Kodai Senga's forkball turns into friendly ghost, as NY Mets win 5th straight

Kodai Senga’s forkball was scary in his season debut, but on Monday night at Citi Field, the Miami Marlins didn’t seem too spooked by the New York Mets pitcher. Making his second start of the season—and second against Miami—Senga leaned heavily on his signature pitch, which danced through this lineup on April 1. But this time, the haunting came with a smile, a “Geez, Louise,” and three brothers with very unfortunate names.

The Marlins hitters tracked it better, laid off when needed, and made him rely on his other pitches to get through the start. The ghost fork still danced, but this time, Miami wasn’t afraid of things that go bump in the strike zone.

It was still a good night for the Mets, who got enough from Senga to keep the streak going.

On paper, it was a solid night: five scoreless innings, five hits, two walks, and four strikeouts on 77 pitches (47 for strikes), and it helped the Mets stretch their win streak to five. But the real story was how he got there. After the Marlins adjusted to the ghost fork, Senga pivoted and found other ways to get outs. He didn’t dominate, but he mixed well, kept traffic from turning into damage, and gave the bullpen a lead to work with. And right now, with the way the pen is dealing, one run feels like plenty.

On April 1, he carved Miami up with the forkball—25% usage, 57% whiff rate, and eight strikeouts. This time, he threw it more, 30% of the time (23 pitches), but got just a 14% whiff rate. So he leaned into the fastball and cutter, throwing them a combined 59% of the time. They accounted for 68% of his strikes and gave him enough to work around the lack of bite on his signature pitch. The ghost fork wasn’t fooling anyone, but the rest of the arsenal picked up the slack.

The ghost fork didn’t vanish, it just got recognized at the door under a bedsheet. But credit to Senga: when the trick stopped working, he didn’t panic. He found a new one, got through five innings, and let the bullpen slam it shut. If this was the worst version of his signature pitch, and the Marlins still couldn’t score, that’s a pretty good sign. Not every start is going to be a horror flick, sometimes you’ve got to settle for a thriller with a happy ending.