Harvey curses at media, won’t talk demotion

ST. LOUIS — A day after Matt Harvey didn’t exactly take the fifth, he really decided to take the fifth.

The Mets right-hander said he wasn’t talking Wednesday, after allowing the go-ahead run in the fifth inning a night earlier in his bullpen debut. Harvey also pitched a scoreless sixth. The Mets rallied to beat the Cardinals 6-5 in 10 innings.

“No chance, zero chance,” Harvey said when approached by reporters at Busch Stadium before the Mets’ 9-1 loss to the Cardinals. “I have nothing to say to you guys.”

Asked why he wasn’t talking, Harvey said: “I don’t f---ing want to.”

Harvey left the clubhouse the previous night without speaking to reporters.

“We really can’t do anything about that, I think it’s his right as a player,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “The rules are such, kinda like when we have days off we can’t make them come in and work out.”

Asdrubal Cabrera was absent from the starting lineup with discomfort in his right hamstring, according to Callaway.

“He wasn’t moving around great during the game [Tuesday],” Callaway said.

Cabrera, who is the Mets’ hottest hitter with a .349 batting average, has not received tests on the hamstring, according to Callaway. Wilmer Flores started at second base in Cabrera’s place and went 0-for-4 at the plate.

Jason Vargas says his right hand is less than 100 percent in strength, but that won’t impede him from pitching against the Padres on Saturday. The lefthander, who last month underwent surgery to remove the hamate bone in his non-throwing hand, said he can catch a baseball and is conf ident about f ielding his position.

“It’s been all about making sure the incision is closed up and we’re at that point now,” Vargas said.