Kodai Senga combined with two relievers on a four-hitter Thursday afternoon as the host New York Mets damaged the Arizona Diamondbacks’ wild-card hopes with an 11-1 win.
Jeff McNeil (home run), Brandon Nimmo (double) and DJ Stewart (single) all had two-RBI hits for the Mets (68-78), who won the last three games of the four-game series. Pete Alonso and Francisco Alvarez each delivered RBI doubles, and Jonathan Arauz added a three-run homer in the eighth.
The loss Thursday cost the Diamondbacks (76-72) a chance to regain sole possession of the third and final National League wild-card spot. Arizona is tied with the Cincinnati Reds (76-72), who lost to the Detroit Tigers 8-2 earlier Thursday, and the San Francisco Giants (75-71), whose scheduled game at Colorado was rained out.
Merrill Kelly (11-7) took the loss after giving up seven runs on six hits and four walks while striking out seven over five innings.
Senga (11-7) gave up two hits, walked two and struck out 10. The Diamondbacks didn’t get a runner beyond first against Senga until the sixth, when Emmanuel Rivera hit a leadoff single and Ketel Marte and Tommy Pham drew consecutive two-out walks. Senga then retired Christian Walker on a flyout.
New York’s Phil Bickford threw a perfect seventh before Jake McCarthy broke up the shutout bid with an RBI double in the eighth against Jeff Brigham.
Kelly set down the first six Mets in order before walking the first three batters of the third. Nimmo followed with a two-run double just beyond the grasp of a leaping Walker at first base. With the infield drawn in, Kelly escaped the inning by retiring Francisco Lindor, Alonso and Stewart on grounders.
The Mets turned the game into a rout by scoring five runs with one out in the fifth. Nimmo singled and Lindor walked before Nimmo scored on Alonso’s double. Stewart followed with a two-run single, and McNeil then homered just beyond the right field fence.
Alonso walked and scored on Alvarez’s two-out double in the seventh before Arauz hit his first career pinch-hit homer in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
