The MLB Mets name Japan's Senga as the shock starter against the Phillies

Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga, who hasn't played since July 26 because of a calf injury, was named Friday the New York Mets' playoff starter Saturday against Philadelphia.

The 31-year-old right-hander, a five-time Japan Series champion with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, joined Major League Baseball last season and was the Mets' leading hurler at 12-7 with 202 strikeouts and a 2.98 earned-run average.

This year, Senga suffered a right shoulder strain and made his debut against Atlanta in late July. He struck out nine and allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings before leaving the game with a right calf strain that has sidelined him ever since.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said on September 22 that Senga was out for the season, but reversed that decision on Friday.

It was uncertain how long Senga would be able to play in the first game of the National League's best-of-five series against the Phillies.

“We'll see. We’ll let it play out,” Mendoza said. “He pitched and faced hitters. We have a plan. We’ll go out there, watch him closely and go from there, but he’s ready to go.”

Mendoza said Senga was excited about the prospect of facing the Phillies.

“He’s excited,” Mendoza said. “When we spoke to him he was ready to go. If anyone knows, it's Kodai Senga. We spent the whole year with him. If he’s not feeling well, he always lets us know.”

“That was not the case in this situation. He was the one who came up to us and wanted to know what we thought. We wanted to hear what he wanted to say and it was a pretty easy decision for us based on what we said. We've been through the whole year with him.”

Mendoza will have left-hander David Peterson, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning to knock out Milwaukee in the wild-card round, and right-hander Tylor Megill as a reserve.

“We will be ready to adapt if we have to,” Mendoza said.

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