Kodai Senga delivers shutout outing as Mets bats earn As series

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— Kodai Senga’s performance improved as the innings progressed Sunday.By the seventh, the Mets right-hander still was bringing his fastball at 96 mph and breezing through the A’s lineup.Maybe the only question was whether he would get a shot at least to start the eighth.That opportunity was denied by manager Carlos Mendoza, but Senga still finished with the best start by a Mets pitcher this season in the team’s 8-0 victory in the series rubber game at Sutter Health Park.Senga, who threw 79 pitches, allowed four hits over seven shutout innings with four strikeouts and two walks, retiring 11 of the final 12 batters he faced.

Senga’s final two batters, Seth Brown and Gio Urshela, each struck out.It was a second straight start in which Senga didn’t allow a run, including his five scoreless innings against the Marlins last week.He became the first Mets starter this year to work into the seventh.David Peterson was the only previous Mets pitcher to complete six innings in a start this season.It was a sloppy game offensively for the Mets until the ninth, when they piled on four insurance runs with help by A’s defensive lapses.

To that point, the Mets were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and had stranded 11, but that still was enough to spoil Luis Severino’s reunion with his former teammates.Severino, already at 101 pitches, was allowed to remain in the game to face Luis Torrens with two outs in the sixth.Torrens won the battle, stroking an RBI single for the game’s first run.Over 5 ²/₃ innings, the veteran right-hander allowed one run on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks.

Severino averaged 97.3 mph with his four-seam fastball.Two days earlier Severino revealed he would have accepted less money to remain with the Mets, but the team wasn’t receptive.Severino received a...