Swarzak to get MRI on oblique
Reliever Anthony Swarzak, who became the first regular-season victim of the Mets’ injury curse this weekend, will undergo an MRI Monday to determine the severity of his sore left oblique.
Swarzak suffered the strain while throwing a pitch in the eighth inning of Saturday’s 6-2 victory over the Cardinals and later pulled himself from the game. The righthander met with doctors on Sunday, and they suggested he undergo further testing.
When asked if he felt any improvement from Saturday to Sunday, Swarzak said, “It’s too early to tell.”
“It’s cold out there today,” Swarzak added. “I didn’t really feel too much of a difference, so maybe that’s good, because it doesn’t feel worse.”
Oblique injuries have a tendency to linger, and a prolonged absence for Swarzak could significantly hamper a Mets bullpen that combined for five innings in Sunday’s loss, after Steven Matz’s abbreviated start. Swarzak, who signed a two-year deal with the Mets in the winter, also dealt with a calf injury in spring training.
“I work really hard in the offseason,” Swarzak said, “and I worked as hard as I could in spring training around the little calf issue I had, and it’s frustrating to be kept off the mound for an oblique injury that, from everything I’m reading and everything that I’ve been told, is kind of a fluke thing. There’s really no way to avoid it. So it’s frustrating, but it’s early in the year.” another addition — Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong.
DeJong, the 24-year-old slugger St. Louis inked to a six-year extension this offseason, homered twice in Sunday’s series finale victory. He is now hitting .366 with six home runs, 11 extra-base hits and eight RBI in 10 career games against the Mets.
It all began during a threegame series last season from July 7 to 9, when DeJong went 9-for12 with three homers, four doubles and four RBI.
“That was a series I probably won't ever forget,” DeJong said Sunday, after the first multi-homer game of his career.