2 Mets to thank for beating the Rays, 1 to blame for failing to sweep

NY Mets to thank for the series win: Kodai Senga

Kodai Senga has had a very shaky start to his Mets career. While he came into his most recent start against Tampa Bay with a 4.14 ERA, Senga had really been struggling with his command and had only pitched well against bad offenses like Miami and Colorado.

To say Senga stepped up in a big way would be dramatically underselling what he managed to do. The Rays have one of the best offenses in the league, and Senga threw the ball as well as he has as a Met.

In his six innings of work, he allowed just one run on three hits. He did walk three but struck out 12. It felt like he was in command all night, and made that elite offense look awfully foolish on numerous occasions.

Senga's career-high was eight strikeouts, and that was back in his first start as a Met. He shattered that. The walks are still something to be worked on, but the 65 strikes he threw were the most he had thrown in a single start.

The Mets have desperately needed quality starts. They got a huge one from Senga in a game the Mets just desperately needed with the way things had been going. They even got one from Tylor Megill in the final game of the series. The rotation is now healthy, and the pitching, including Senga, should be much better now.