The Mets and Marlins were playing for two different reasons on Tuesday night.

Before the game, the Marlins were 79-73 and needed a win to remain in the third National League wildcard slot.

Meanwhile, the Mets, who were nine games behind the Marlins in the standings, had their rookie sensation Kodai Senga pitching. And Tuesday’s start was another opportunity for the rookie to cement his case for two major awards.

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Senga wasn’t sharp on Tuesday but kept the Marlins off the board for the first three innings. He allowed two walks and singles in that frame but retired the side on softly hit groundballs and flyouts.

After having a baserunner every inning, the Marlins finally cashed in for a run in the bottom of the fourth. Bryan De La Cruz singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on Senga’s league-leading 14th wild pitch.

De La Cruz advanced to third on a ground out by Jesús Sánchez, and then came into score after Garrett Hampson flew out to center field. Senga escaped further damage in the inning by striking out Jacob Stallings to retire the side.

Surprisingly, the strikeout of Stallings was only Senga’s second of the night. He didn’t have his normal swing-and-miss stuff against the Marlins and finished his night with a mere three strikeouts.

Despite having only three strikeouts and having traffic on the bases every inning, Senga recorded another quality start on Tuesday. He allowed seven hits, two walks, and two runs in six innings.

Senga’s start against the Marlins also continued an impressive streak. He has recorded eight consecutive quality starts dating back to August 7, where he has gone 6-2 and recorded a 2.31 ERA.

Senga’s impressive streak, however, really started on June 23. Since then, Senga has a 2.50 ERA, 107 strikeouts, and 33 walks in 90 innings pitched. In those 15 starts, he hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs.

Senga’s dominant stretch has put him in the conversation for not only the National League Rookie of the Year, but also the NL Cy Young award.

As it currently stands, Senga might have an easier path to the NL RoY. His greatest competition is Corbin Carroll, who is having a historic stretch for the Diamondbacks.

After homering on Wednesday, Carroll became the first rookie in major league history to record 25 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season. With this historic season, Carroll (5.3) is also outpacing Senga (4.5) in bWAR. With a dominant start on Wednesday, Senga may be able to inch closer to Carroll for the award.

While the NL RoY is in reach, lefty Blake Snell has distanced himself from the competition for NL Cy Young. He leads the majors with a 2.33 ERA and 176 ERA+, despite also leading the majors with 97 walks.

Snell also solidified his status with a dominant start against the Rockies on Tuesday. He struck out 10 batters and didn’t allow a run in seven innings.

Senga simply doesn’t have enough time left to meet Snell’s ERA. Buck Showalter confirmed that Senga’s last start is on Wednesday, and even if he pitched a complete game shutout, he would still trail Snell by half a run (2.80 ERA).

Still, even if Senga misses out on both awards, which is likely, it shouldn’t take away from his amazing first season. As of September 21, Senga has a 2.96 ERA, 143 ERA+, and 194 strikeouts in 28 starts.

If the season ended today, Senga would be the sixth rookie starter in Mets’ history to finish the season with an ERA under three with at least 100 innings pitched. The others are Jacob deGrom, Dwight Gooden, Jerry Koosman, Tom Seaver, and Jon Matlack.

Senga also has one more start to chase another milestone — 200 strikeouts. He would be the 30th rookie in major league history to reach the milestone and the fourth Japanese rookie to do it behind Yu Darvish (2012), Daisuke Matsuzaka (2007), and Hideo Nomo (1995).

The milestone is achievable. He has 194 strikeouts and one more start against the Marlins on September 27.