Mets’ Kodai Senga won’t return for regular season

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Sunday that Kodai Senga “felt a little bit of tightness on his triceps” during his rehab outing Saturday and will not pitch during the remainder of the regular season.

“Senga felt a little bit of tightness on his triceps,” Mendoza said. “He felt like he could have continued to pitch, but he just wanted to play it safe. He’s going to continue to throw from what I was told.”

“I think it’s safe to say, for the regular season, he’s not going to be a player for us,” Mendoza added. “He’s going to continue to throw, that’s what I was told, maybe a live BP, I don’t know. We’re not going to put him in a big league game until he clears all the steps and things like that.

Senga threw one inning on Saturday for Triple-A Syracuse, striking out two batters over 15 pitches. He was originally scheduled to throw 30-35 pitches during the outing.

SNY’s Andy Martino previously reported the Mets were “increasingly optimistic” that Senga will pitch again this season, but that plan appears to now depend on if the team makes the postseason. Senga has pitched in just one game this season due to injuries, tossing 5.1 innings against the Atlanta Braves on July 26.

Heading into Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Mets are still in playoff position in the third NL Wild Card spot (1.5 games up on Atlanta). New York is three games back of the San Diego Padres for the first spot and 0.5 games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second spot.

The Mets have seven more games left to play, including Sunday night, with a three-game series on the road against the Braves starting on Tuesday, followed by a three-game series to close out the regular season against the Brewers in Milwaukee.

With Senga no longer in the plans to pitch in the remaining games, Luis Severino is being moved up in the rotation to pitch against the Braves on Tuesday, according to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. The move allows him to come back on regular rest Sunday for the final game of the regular season if that game matters for New York’s potential playoff positioning.