Kodai Senga, Brandon Nimmo just enough for Mets to snap three-game skid
The Mets offense is a mess, but Kodai Senga and the bullpen made up for that and helped make a Brandon Nimmo home run stand up in a 1-0 win over the Rockies on Friday night at Citi Field.
Senga, pitching on eight days’ rest, allowed just a pair of hits over six shutout innings and although a Mets lineup that had scored just one run over its previous two games still couldn’t manufacture much, they were able to snap a three-game losing streak.
Drew Smith, David Robertson and Adam Ottavino each pitched scoreless innings to allow the Mets to hold on.
“We wanted to win really bad,” said Ottavino, who picked up his fourth save. “Kodai did a great job and we didn’t want it to be for nothing. … Sometimes, as my college coach would say, ‘You’ve got to give up no runs.’ ”
And that’s just what they did, with their third shutout of the season.
“That was a huge job by the pitching staff, understanding the offense is trying to find our way right now,’’ said Nimmo, who provided the only run of the game with his fourth-inning blast.
Senga had last pitched April 26, as the Mets opted to give the right-hander a rest as they try to replicate his previous schedule in Japan whenever necessary, since he is accustomed to pitching just once a week.
Buck Showalter noted Senga was “well-rested” and the strategy paid off against Colorado, which is in last place in the NL West, but had won four in a row entering the game.
And as the Mets proved in Detroit, when they were swept by the underwhelming Tigers, the quality of the opponent doesn’t always matter.
Regardless of who they were playing, the Mets were searching for a win, having dropped nine of their previous 11 games and five of six.
And that recent three-game losing streak came with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander back in the rotation.
Senga battled his control early, issuing back-to-back two-out walks in both the first and third innings. He escaped both jams unscathed and then settled down.
Neither team got a hit until the fourth, as Colorado’s Randal Grichuk singled with two outs in the top of the inning.
Nimmo led off the bottom of the frame with his third homer of the season after right-hander Antonio Senzatela retired the first nine batters he faced.
It came after the slumping Mets’ offense had scored just one run in the previous 25 innings.
Nimmo doubled to leadoff the bottom of the sixth, but he was stranded at second to keep it a one-run game, as he broke out of a 10-game mini-slump in which he was just 7-for-40 with two extra-base hits, a pair of walks and 15 strikeouts.
After Drew Smith pitched a scoreless seventh, David Robertson entered to start the eighth and walked two batters before getting a bit of a fortunate break, as a potential game-tying single by Ryan McMahon hit pinch-runner Brenton Doyle to end the inning.
Adam Ottavino gave up a leadoff single to Randal Grichuk in the ninth. Grichuk stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt.
With the infield in, pinch-hitter Mike Moustakas struck out to bring up Charlie Blackmon, who lined out to right, where Starling Marte made the catch to end it.
“That was a big sense of relief,’’ Ottavino said.
