After a dominant 11-2 win, in the first game of the doubleheader, the Mets hit a pair of significant milestones in the nightcap with the Marlins at Citi Field on Wednesday night. In his final start of his rookie season, Kodai Senga recorded his 200th strikeout of the season, and, after homering in the first game of the doubleheader, Francisco Lindor hit two more home runs to join the 30-30 club, the fourth player in franchise history to do so. Despite the milestones, the Marlins picked up a 4-2 win over the Mets to earn a split of Wednesday’s doubleheader.

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The start of Senga’s night could only be described as shocking. Jon Berti, who had hit just six home runs over in 374 at-bats this season, jumped on a forkball that stayed in the strike zone and sent it over the wall in left-center field for his seventh home run of the year. It was the first time all season that anyone had homered on Senga’s signature ghost fork.

Following the home run by Berti, Senga quickly found his groove. He did not allow another hit over the first three innings, including a stretch where he struck out five straight batters to bring his season total to 199. He finished the third inning by striking out Jake Burger to reach 200 strikeouts on the season. Senga joined Dwight Gooden as the only Mets rookies to strikeout 200 batters in a season, and he joined Yu Darvish, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideo Nomo as the only Japanese rookies to accomplish the feat.

Despite allowing another homer to Jesús Sánchez, Senga was brilliant over five innings in his final start of his rookie season. He allowed just the two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out eight batters.

“You think about all the challenges he faced coming over here,” Buck Showalter said of Senga after the game. “We’re so produd of him. He’s worked so hard to make everybody proud of his efforts.”

While Senga was making history on the mound, Lindor was doing it with the bat. After hitting his 28th home run of the season in the first game of the double header, the Mets’ shortstop launched two solo-shots off of Johnny Cueto in his first two at-bats of the nightcap to give him 30 on the season. Lindor became the first Met to join the 30-30 club since David Wright (30 home runs, 34 stolen bases) in 2007. He joins Wright, Howard Johnson (three times) and Darryl Strawberry as the only Mets in the 30-30 club.

With the score even at 2-2 in the top of the seventh inning, the Marlins had an opportunity to break the game open. Burger, who came into the day hitting .313 since being acquired by the Marlins, came to the plate with the bases loaded after Phil Bickford allowed a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch with two outs in the inning. With the count at 1-2, home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus rung up Burger on a ball that was outside and wasted little time before ejecting the Marlins’ hottest hitter.

The Marlins loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth inning against Adam Ottavino, but Yuli Gurriel came to the plate in place of the ejected Burger. Gurriel hit a ground ball to third base that looked like it would be a sure 5-2-3 double play, but Brett Baty misplayed the ball with the speedy Xavier Edwards running home to bring in the go-ahead run. The Marlins would add one more on an RBI single from Bryan De La Cruz to extend their lead to 4-2.

The Marlins sent Andrew Nardi to the mound looking to pick up just his third save of the season. After walking Rafael Ortega with two outs to bring up the tying run, the left-hander struck out Francisco Álvarez to close out the win for the Marlins and bring them into a tie with the Cubs for the final NL Wild Card spot.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: KODAI SENGA AND FRANCISCO LINDOR

It was a historic night for Mets’ top pitcher and position player. Senga finished his rookie season with a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts over 166 1/3 innings. In what was a phenomenal rookie campaign, Senga will surely receive some Cy Young Award votes. While a Rookie of the Year Award may be long shot due to the incredible season Corbin Carroll has had in Arizona, Senga should finish no worse than second in the voting.

For Lindor, his 30th home run put him in a small group of shortstops to accomplish what he has in 2023. It has been another terrific season for Lindor in 2023, showing a combination of power, speed, and defense that is rare for a player at a premium position. After a down year in 2021, Lindor has shown over the past two seasons why the Mets were willing to make him the highest paid shortstop in baseball with his.

ON DECK

The Mets and Marlins will wrap up their three-game series on Thursday night at 7:10 p.m ET. David Peterson (3-8, 5.37 ERA) will start for the Mets against Jesús Luzardo (10-9, 3.73 ERA) for Miami.

Peterson and Luzardo faced each other in the second game of the season at loanDepot park in Miami. Peterson allowed just one run over five innings, but took a tough-luck loss as Luzardo pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win.

The game will be broadcast on SNY with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET, and the radio call will be on WCBS 880.