Kodai Senga 2026 — Today's Stats & Game Log

Senga tosses scoreless inning, but platoon split remains the real story

Senga turned in a clean, if brief, outing today — one inning, zero hits, zero runs, one strikeout against Boston. With a season ERA of 8.69 and a WHIP of 1.75, a single scoreless inning shouldn't be mistaken for a turnaround, but it's a solid data point in an otherwise rough year.

Looking at the pitch mix, Senga leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball (67% usage, averaging 96.6 mph) over his forkball (33%), with both pitches finding the zone at an identical 67% strike rate. The forkball produced his only whiff of the outing, confirming it's still functioning as a legitimate put-away pitch even in a short appearance. The more telling number, though, is his platoon split: right-handed hitters are batting just .231 against him with an .878 OPS across 78 at-bats, while left-handed hitters are hitting .316 with a .988 OPS across 76 at-bats. That's a massive gap for a pitcher his season ERA already reflects, and it likely explains a meaningful chunk of his overall struggles this year.

Looking back over his last ten outings tells a similarly uneven story. Senga imploded against the Cubs on June 24 (3.2 IP, 7 ER), but has shown signs of stabilizing since — 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 K against Atlanta on July 4, then 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 K against Kansas City on July 8, and now today's clean frame against Boston. It's not a dominant stretch by any measure, but the trend line is pointing in the right direction after the June meltdown.

It's still a tiny sample — just one inning — but tightening up the forkball command and closing that lefty/righty gap look like the real keys to any sustained ERA improvement from here. My focus for the next start: can he stretch this kind of clean execution across five or six innings instead of one.

Unico's takeaway: one scoreless inning is encouraging, but the widening platoon split against left-handed hitters remains the number that matters most for Senga's season.