Quinton Fesq
The NY Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, and the final score is almost insulting to the man who took the mound. Kodai Senga was sharp, locked in, and every bit the starter this rotation needs him to be. However, the offense never showed up.
Senga went 6 innings, allowed 4 hits, walked 3, and struck out 9. He gave up 2 runs in the third on a sharp Iván Herrera double that scored two Cardinals who had worked themselves into scoring position — and that was all St. Louis needed. For everything that came after, Senga kept the door shut. His 2026 debut was a statement. It just didn’t come with a win attached.
3 Hits. That’s It.
Juan Soto went 2-for-4 with a double and was the only Met who showed any consistent ability to do damage. Beyond that, the offensive box score is nearly unreadable. Francisco Lindor went 0-for-3 with a walk, grounding out three times. Bo Bichette was 0-for-3. Mark Vientos was pulled for a pinch hitter in the 7th after going 0-for-2. The Mets finished 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left 4 men on base across 9 innings.
The 6th inning was the gut punch. Soto led off with a double, Bichette drew a walk, and the Mets had the tying run in the on-deck circle with nobody out. Luis Robert Jr. flew out to center on a sharp ball that just died. Then Jared Young lined into a double play — shortstop Masyn Winn to first — and that was the ballgame. Inning over. Threat erased. Cardinals pitching breathed easy the rest of the night.
Marcus Semien went 0-for-2 with a walk. Carson Benge struck out in the 7th and went 0-for-3 on the night. Luis Torrens, behind the plate for the first 6 innings, went 0-for-2. Pinch hitters Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez combined to go 0-for-3. Andre Pallante held this lineup to 3 hits across 5.2 innings. That’s a problem.
Richard Lovelady came on for the 7th and ran into immediate trouble — a Ramón Urías solo homer made it 3-0, and a passed ball by Alvarez moved runners into better position before Lovelady worked out of the frame. It was a bumpy two innings against a Cardinals lineup that wasn’t exactly overwhelming on paper.
Senga’s night deserves to be remembered on its own terms. Nine strikeouts in a season debut. The concern coming into tonight wasn’t the Cardinals — it was whether Senga’s body would hold up and whether the command would be there. Both questions got a convincing answer. The one that wasn’t answered: can this offense score when a healthy ace hands them 6 innings and a chance?
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