


One of the few positives from this Mets season has been the emergence of Kodai Senga in his first season in the majors.
And too many times, the Mets have squandered the right-hander’s outings.
On Friday, they didn’t, as Daniel Vogelbach drove in Francisco Lindor with a go-ahead single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth in a 2-1 win over Seattle at Citi Field.
Senga was superb again, allowing just one run — while striking out a dozen — in seven innings.
It came against a first-place Mariners team that entered having won 13 of 15, part of a long second-half surge that’s gotten them to the top of the tough AL West.
Buoyed by the arrival of Ronny Mauricio, who delivered a rocket double in his first major league at-bat, the last-place Mets finally took the lead in the eighth after heading into the game having lost six of eight.
“We don’t give into the allure of mediocrity,’’ Buck Showalter said before the game, noting that his team was still competing despite its ugly record. They were in danger of going back to 13 games under .500, which would have matched a season-worst.
“I’m proud of the guys, that they haven’t given into that lure,’’ Showalter said. “They’re not going through the motions. They’ve got too much pride for that. We and they are not gonna allow it.”
Senga’s excellence made that easier, as he tied his MLB-high in strikeouts and lowered his ERA to 3.08, good for third in the National League.
Senga allowed just one baserunner through the first three innings before J.P. Crawford led off the fourth with a home run to center to put the Mets in a 1-0 hole.
The right-hander was often dominant against Seattle and stiffened when he needed to.
That included the sixth, when Senga allowed a leadoff single to Josh Rojas followed by a walk to Crawford.
With two on and no one out, Senga responded by striking out Julio Rodriguez, Eugenio Suarez and Cal Raleigh to keep it a one-run game.
He also dealt with a lack of run support, as the Mets got just one runner in scoring position until Brandon Nimmo opened the bottom of the sixth with his 20th homer of the season to tie the game at 1-1.
Pete Alonso followed with a two-out double and Vogelbach hit one to the track in center, but Rodriguez made the catch to end the inning.
Prior to Nimmo’s blast, only Mauricio got past first, with a laser, 117.3 MPH double to right to lead off the third.
Nimmo, Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil stranded Mauricio.
With the game tied in the seventh, Senga gave up a leadoff double to Teoscar Hernandez before retiring the next three batters, keeping the game knotted at 1-1.
Baty and Mauricio had back-to-back singles with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but left-hander Gabe Speier got Nimmo to hit into a forceout.
Phil Bickford came in for Senga to start the eighth and pitched around a two-out double by Rodriguez in a scoreless inning.
In the ninth, Drew Smith walked Cal Raleigh, but picked off pinch-runner Jose Caballero for the first out and picked up the save.