Senga scratched from Mets start

The Mets’ uneventful spring training finally hit a few road bumps this week.

The latest concerning development had Buck Showalter’s club scratching Kodai Senga from his scheduled start against the Washington Nationals on Saturday night due to discomfort at the base of his right index finger, the team announced.

The Japanese right-hander, who signed a five-year, $75 million contract to make the jump to the Major Leagues this winter, will undergo imaging on the finger.

Righty John Curtiss got the start in Senga’s place.

One of the major adjustments Senga and Japanese pitchers have to make when coming to Major League Baseball is the slightly larger and less sticky baseballs. There is no indication as of yet that this contributed to Senga’s discomfort.

Senga, 30, made his Grapefruit League debut last Sunday against the Cardinals and allowed one earned run on one hit, one strikeout and two walks.

“Nothing, in particular, was that great,” Senga said after that outing through a translator. “But it’s something to work on for next time.”

Now it’s unclear when ‘next time’ will be.

Senga comes to the Mets after 11 seasons with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks where he went 87-44 with a 2.59 ERA and 1,252 strikeouts (10.3 strikeouts per nine innings) over 11 seasons. He helped the Hawks win six Japan Series titles including four straight championships from 2017-2020, and a gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

On Monday, the Mets announced that lefty Jose Quintana had a small stress fracture of the fifth rib and would be sent back to New York for more imaging. The veteran hurler who was another offseason acquisition complained of side tightness after throwing just one inning in his second Grapefruit League start on Sunday.

David Peterson, who suffered a foot contusion on March 4 and was considered day-to-day, threw a live batting practice session on Thursday.