Wrist soreness keeps McCann on the shelf

WASHINGTON — James McCann was out of the Mets’ lineup on Thursday for the second straight day with what the catcher is calling general wrist soreness. McCann was not too concerned about his achy wrist, though it’s not something he’s ever dealt with across his nine seasons in the majors. He expects to back behind the plate tonight.

Buck Showalter echoed his catcher, adding it’s just wear and tear after a month of the season and the team “wanted to get ahead of it.” McCann does not believe he was injured on a swing or a play at the plate, and he was available to come off the bench in Thursday’s series finale against the

Nationals.

He last played on

Tuesday, catching Carlos Carrasco in the Mets’ win over Washington.

“I definitely could’ve played yesterday,” said McCann, sporting a blue wrap on his left wrist Thursday. “It’s more just the time frame of the season. It’s May. We’re being smart and not pushing something that could cause me to miss more time.”

NOGOSEK SENT DOWN

In his season debut, Stephen Nogosek threw three hitless innings in mop-up duty during the Mets’ loss to the Nationals on Wednesday. He was rewarded for his strong effort by… being optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday. Right-hander Jake Reed was called up in his place.

Baseball can be cold-hearted, and this was one of those days. Nogosek’s workload meant he was unavailable on Thursday if the Mets needed more innings from the bullpen, whereas Reed’s fresh arm would be more useful in such a scenario. So, even though Nogosek couldn’t have done more to please the Mets in his first big-league outing of the year, he was sent to the minors anyway.

“It’s tough,” Showalter said. “It’s the good news, bad news. They present themselves as a good option to come up, and then they do the job up here. . . . But he has to go down there and get after it now. It’s not like now you’re waiting around for someone to get hurt or a doubleheader. You still have to do some things . . . . But he did his part. He left with a really good taste.”

UPCOMING PROBABLES

Max Scherzer is scheduled to pitch tonight’s series opener against the Mariners at Citi Field, followed by Chris Bassitt on Saturday and Carlos Carrasco on Sunday. Bassitt will receive an extra day of rest, and Showalter said it was pretty much a toss-up for who would get the series-opening start. Both Scherzer and Bassitt last pitched on Sunday in a doubleheader against the Phillies.

In 47 interleague starts, Scherzer has a 22-17 record accompanied by 422 strikeouts, the most ever in interleague play. He has a 3.09 ERA in seven starts against Seattle, but he hasn’t faced the Mariners since June 1, 2014 as a member of the Tigers.