Mets RHP Kodai Senga throws 52 pitches over 2 2/3 scoreless innings in Triple-A rehab start

NEW YORK (AP) — Mets pitcher Kodai Senga tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball Tuesday night in his second minor league rehab start.

Sidelined all season by a shoulder injury, the New York right-hander threw 30 of his 52 pitches for strikes with Triple-A Syracuse against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, a New York Yankees affiliate. He struck out three, walked two and uncorked a pair of wild pitches.

Senga made his first rehab start last Wednesday with High-A Brooklyn, throwing 25 of 35 pitches for strikes in 2 2/3 hitless innings. He struck out six of the nine batters he faced without issuing a walk against Hudson Valley.

New York's projected No. 1 starter this season, Senga has been out since early in spring training with a right shoulder capsule strain. There is no defined timetable for his return, but if all goes well he could join the Mets' rotation by late July or early August.

“We’re going to continue to evaluate after every rehab start, see how he feels, see where we are from a rotation perspective,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “If all goes according to plan, I would say sometime after the All-Star break. But I couldn’t tell you exactly.”

Stearns said once Senga gets back, the team's “default stance” will be a six-man rotation, although “we may deviate from that occasionally.”

Senga went 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 29 starts as a rookie last year in his first season with the Mets after arriving from Japan. He struck out 202 batters in 166 1/3 innings, finishing runner-up for NL Rookie of the Year and seventh in Cy Young Award voting.

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AP freelance writer Jerry Beach contributed to this report.

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