adminJapanese pitcher Senga Godai (New York Mets), who entered the major leagues this season, earned a passing grade in his debut game with a good pitching of 5.1 innings and 1 run.
On the 3rd (Korean time), Senga led the team to a 5-1 victory with 8 strikeouts in 5.1 innings with 88 pitches against Miami in an away game held at Londipo Park in Miami, Florida, USA.
Senga, who was nicknamed “Ghost Poke” because his forkball was so powerful that it seemed to disappear right in front of his eyes, put a picture of “Ghost with a Trident” on his glove and climbed the mound that day. His first start was not easy. He hit leadoff hitter Luis Arraes and a timely double hit from second hitter Jorge Solaire. He walked third batter Jazz Chizom on a walk. The pitching coach climbed the mound, but couldn’t find the pace. He walked even Avisail Garcia and was driven to the brink of the bases loaded safely. He struck out Julieski Gurriel and Jesús Sanchez, and caught John Berti with a straight hit in right field to avoid an extra run. 안전놀이터
However, from the second inning, Senga seemed to have regained his zero point, and pitched completely differently. 2nd, 3rd, 4th 3 innings were blocked with consecutive triplets. In the 5th inning, with 2 outs, Araes hit a single in front of the left fielder before hitting 11 batters in a row. Senga came back up in the 6th inning to strike out the 8th of the game against lead hitter Chizom, then handed the ball to Dennis Santana and came off the mound. After the game, Senga said, “I was definitely very nervous when I first got on the mound,” and “I got used to the game little by little.”
Senga clearly demonstrated the power of the forkball, a chess game, that day. At the beginning of the game, it was unstable, such as being hit by Araes and allowing wild throws, but after striking out Gurriel, he regained his form. From Gurriel to the pitcher change, he threw 12 forkballs and led to 8 misspellings. MLB.com reported that Senga’s 8 strikeouts that day was the 4th highest ever for a Japanese pitcher before his debut.
Until last year, Senga wore a Softbank uniform and played an active part in Nippon Professional Baseball for 11 years. Last winter, he signed a five-year, $75 million contract with the New York Mets.