NEW YORK — Citi Field got its first haunting of the season.
Kodai Senga dazzled in his Citi Field debut leading the Mets’ to their 5-2 win over the Marlins on Saturday afternoon. The 30-year-old utilized his infamous ghost fork pitch to hold Miami to just one run over six innings of work while striking out six.
Senga’s second MLB outing was even better than his first — 5 1/3 IP, three hits and one earned run on Apr. 2 — and it came against the same opponent, the only blip on his outing Saturday being a solo homer served up to Jazz Chisholm in the sixth. The righty — who signed a five-year, $70 million contract with the Amazins in Dec. of 2022 — received plenty of help
Pete Alonso slugged his league-leading fifth homer to give the Mets a 3-0 lead in the fifth. Alonso has gotten the power stroke going in the early going as five of his eight hits (batting .235 on the season) have left the yard.
A welcome sight for the Amazins came in the bottom of the fifth as Eduardo Escobar got on the board. The switch hitter broke out in a big way with an opposite-field homer recording his first hit from the left side on the season.
The 34-year-old is now 3 for 28 (.107) in the early going.
The bullpen for manager Buck Showlater's squad was mostly sharp in their series-clinching victory. Drew Smith allowed the second run of the game after Luis Arraez singled in Bryan De La Cruz. However, Brooks Raley came in to put out the fire and limit the damage. John Curtiss pitched a clean 1 1/3 frames before David Roberston came on to close the door
Robertson secured his second save of the season, filling in the closer role for the injured Edwin Diaz — who will likely miss the season due to a torn patella tendon suffered while celebrating Puerto Rico’s World Baseball Classic victory over the Dominican Republic.
Robertson has yet to allow a run in his four appearances this season.
