PHILADELPHIA -- After his last outing on Aug. 31, Mets right-hander Kodai Senga admitted to feeling "some frustration."
Including the Mets' 5-1 loss to the Miami Marlins, where he allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings, Senga has a 5.90 ERA with 39 strikeouts and eight home runs allowed in his last nine starts.
"I've never experienced something like this for this extended period of time," Senga told reporters through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara after that start. "There's some confusion about why I'm not able to perform."
With the Mets in the middle of a playoff race -- they're eight games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East and have a 3 1/2 game lead for the third NL Wild Card spot -- they asked Senga to accept a minor league assignment to work on his mechanics last week, and he accepted.
It's been nine days since Senga took the ball in a game. When do the Mets expect him to play in a game again?
"We're talking about either Friday, Saturday -- this weekend," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters before Monday's 1-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. "We're going to give him time to throw a couple of bullpens before we put him in a game."
Throughout this process, the Senga and the Mets have insisted that he's "physically fine." Mendoza also revealed that in conversations with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, Senga has voiced that he "doesn't feel his lower half the way he used to."
After his last start, Senga confirmed this, saying, "There are some parts of my body that aren't moving the way I want it to."
Because of this, the Mets want Senga to focus on getting his mechanics right.
"Part of the reason that we sent him down was to work on his mechanics," Mendoza said. "In order to for him to work on his mechanics, we've got to give him a chance to get on the mound without facing competition. That's what he's going through right now; he throws a bullpen, then a couple of days (later), he throws another one, watches film, gets feedback, and then hopefully he gets in a game towards the end of this week."
Senga's troubles began after injuring his hamstring attempting to make a play at first base against the Washington Nationals on Jun. 12. Before then, Senga pitched like an ace, allowing 12 earned runs in 73 2/3 innings, a 1.47 ERA, with 70 strikeouts and four home runs allowed.