Two pitchers with Cy Young Award aspirations wil meet for the first time Sunday when right-handers Kodai Senga and Logan Webb go head-to-head as the New York Mets and host San Francisco Giants complete a four-game series.

The Mets have won two of the first three in a series in which no outcome has been closer than five runs.

New York starters Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes have dominated 10-3 and 9-0 wins the past two nights, limiting the Giants to a total of one earned run and four hits in 12 1/3 innings.

They will hand the ball and a slumping opponent to Senga (0-1, 3.00 ERA), who had teammates and coaches gushing after his first start of the season, when he allowed just four hits and two runs over six innings at St. Louis on Tuesday. He struck out nine of the 25 batters he faced but got no support in a 3-0 defeat.

“It was a great start to the year,” Senga said afterward. “It makes me excited for this year. It felt like I’m a starting pitcher again.”

The 33-year-old right-hander battled injuries during a 7-6 campaign a year ago. But he was back on his 2023 All-Star form, pitching coach Justin Willard told reporters, which already is doing wonders for his confidence.

“This guy wants to be great,” Willard said. “I think you saw it (in 2023) when he was here, and then a couple injuries derailed him a bit. But he wants to be great. He wants to be the best pitcher in baseball. And he’s going to do things he needs to do to be that.”

While his 1-0 record wouldn’t indicate it, Senga has struggled in his three career starts against the Giants, roughed up for 14 hits and 11 runs in 14 innings. He also has walked 12, contributing to a 7.07 ERA.

Senga will see a Giants team that has struggled both in the field and at the plate in the past two games. Manager Tony Vitello clearly was more concerned about the former when defending his losing pitcher, Landen Roupp, after Saturday’s defeat.

“Too many innings where there are four outs that have to be recorded,” he lamented in his postgame press conference.

“They (the Mets) have done a really good job of swinging the bat, but you’d be hard-pressed to find an inning where they scored where there wasn’t the potential for the inning to be over. Our defense, we can certainly do better.”

Hoping for more help behind him will be Webb (1-1, 7.36), who bounced back from a shaky Opening Day start against the New York Yankees to limit the San Diego Padres to three hits and three runs over six innings in a 9-3 road win Tuesday. He allowed seven runs (six earned) in five innings in a 7-0 loss to the Yankees.

The two-time All-Star is 3-2 with a 3.21 ERA in seven career starts against the Mets.

After racking up a total of 27 hits in its last two games, New York likely will once again be without Juan Soto, who experienced tightness in his right calf in the first inning of Friday’s win.

Jared Young started in his spot Saturday, then gave way to Tyrone Taylor, who belted a game-breaking, three-run home run as a pinch hitter. Taylor finished the game with four RBIs.

–Field Level Media

The Ottawa Senators may be running out of time as they run into one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Senators do have a plan for Sunday’s game against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes.

“Simplify and try to work a little harder,” Ottawa forward Shane Pinto said. “Yeah, (Sunday) is a big game. Everybody knows the magnitude of these games.”

The Senators (39-27-10, 88 points) have lost four of their last five games as they compete with a few other teams for one of the last playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. They dropped a 4-1 decision to the visiting Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon.

There’s little room for error on the part of Ottawa.

“With some of our injuries, we’ve got to be spot-on,” Senators coach Travis Green said.

The Hurricanes have played several desperate teams recently and they find benefits in that.

“When you play teams that are kind of on that bubble, it’s good for you to prep for the playoffs,” Carolina forward Seth Jarvis said.

The Hurricanes (49-21-6, 104 points) already have secured a playoff spot and are one point away from clinching the Metropolitan Division title.

“We all know that the prize is still out there,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the postseason ahead. “This basically qualifies you to go after it.”

They’ve won four of their last five games, including Saturday night’s 4-3 home victory against the New York Islanders. In their last two games combined, the Hurricanes have allowed opponents to put only 26 shots on goal.

“That was pretty impressive,” Brind’Amour said. “I think our guys played the way we want them to.”

Green said there were uncharacteristic defensive lapses from the Senators in Saturday’s game against Minnesota.

“That’s easy to say, ‘Play with urgency,'” Green said. “Our guys are trying. Our guys want to win. They want to win bad.”

A clunky power play didn’t help matters for the Senators.

“Their execution can probably be better,” Green said. “We’ve got to learn from the game, and we’ve got another game (Sunday). That’s the great part of this season, a lot of games coming, a lot of games that matter and we’ve got to respond (Sunday).”

The Hurricanes have been strong on special teams. They’ve notched a league-high 12 short-handed goals this season, including one in each of the past three contests.

Jarvis had two goals Saturday, pushing his team-leading total to 32.

“I’ve had a lot of chances, but to see it go in is huge,” Jarvis said after ending his three-game goal drought.

Ottawa had defenseman Jake Sanderson back in the lineup for the first time in nearly a month. He said he was a little rusty but is determined to make an impact.

“I think this time of the year everybody is playing with some sort of injuries,” Sanderson said.

Carolina will have goalie Frederik Andersen back in net after Brandon Bussi worked Saturday night.

Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho is riding a five-game point streak (one goal, five assists).

Carolina’s visit marks the third game in Ottawa’s five-game homestand.

–Field Level Media

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jo Adell is known for his power bat but put on a show for the ages with his glove in the middle game of the three-game series with the visiting Seattle Mariners.

Adell performed three home run robberies in a single game on Saturday and will look to help the Angels win the series when they close the set against the Mariners on Sunday at Anaheim, Calif.

Zach Neto hit his 10th career leadoff homer for the game’s lone run. The 1-0 victory came one night after neither team scored in the first nine innings before Seattle notched a 3-1 win in 10 innings.

But Saturday night was the “Jo Show,” where a right fielder sometimes chided for his defensive shortcomings put on one of the best outfielder performances of all time.

Adell robbed Cal Raleigh in the first inning, Josh Naylor in the eighth and J.P. Crawford in the ninth with stellar grabs as the Angels collected just their second victory in the past seven games.

“After the first one, the second one was kind of similar, I didn’t know if I was having deja vu,” Adell said. “Sometimes you have to help on the other side of the ball and I’m glad I did my part.”

The third robbery prevented Seattle from tying the game in the ninth. Crawford hit a shot off Jordan Romano that was destined to land in the right-field seats.

Instead, Adell landed in the seats as he spectacularly leaped to catch the ball and fell over the short wall. His glove emerged and he stood up in the stands and displayed he had caught the ball.

“He disappears and he comes up with his glove up,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “… This guy works as hard as anybody I’ve ever been around.”

Mariners manager Dan Wilson played 14 seasons (1992-2005) in the majors and was stunned by what he witnessed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen three in one ballgame before,” Wilson said. “It’s frustrating when you feel like you put a good swing on a ball like that and you drive it like our guys did and you don’t end up with anything to show for it.”

Adell’s theft on Raleigh kept last season’s American League MVP runner-up homerless through nine games. He hit 60 last season.

“You just tip the cap,” Raleigh said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy rob two homers in a game, much less three. So it’s just one of those things where baseball can amaze you night in and night out. You can see something you’ve never seen before.”

The Mariners will send right-hander Luis Castillo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound Sunday for his second start of the season.

Castillo, 33, tossed six shutout innings against the visiting New York Yankees last Monday. He gave up three hits and two walks and struck out seven in a game Seattle eventually won 2-1.

Castillo is 5-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 11 career starts against the Angels. He is 1-2 with a 4.97 ERA in five outings at Angel Stadium.

Adell has two homers in seven at-bats against Castillo, while Mike Trout (2-for-14, seven strikeouts) and Logan O’Hoppe (0-for-11) have struggled.

Right-hander Ryan Johnson (0-1, 16.20) will be making his second career start for Los Angeles. He was torched in his first for six runs and seven hits over 3 1/3 innings by the Cubs on Monday. Chicago won 7-2.

Johnson, 23, made one relief appearance against Seattle last season and gave up one run and three hits in one inning.

Seattle third baseman Brendan Donovan (groin) sat out Saturday. He was hurt Friday and an MRI exam came back clean.

–Field Level Media