Mets blast three homers to top Giants despite another shaky Kodai Senga start

SAN FRANCISCO — The Mets might have signed up for six victories on their 10-game trip before it began, but now they can set a higher bar.

Their rotation is banged up and their lineup hasn’t truly clicked yet, but the Mets have been good enough. Thursday night, their California Dreaming continued with a 9-4 victory over the Giants at Oracle Park for a sixth win in the first seven games of the trip.

Including their series against the Padres at Citi Field before they headed west, the Mets have won eight times in 10 games this season against California teams.

“I’ve been very proud of the way they have approached [the trip]: very workmanlike with a lot of passion and energy,” manager Buck Showalter said. “It’s a tough trip. But the guys have handled it well so far. I think they are very respectful of the competition and how quickly it can change.”

The latest win came on the day the Mets found out they will be without Max Scherzer for his previously scheduled Tuesday start, after the right-hander was suspended 10 games by MLB for violating the prohibitions on foreign substances.

“Whoever we have available we’re just going to go out there and compete and do the best we can to win every day,” Pete Alonso said.

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Alonso, Eduardo Escobar and Jeff McNeil all homered, providing enough support for Kodai Senga, who ran into difficulty in the fifth and was removed after the inning.

Senga allowed four earned runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts over five innings.

It was a second straight choppy start for the right-hander, who struggled with the long wait times between innings and the cool weather last Friday at Oakland.

“I had been only pitching five innings or so these past few outings so I was hoping to go a little bit deeper,” Senga said through his interpreter.

Another strong bullpen outing helped, after the Mets received six solid innings from relievers in their victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday following Scherzer’s ejection.

Brooks Raley, John Curtiss, Drew Smith and Jeff Brigham combined for four scoreless innings on Thursday to seal the win.

The Mets showed plenty of energy in a scoring outburst that surpassed their eight-run performance Monday at Dodger Stadium.

Alonso and Escobar each homered as part of the Mets’ five-run fourth inning.

Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch to begin the inning before Alonso went deep with his ninth homer of the season.

The blast moved him alone into fifth-place on the Mets’ all-time homer list with 155. Alonso was previously tied with Dave Kingman.

Another hit batter by Sean Manaea, this time McNeil, ignited a second rally in the inning.

Escobar followed with a towering fly ball that just cleared the left-field fence, extending the Mets’ lead to 4-0.

Then, after Luis Guillorme walked, Brandon Nimmo delivered an RBI double.

Senga finally was dented in the fifth when Blake Sabol homered leading off the inning.

Sabol hammered a four-seam fastball over the center-field fence, but the Giants weren’t finished: LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a solo homer with one out that pulled the Giants within 5-2. The blasts were the fourth and fifth allowed by Senga in his four starts this season.

Before the inning was complete, the Giants had sliced their deficit to 5-4.

Thairo Estrada and Michael Conforto walked in succession before Mike Yastrzemski’s single brought in a run. Senga then unloaded a wild pitch, allowing Conforto to score.

McNeil’s homer leading off the sixth got the Mets’ lead back to 6-4.

The blast, just inside the right-field foul pole, was McNeil’s first of the season.

Alonso had a two-run single in the seventh and McNeil also contributed an RBI single in the inning.

Joey Lucchesi will be recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to start the game Friday against the Giants.

The left-hander will be filling the spot vacated by Carlos Carrasco, who is on the injured list with a bone chip in his right elbow. Lucchesi’s last major league appearance came almost two years ago. He had Tommy John surgery in June 2021 and spent last season rehabbing.