John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Kikuchi, Senga Live Out 'MLB Dream' As Blue Jays Sweep Mets
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NEW YORK — Kodai Senga and Yusei Kikuchi have been friends and competitors for a decade.
The pair first met at the 2013 NPB All-Star Series, where both hurlers pitched for the Pacific League team. The starters faced off regularly in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball Organization and talked about their shared goal of bringing the matchup to MLB. On Sunday, they lived out that dream in Toronto's 6-4 win over the Mets.
"Now that both of our dreams have come true, and we're facing each other," Kikuchi said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. "It's really good to see."
Here are three other takeaways from Toronto's win in New York:
Patience Cracks Senga
Toronto's bats spoiled the fun early for Senga, though. It was damage via patience for the Jays, as they took half of the Mets starter's 68 pitches for balls. Against the righty's hyped ‘ghost fork' splitter, Toronto swung and missed just twice on 14 deliveries.
"We were really patient, got his pitch count up, obviously," John Schneider said. "The [splitters] out of the zone, I think that guys did a good job of recognizing that."
When Toronto's hitters did swing, though, they connected. Whit Merrifield laced a liner to the deep corner to score Toronto’s first two runs and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added on with a yanked homer in the third. After a Mets error and a few more Senga walks, New York manager Buck Showalter sauntered out to the mound to remove his starter, quickly ending the Japanese pitching battle.
Belt Blast Jays To Victory
After Toronto's bullpen let the lead slip away in the middle innings, Brandon Belt stepped in looking for vengeance in the seventh. The slugger had been called out on strikes in his last two at-bats, walking back to the dugout both times in frustration (both strike threes were arguably out of the zone). When Belt fell behind 0-2 again in the seventh, it looked like another K was inbound.
Instead, the 'salty veteran,' as Schneider dubbed him, lashed out for a slider at the bottom of the zone, connecting just enough with the barrel to send the ball flying to center. The Toronto DH didn't know that the hit was immediately out and it was only when the ball landed in the Citi Field apple in center that Belt knew he'd given Toronto back the lead.
"I knew I hit it hard," Belt said. "But I'd seen probably three balls that game that were hit hard and didn't go out, so I didn't know for sure. I thought it was probably going to be a hit, but thankfully went over the fence."
After starting the season with one hit in his first six games, Belt has dragged his OPS all the way up to .794 as of Sunday's contest. In 10 at-bats against the Mets this weekend, the veteran collected eight total bases.
Sweeping In Queens
With Jordan Romano polishing off the Mets in the ninth, the Blue Jays sealed their fourth sweep of the season with Sunday's win. After dropping seven of nine contests last month, the Jays are now winners of six of their last seven games.
"I think the guys are understanding that they're a good team," Schneider said. "And the calendar month flips to June and things are a little bit different than they were in May.
In May, the Jays posted an 11-17 record. In the early days of June, they're 4-0. Despite the current hot streak, Toronto still sits fourth in the American League East and over eight games back of the division lead.
