Harvey to go on short rest
MATT Harvey won’t have a long wait to pitch again following the shortest start of his career. Harvey, who was pounded for seven runs in two innings in his return from the disabled list on Saturday in Houston, will start on three days’ rest on Wednesday against Philadelphia — a puzzling move considering the former ace’s extensive injury history in recent years.
“He wants to get back out there as quick as possible and feels good, so we are going to pitch him Wednesday,” Terry Collins said before Monday’s 11-7 victory over the Phillies. “It’s only three days. Even though the effort was more (on Saturday) than it is in any rehab assignment, he feels good enough he wants to get back out there.”
Harvey threw only 70 pitches on Saturday, but he had been sidelined since midJune with a stress injury to his right scapula. He also underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome at the end of last season.
Overall, the 28-year-old righty has posted a 4-4 mark with a 5.97 ERA in 14 starts (72.1 innings) this season.
Seth Lugo, who worked the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader in Houston, will pitch on regular rest against Cincinnati on Thursday.
NOAH’S NEXT
Noah Syndergaard, who has been out since May 1 with a torn lat, will make his next rehab start Thursday in Brooklyn after tossing one inning for the Gulf Coast League Mets on Saturday.
GROUP RATE?
In addition to David Wright’s shoulder surgery announcement, the Mets also revealed that infielder T.J. Rivera will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow this week and lefty reliever Josh Edgin will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Tuesday.
“I haven’t talked to any of the doctors about it. Obviously I don’t think it’s as indepth a process as it is with pitchers,” Collins said of Rivera’s surgery. “I’m just glad that these guys are getting this done so they can start the next step and that’s getting back on the field.”
Michael Conforto already was slated to have surgery later this week in Los Angeles to repair a tear in the posterior capsule in his left shoulder. Wilmer Flores (broken nose) will be reexamined on Tuesday, and rookie shortstop Amed Rosario (bruised finger) is day-to-day.
Only three teams in baseball had won fewer games through Sunday than the Mets had during this injury-riddled season.
One of them was in town on Monday at least, and the Mets posted an 11-7 victory over the last-place Phillies in a holiday matinee at Citi Field after dropping six of the previous seven on their recent road trip.
Rafael Montero appeared headed for his fifth consecutive strong start statistically with a 10-1 lead into the sixth, but the righty departed with the bases loaded, and Paul Sewald permitted all three inherited runners to score to bloat Montero’s final line to four earned runs over 5.1 innings.
Still, a six-run fourth by the Mets (59-78) was enough to help Montero improve to 3-1 with a 2.90 ERA over his past five outings.
“Before we sent him (to the minors) the last time, he was told by the pitching coach (Dan Warthen), by me, by his own peers, if you can’t throw the ball over the plate, you can’t pitch here,” Terry Collins said of Montero. “When he went down, we said ‘we need to see strikes.’ And he went down and threw strikes.
“Since he’s come back, he’s done exactly the same thing.”