Kodai Senga continues to rest more – The Denver Post

CHICAGO — Kodai Senga is still on a schedule that allows for extra rest. The Mets are pretty happy to keep him on one, at least for this early part of his rookie season.

Senga will kick off Game 2 of a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Wednesday. Seven days between starts isn’t typical for major league pitchers, but it’s typical for pitchers in Japan, and the Mets have tried to emulate the schedule he was on throughout his 11 years in the Nippon Professional League. It doesn’t look like that’s going to change any time soon.

” We do not know yet. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t know,” manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday at Wrigley Field. “Maybe it doesn’t happen at all. We’ll see how he responds. I hope there is that possibility and we leave that open, but at the moment he is doing well with the way his rest is approaching. We will continue on this path and the medical staff and [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] let me know when and if and when they think it’s ready.

Finding a routine was difficult for Senga in his first season in North America. Between rains, doubleheaders and travel days, there’s no starter in the Mets rotation who has been able to stick to a five-day week. Senga would like to find a routine at some point, even if it means working a six or seven day schedule.

“I think my routine is still going,” Senga said through a translator. “I think between the weather and the injuries, things have changed. I just know that I have to be flexible and be able to show up any day given to me.

However, he clarified that he was not asking for extra days off and was able to pitch on a normal schedule if necessary.

“I always wanted to come to the United States to play and that comes with it – throwing every five days,” Senga said. “I just need to throw when I’m told to throw.”

The 30-year-old right-hander was scheduled to start Tuesday in the series opener, but that appears to have been some sort of misunderstanding or error on the MLB.com schedule. Right-hander Tylor Megill takes the ball on Tuesday and Senga will go Wednesday in Game 2, and the Mets told him last week that his next start would come midgame.

Senga knew long before arriving in Chicago that he would be pitching on Wednesday and geared his work week toward pitching in that specific game.

“I knew it would be tomorrow from the start,” Senga said. “I know they changed it, but I think they have their own thoughts and their own plan in that regard, but we knew that.”

LAUNCH PROBABLES

Max Scherzer will open the Mets series in Denver on Friday night against the Colorado Rockies. Justin Verlander will kick off Saturday with an extra day off. Both right-handers pitched in Sunday’s Mets double sweep against the Cleveland Guardians, but Scherzer only pitched six innings and Verlander pitched eight, which is why the team opted to give Verlander that sixth day.

“Max had a good day at work today and threw fewer pitches and fewer innings last time out,” Showalter said. “I would have been fine with one of them.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Outfielder Tim Locastro chose to have surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament of his left thumb. Locastro injured his thumb while in rehab with Triple-A Syracuse. He was initially placed on the disabled list on April 17 with back spasms.

The Mets did not immediately know the timing of the injury.

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