The New York Mets grabbed a big 8-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night, moving into first place in the NL Wild Card race in the process. On top of that, they welcomed back ace Kodai Senga, who made his season debut after being sidelined for the first 102 games of the season with an injury.

Senga impressed in his return, tossing 5.1 innings and surrendering just two runs while striking out nine. However, things took a turn for the worst in the sixth when the righty went down in pain grabbing his left calf. While he was able to walk off the field on his own, it's unclear at this point how much time Senga could miss, per MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

It was certainly a gut punch for Senga and the Mets, who have now won five straight and continue to play fantastic baseball after a very poor start to the campaign where they faced non-stop criticism. On a more positive note, Senga still grabbed the win against Atlanta in a dominant performance versus a solid lineup.

New York manager Carlos Mendoza said Senga will have an MRI on Saturday to determine how much time he'll miss and to also see if the injury involves his Achilles tendon:

“We've got to get an MRI. That's not happening until tomorrow,” Mendoza said postgame. “He's got to wait and see what we're dealing with here. I don't want to sit here and speculate, (but) I don't think there's anything related to the Achilles, but we've got to wait and see.”

Senga's rookie season with Mets was fantastic

New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) reacts after an injury during the fifth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field.
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
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The Mets gave Senga $75 million across five years in December of 2022 and he lived up to the billing in 2023. The 31-year-old went 12-7 with a stellar 2.98 ERA in 29 starts, ultimately finishing second in NL Rookie of the Year voting while also making the All-Star Game. Senga struck out over 200 hitters in 166.1 innings, too.

It became clear fairly quickly that he would be the Mets' ace, especially after trading away Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at last year's deadline. Unfortunately, Senga missed the entire first half of this campaign with a right shoulder problem that took longer than expected to heal. As for the calf, Senga reportedly wanted to stay in on Friday evening and pitch through it, which could mean it's not all that serious of injury after all. But, only time will tell.

New York is now 55-48 on the year and will face the Braves again on Saturday.