First-year MLB pitcher Kodai Senga picked up his eighth win Monday after the right-hander held the Chicago Cubs to two runs over six innings in the New York Mets' 11-2 clobbering.
Senga (8-6) allowed seven hits and two walks at New York's Citi Field but had run support, especially from Pete Alonso, whose three-run first-inning home run and a two-run shot in the third off Drew Smyly (8-8) helped the Mets snap a six-game skid.
"Alonso hit a home run for us at the start and allowed me to settle into the game comfortably," said Senga, who yielded runs when Cubs cleanup hitter Cody Bellinger singled in a run in the third and again in the fifth.
Senga was pitching in the rain after being tagged with a loss Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals. But unlike in that game, he was able to command his cutter.
"No one likes pitching in the rain ... (but) in part I'm finding my rhythm little by little," said the former ace of NPB's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
He admitted the departure of veteran right-handers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer in recent trades initially left him "feeling lonely."
"There's no change to the fact that I live each day trying to keep the batters at bay," he said. "The most important thing is to not get sidelined. I want to finish the season winning games."
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani, meanwhile, went 2-for-4, doubled, stole a base and scored, but the Los Angeles Angels surrendered six runs in the ninth to blow a 3-2 lead, losing their seventh straight game, 8-3 to the San Francisco Giants.