Davis unlikely to be ready for Citi opener
J.D. Davis and the Mets received good news on the infielder’s bruised hand, but the third baseman is unlikely to be cleared in time to start the home opener Thursday.
Davis was drilled on the back of his left hand by a Chase Anderson fastball in the second inning of the Mets’ 8-4 win over the Phillies on Tuesday. Though his initial X-ray came back negative, and the team diagnosed his injury officially as a left-hand contusion, the Mets wanted to be sure there weren’t any broken bones. During Wednesday’s series finale, Davis’ follow-up X-ray came back negative.
“Glad the outcome was the best, that it wasn’t broken,” Davis said. “Just taking it day by day. The swelling is the waiting game.”
The Mets third baseman said he was worried the injury was going to be worse when it originally happened. There was a loud “crack” when the fastball hit Davis’ hand. He is considered day-to-day and is waiting for the swelling to go down before he puts a timeline on his return. Davis believes he should be able to avoid the injury list.
Defensive wiz Luis Guillorme started for Davis at third on Wednesday in the Mets’ 8-2 loss to the Phillies. Davis was off to a 1-for-3 start at the plate with a walk across his first five plate appearances of the season and said he will be disappointed if he was forced to miss Thursday’s Citi Field opener.
“You hate to see the guys you go to war with get hit like that,” Dominic Smith said on Tuesday. “It’s something I’ve been in and it’s just tough. It’s a weird place, the hand. So many bad things, so many injuries can happen there.
“That’s obviously one of my best friends on the team so I’m going to be right there with him pulling and trying to make sure he’s good. Hopefully he’ll be back out there in a couple of days.”
WALKER EAGER TO GO
Taijuan Walker will make his Mets debut on Thursday at Citi Field in the team’s home opener. His debut was pushed back from Monday, for the series opener against the Phillies, after Nationals players tested positive for COVID and the Mets’ opening series was postponed.
“It’s exciting,” Walker said. “My Mets debut and it gets to be the home opener. Going to have fans in the stands. It’s going to be a special day… Nerves are good. Excitement’s good.”
Walker said he threw four innings, about 55 pitches, on Saturday in the team’s sim game at Nationals Park. That outing allowed him to remain on a somewhat “normal” five days of rest. Walker said his arm has been feeling good, and he plans to pitch as long as he can until “Luis takes the ball from me.”
BY DEESHA THOSAR
MAKEUP GAMES
Major League Baseball announced the Mets-Nationals makeup games that were postponed last week.
They’ll play a split doubleheader on June 19 at 1:05 and 6:05 p.m. to make up the April 1 game. What was originally a mutual off day on June 28, the Mets and Nationals will instead play at 7 p.m. to make up the April 3 game. They’ll play another split doubleheader on Sept. 4 at 1:05 and 6:05 p.m. to make up the final April 4 game.
All games will be played at Nationals Park and the doubleheaders will be seven innings.