Mets dealt a blow

Syndergaard won’t pitch soon

New York Mets star pitcher Noah Syndergaard will be sidelined through at least the allstar break because of a torn muscle behind his right arm.

Syndergaard, the hardest-throwing starting pitcher in the major leagues with an average fastball velocity of 98.7 mph this year, partially tore his latissimus dorsi against Washington last Sunday. The 24-year-old right-hander has been told not to throw for about six weeks and he will need a long period to build up arm strength again, equivalent to a full spring training.

“It stings,” Syndergaard said Saturday, two days after he was examined in Los Angeles by physician Neal ElAttrache.

Syndergaard was scratched from an April 27 start against Atlanta with what the Mets said was biceps and shoulder discomfort. Syndergaard pitched April 30 at Washington, lasted just 11⁄3 innings and went on the 10day disabled list the following day.

“I don’t regret it at all,” he said. “I threw a bullpen two days prior and I felt great, ready to go. Just something weird happened.”

Syndergaard threw a 2-1 change-up to Bryce Harper and immediately grabbed under his right armpit with his left arm and left the game.

“I thought I felt it, a little something, on the pitch before, but, I mean, it hadn’t been really anything I hadn’t felt before. I just kind of felt like a little ache in my arm. And then I threw another pitch, and that’s when I really felt it,” Syndergaard said.

Nicknamed Thor for his long locks, size and swagger, Syndergaard is 1-2 with a 3.29 ERA in five starts after going 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA last season.

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson wouldn’t give a timetable for Syndergaard’s return and said the pitcher could be put on the 60-day DL.

“Realistically, it’s going to take a while. We don’t know when he’s going to be back,” Alderson said. “It’s going to be much later in the season.”

Price closes in: Boston ace David Price could return to the rotation by the end of May, provided he continues to feel good in his recovery from a strained left elbow.

Price, who was 17-9 last season and pitched a major-league-leading 230 innings, has been doing well throwing simulated games, and manager John Farrell said Saturday that his next simulated session — scheduled for Tuesday — ideally would be his last before beginning a rehab assignment.

“At that point, provided he continues to feel as he’s doing, we’d look at a game after that,” Farrell said, adding he thinks Price could work up to four innings in his first appearance.

Baltimore closer shelved: Baltimore Orioles closer Zach Britton is back on the disabled list with a left forearm strain — the same injury that recently sidelined him for two weeks.

Britton came off the 10day DL on Tuesday and appeared in two games before feeling discomfort in his pitching arm. He had an MRI on Friday and was put on the 10-day DL on Saturday.