through his interpreter.

Buck Showalter indicated that Senga was perhaps within one batter of reaching base from getting pulled in the first inning — Stephen Nogosek was on the rubber with a ball in the bullpen, but not throwing yet.

Over the next 4 ¹/₃ innings Senga allowed only one hit and one walk with six strikeouts.

His four-seam fastball topped out at 99 mph (first pitch of the game) and averaged 96.8 mph. He threw his ghost forkball 26 times and received 14 swings on the pitch, nine of which were swings and misses.

“I had a center-field view,” Tommy Pham said. “And based on their swings it was disgusting. The ball was just falling off the table.”

Senga’s eight strikeouts were tied for third-most by a Mets pitcher in his major league debut. Matt Harvey holds the record with 11 and Collin McHugh is second with nine.

“A lot of guys kept pushing my back and giving me words of confidence, especially Francisco [Lindor], he did a really good job with that,” Senga said.

Pham provided most of the offensive juice for the Mets with a three-hit, three-RBI performance that included his first homer with his new team.

On the bullpen front, Dennis Santana, John Curtiss and Nogosek handled business by combining for 3 ²/₃ innings of scoreless relief.

The Mets benefited from Miami’s sloppy play in taking a 2-0 first-inning lead.

Gurriel dropped the relay throw at first base on what should have been an inning-ending double play before Pete Alonso and Mark Canha walked in succession against Trevor Rogers.

Jeff McNeil followed with a squib that Rogers fielded, and his flip to first base arrived simultaneously with McNeil.

The ball hit McNeil’s midsection and rolled away, allowing two runners to score.

Pham’s two-run homer in the fifth extended the Mets’ lead to 4-1.

Tim Locastro, the No. 9 hitter, was plunked by a pitch before Pham cleared the fence in left-center for his second hit of the afternoon — he singled leading off the game.

The Mets got another run on Pham’s RBI double in the seventh, after Locastro was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game.

Senga received the rookie celebration treatment in the clubhouse afterward, receiving what he described as “a very hot ceremonial something.”

Source: https://nypost.com/2023/04/02/kodai-sengas-ghost-pitch-mystifies-marlins-in-mets-win/