Kodai Senga has been a bit up-and-down since returning from the IL.
He put together four scoreless innings in his return in Kansas City, but then was knocked around and ended up being chased after just three earlier this week against the Angels.
Sunday’s outing against the Giants was much of the same.
The right-hander worked around trouble in each of his five innings of work, but was able to limit the damage to just two bad pitches — both of which were Matt Chapman home run's (solo and two-run shot).
Overall, Senga allowed those three runs on four hits and five walks.
“First time he goes five innings since coming back from injury,” Carlos Mendoza said. “We pushed him today, we had a number in mind which he reached, so I want to say it was a good step in the right direction for him.”
Senga has now given up a total of seven runs over his first three starts back.
Easily the biggest issue — the eight walks he’s issued over that span.
“I felt prepared going into tonight,” he said through a translator. “Just a lot of uncompetitive pitches, those don’t help and I know that if I can minimize those moving forward then it’s going to help me get back into a groove.”
Though Senga has been shaky, Mendoza is confident he’ll be able to work through his mechanical issues and return to his dominant form.
“This is a guy that the more reps he gets, the better he’s gonna get,” the skipper said. “I’m not concerned, he’s too good of a pitcher and he’ll figure it out, I think it's more like him coming back from injury — he continues to progress and move in the right direction."