Kodai Senga struggles again as Mets fall to Cubs, 9-6

Kodai Senga delivered another dud, Juan Soto left the game early because of back tightness and the Mets lost again, falling to the Cubs, 9-6, in front of 35,668 fans Tuesday night at Citi Field.

>The Mets, who have lost three straight and allowed 30 runs over that span, are now 10 games below the .500 mark at 34-44. The Cubs are 41-37.

Here are the takeaways....-The Mets' rotation woes continued as the Cubs scored five times in the second inning against Senga. The night had started very well for the beleaguered Mets’ righty – he blazed through the first inning, retiring the side in order with two strikeouts and hitting as high as 98.9 miles per hour on the radar gun. It quickly unraveled, however. Senga walked the first hitter in the second inning, Seiya Suzuki, gave up a single to Ian Happ and hit Matt Shaw with a pitch, loading the bases. One out later, Carson Kelly worked a walk in an eight-pitch at-bat, forcing in a run. After Dansby Swanson cracked a sac fly, Crow-Armstrong mashed his three-run homer for a 5-0 Cubs lead. Senga heard plenty of boos as he trudged off the mound when the inning was finally over.

>-Walks have helped sap Senga’s effectiveness all season – he entered the game having walked 6.4 per nine innings this season. Peep this to get an idea of how bad that is: José Soriano of the Angels has the worst walk rate among qualified pitchers (4.5), but it’s nearly two walks fewer than Senga. Senga was not a good matchup for the Cubs, whose hitters owned MLB’s highest walk rate entering the game, and he finished his brief outing with five walks and a hit batter.

>-Senga threw 31 pitches in the second inning alone, which meant he was never going to pitch too deep into the game. He didn’t, getting just 11 outs and leaving to more boos with two out and one on in the fourth inning and the Mets trailing, 7-2. In all, Senga allowed three hits and seven runs, including a two-run homer by Swanson, in 3.2 innings. He struck out six and threw 98 pitches (58 strikes). His season ERA ballooned to 10.08. In the two starts since he returned to the Met rotation, he’s allowed 11 runs in 7.2 innings, a 12.91 ERA.

>-The Mets entered Tuesday’s game having allowed 151 runs in the first three innings of games, the second-most in the majors, behind only the awful Rockies (161). The Mets have now allowed at least one run in the first three frames in each of their last 13 games.

>-The Mets quickly responded after the Cubs took the lead, scoring twice in the bottom of the second with two out. Marcus Semien walked, Brett Baty singled and MJ Melendez worked a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Francisco Alvarez followed by whacking a single into center that plated two runs. The Mets seemed poised to possibly add more when Carson Benge walked, but Cubs starter Edward Cabrera struck out Bo Bichette for the second time to end the inning.

>-Alvarez hit a solo homer in the seventh inning, his sixth of the season, a long shot to center off Phil Maton that was clocked at 105.2 mph off the bat.

>-The Mets had some late life, too. In the ninth inning, Bichette hit a two-run homer and Benge added an RBI single to trim the Cub lead to three runs.

>-Soto, whose streak of 13 consecutive games reaching base safely ended, came out of the game after the fourth inning. He was replaced in left field by Jared Young, who moved from first base. Mark Vientos took over at first for Young. The Mets announced that Soto left with back tightness. He was spotted late in the game back on the Mets bench.

>-Cabrera got injured getting the final out of the fifth inning when he covered first and stretched to catch a throw from Nico Hoerner. Cabrera, in obvious pain as he clutched at his left inner thigh, left the field on a cart to polite applause from the Citi Field crowd. It was later announced that Cabrera had suffered a left hamstring/adductor strain. Cabrera allowed two runs on three hits, striking out four and walking four.

>-Cionel Pérez provided nifty relief for the Mets, coming in to get the final out of the fourth and then throwing two consecutive 1-2-3 innings.

>-Weird play in the seventh: Crow-Armstrong was on first and ran on the pitch as Michael Busch drew a walk. Even though Crow-Armstrong was forced to second because of the walk, the Mets had thrown the ball to the bag and then challenged that Crow-Armstrong had come off the base and gotten tagged. Upon review, the umpires agreed and Crow-Armstrong was ruled out after “losing possession” of the bag and being tagged by Bichette. Perhaps not surprisingly, Cubs manager Craig Counsell was ejected in the post-play discussion.

Game MVP: Pete Crow-Armstrong.The former Met prospect, dealt for Javy Báez and Trevor Williams at the 2021 trade deadline, smacked a key three-run homer for the Cubs. Dansby Swanson rates, too – he had four RBI.

HighlightsTwo strikeouts in a 1-2-3 first inning for Kodai Senga 🔥

Senga's fastball hit 98.9 MPH on the radar gun pic.twitter.com/MzU9vJ8W6O

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 23, 2026Francisco Alvarez with a two-run single! pic.twitter.com/bEvDnHfp1y

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 24, 2026A solo home run for Francisco Alvarez!

He's driven in all three Mets runs tonight pic.twitter.com/LYNmVmP7pA

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 24, 2026Carson Benge drives home Brett Baty to make it 9-4 pic.twitter.com/u9heiKDhdM

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 24, 2026Bo Bichette with a two-run blast to make it 9-6 in the 9th pic.twitter.com/2nMXXFQbZq

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 24, 2026What's nextThe Mets and Cubs will play a day-night doubleheader on Wednesday. First game is set for 1:10 p.m. with Game 2 slated for 7:10 p.m.

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