David hopes to avoid DL, but he must rest

PITTSBURGH — The Mets are hopeful David Wright could avoid time on the disabled list after an MRI on his left shoulder Saturday did not reveal any structural damage. After being examined by team doctors in New York, Wright was diagnosed with a bruised rotator cuff. He was prescribed anti-inflammatories and rest — no baseball activities until he is re-evaluated on Monday.

“Right now, they don’t think it’s a (disabled list) thing,” assistant general manager John Ricco said. “They’ll re-examine him on Monday and we’ll have a clearer picture. They want to see if it feels better after a couple days rest, but they don’t anticipate it being a DL stint at this point. If he is still feeling the same we will reassess at that time.”

The Mets’ captain was scratched hours before Friday night’s game, but said he had initially injured the shoulder sliding into second base head first on a muddy Citi Field about 20 days before. It is believed that Wright was referring to the June 13, extra-inning loss to the Brewers at Citi Field. He was clear that initially it was just a nagging issue that he was able to play with and that not until Thursday night did it start to actually bother him.

In the fourth inning of Thursday night’s loss, Wright said he felt pain when he tagged Pirates first baseman Ike Davis in a rundown and again in the bottom of the eighth inning on a ground ball.

Wright did not talk to Terry Collins about the injury until Friday, after trainers alerted the manager that the third baseman was experiencing pain while trying to loosen up for the game.

“I think he learned from last year, from three years ago, that he has got to say something,” Collins said. “My players have a voice here. My only issue with David was that we’ve got to get this checked before I put you back out there.”

Collins said that while Wright wanted to try to play Friday, he understood when he was scratched from the lineup. It is a lesson Wright seemed to learn from last season, when Wright played with what Collins and the Mets believed to be a leg cramp.

“He played with that tight hamstring, we thought it was a cramp in Miami, but turned out to be more than a cramp,” Collins said.

Wright missed 45 games l ast season with that hamstring injury, but Friday he said the shoulder issue was not “prohibiting,” him from playing at his normal level. In fact, since June 13, Wright was hitting .319 with two homers and nine RBI.

“With his importance to the team, we can’t lose a guy like that for a long period of time,” Collins said. “We’re not going to. Hopefully we headed it off so if we do lose him, it won’t be for a long period of time.”

Rookie Eric Campbell had three hits Saturday while subbing for Wright at third base. “I think it’s important with (Wright) out that a bunch of other people need to step up and today we had timely hitting and timely pitching and were able to get a ‘W,’ which was nice,” Campbell said.