Kodai Senga’s injury-riddled regular season is over.
The Mets ace won’t be activated this week after he experienced triceps tightness during his one-inning rehab start Saturday night, manager Carlos Mendoza said Sunday.
“I think it’s safe to say, for the regular season, he’s not going to be a player for us,” Mendoza said before the Mets’ series finale against the Phillies at Citi Field. “He’s going to continue to throw. That’s what I was told.”
Out since July 26 with a high-grade calf strain, Senga had hoped to return during the Mets’ final road trip before the postseason as either a short-inning starter or as a reliever.
He threw 15 pitches during his first and only rehab start Saturday with Triple-A Syracuse, striking out two without giving up a hit while issuing one walk.
Mendoza did not rule out Senga returning during the playoffs, but he acknowledged “it’s hard to tell now.”
“It seems like he’s not worried about it, but it’s a setback,” Mendoza said.
“He felt like he could have continued to pitch, but he wanted to play it safe.”
Senga, 31, was expected to be the Mets’ No. 1 starter this year, but he was diagnosed during spring training with a shoulder strain and ultimately missed the season’s first four months.
Amid his rehab for that injury, Senga reported feeling triceps tightness in May and received a cortisone shot. Asked if Senga’s latest setback was the same issue as that one, Mendoza said he did not know.
Senga made his season debut on July 26 against the Braves, but he exited after 5.1 innings after injuring his calf as he got off of the mound during an infield pop-up.
That start ended up being Senga’s only MLB appearance of the regular season.
“It’s been a hard year for him, and he’s worked his tail off,” Mendoza said. “You feel for him, because every time he wants to push it and he wants to take the baseball, he’s dealing with something. Hopefully this is nothing serious, but it’s going to set him back a little bit, as far as the game competition at the big-league level.”
The Japanese-born Senga made his MLB debut last year and became the Mets’ top starter after their midseason trades of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
A 2023 All-Star selection, Senga went 12-7 with 2.98 ERA and 2022 strikeouts in 166.1 innings over 29 starts last year.
LINDOR LATEST
As expected, lower-back discomfort kept shortstop Francisco Lindor out of the Mets’ lineup for a seventh consecutive game Sunday.
Lindor, 30, was expected Sunday to go through a pregame workout “with intensity” that included taking batting practice, fielding ground balls, playing catch and running, Mendoza said.
“He said he was going to try to push it today, so we’ll see how that goes, but [he is] definitely feeling better,” Mendoza said.
Lindor, 30, had a lower-intensity pregame workout before Saturday’s game.
An MRI came back clean last week, but Lindor received a facet joint shot on Thursday in an effort to expedite his return.
On Saturday, Mendoza said Tuesday’s series opener in Atlanta was “probably the earliest” Lindor would return. The Mets are off Monday.
Lindor is hitting .271 with 31 home runs, 86 RBI and an .836 OPS this season, primarily out of the leadoff spot.
