CESPEDES EXITS WITH LEG INJURY:
The Mets’ injuries continue to pile up with their losses. After they placed Jacob deGrom on the disabled list before Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Rockies, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes exited the game after the first inning with tightness in his right quad.
The team initially said it was right hip tightness, and manager Mickey Callaway believed it was in the hip or groin area, but the Mets slugger clarified it was his quad, which first began to bother him in Saturday’s game.
“Yesterday when I hit a ground ball into a double play I felt that my quad was a little bit tight,” he said through a translator. “Today I warmed up but I felt it again.”
Callaway had not yet spoken to Cespedes or the training staff about the injury after the game, but believed Cespedes felt something after he singled in the first inning.
“He was a little sore by the time he got to first and he was kind of hinting at it,” said Callaway. “Noticed that when he went from first to third he got a little more sore.”
Cespedes was replaced by Brandon Nimmo, who went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts.
The Mets slugger, who has a history of quad injuries, does not know if this will keep him out of the lineup for Monday’s game against the Reds, but said he left the game as a precaution and does not think it is anything too serious.
“This time it was different than years before,” Cespedes said. “I just made the decision as a precaution to avoid any serious injuries.”
LUCK OF THE IRISH
The Mets have called up 24-year-old lefthander P.J. Conlon from Triple-A Las Vegas to spot start for deGrom on Monday.
Conlon, a native of Northern Ireland, will be making his major-league debut against the Cincinnati Reds.
“P.J. throws strikes, has a good changeup,” Callaway said. “Maybe can keep ’em off balance for a while and let the bullpen come in and finish the job.”
The southpaw has struggled early this season in the minors (6.75 ERA in five starts) but was much better at Double-A in 2017, where he posted a 3.51 ERA in 136 innings.
This is after Callaway shockingly walked back his decision to start deGrom as scheduled and instead announced on Sunday the righthander was placed on the 10-day disabled list, retroactive to Wednesday.
“Jacob deGrom is in a great spot with his throwing, threw a bullpen yesterday totally pain free but the more and more we talked about this, we need to take care of the season and Jacob deGrom and the New York Mets,” he said.
DeGrom hyperextended his right elbow while swinging during an at-bat in the third inning on Wednesday and left the game after pitching the top half of the fourth. An MRI on Thursday showed no ligament damage and both Callaway and deGrom said there were no issues after Saturday’s bullpen session.
The plan is for deGrom to throw a bullpen session on Tuesday and again on Friday so they can have him ready to pitch against the Phillies on Sunday when he is eligible to return.
SIMPLY OFFENSIVE
The Mets started Sunday’s game off with three straight singles and took a 2-0 lead in the first inning — their first lead since last Sunday — but the rare outburst was short-lived.
They managed just two hits the remainder of the game, a single in the second and another one in the ninth, as the bats continue to struggle amid a six-game losing streak.
“It’s just stringing hits together,” Callaway said. “We strung some hits together in the first and scored runs, but we’re just not doing that. We get a runner on, get a hit, and then the next few batters don’t keep it going.” Mets third baseman Todd Frazier, who went 0-for-3 with an RBI in the loss, echoed Callaway’s thoughts.
“Timely hits. Getting on base,” Frazier said. “I think start from scratch, get on base, stick with our game plan that we had early on in the season . ... When we get two in the beginning there we got to keep tacking on.”