NEW YORK — Down by two in the bottom of the seventh after a Juan Soto home run, the Mets had runners on second and third base when one of the trainers came into the dugout. The Yankees changed pitchers and rookie A.J. Ewing came up to bat with two outs.
That’s when Carlos Mendoza received the results of the X-rays taken after Clay Holmes was hit in the right leg with a 111 mph comebacker earlier in the game: A fractured fibula.
“It was like, we were starting to feel like we were getting some momentum,” the Mets skipper said Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. “Then I’m getting the trainer coming up and telling me the news.”
Ewing then popped out to right field to end the inning. The Mets were deflated.
“We’re going to miss Clay for maybe a month, but I hope it’s less,” Soto said.
The Mets will be without their best starting pitcher for more than a month. It will take 6-8 weeks for the bone to heal, and another 4-6 weeks to complete a throwing program. While the Mets still expect Holmes to pitch again before the season ends, his absence will be felt.
The right-hander was in the midst of the best season of his career, with his 2.39 ERA and 3.21 FIP ranked among the best in the National League. Holmes and Nolan McLean have been the only reliable starters for the Mets this season.
Where do the Mets go now?
“We’re going to get through the weekend,” Mendoza said. “[Christian Scott] on Monday, and that’s all we know for now.”
The Mets opted for bullpen help this weekend in the Subway Series, calling up right-hander Joey Gerber to Holmes’ spot on the roster. None of the options is ideal, but there are options.
Option 1: Move right-hander Tobias Myers to the rotation. This would require stretching out the long reliever since he hasn’t thrown more than 40 pitches in a game. The most he’s thrown in the last few weeks is 36 on May 2 in Anaheim. The plan was always to have Myers in a swingman role this season, but there is no easy way to build up his pitch count before the spot comes up in the rotation.
He threw 25 pitches over two innings Friday night.
“When he goes out in games, there’s a lot that can happen,” Mendoza said. “Let’s say he goes and starts, and we’re thinking of 40 pitches. What if he has a bad inning? Now we’ve got to protect him as well, and you’ve got to be trying to win a game, so that’s kind of where it gets tricky.”
Option 2: Call up a pitcher from Triple-A. Right-hander Jack Wenninger is having a fantastic season, and right-hander Jonah Tong has big league experience. The spot in the rotation comes up Wednesday in Washington against the Nationals, and both are rested enough. Tong last pitched Thursday for Syracuse, but was lit up for six earned runs early, exiting in the second inning.
However, there are pitch limits and innings limits to consider.
Option 3: Move Sean Manaea from the bullpen to the rotation. The struggling lefty has a 6.65 ERA over 23 1/3 innings this season, and while his velocity has improved in recent weeks, the results haven’t. The Mets want to see better results with his stuff in the zone before giving him another start.
“It’s attacking hitters, making sure he’s getting swings and misses, but just trusting the pitches in the strike zone,” Mendoza said. “He’s got to be able to compete with pitches in the strike zone.”
There is no easy answer. Injured right-hander Kodai Senga is ruled out, though he is trending toward a rehab assignment, heading to Florida on Sunday to begin throwing to hitters.
Now in his second season with the Mets, the well-liked, well-respected Holmes has become more of a team leader, especially since Francisco Lindor has been injured since last month as well. The clubhouse cleared out quickly after Friday’s loss, with the disappointment feeling palpable.
“We felt it, not gonna lie,” Mendoza said. “Last night was tough. We’ve been hit a lot this year with a lot of our superstars and a lot of key players, but yesterday felt different.”
The Yankees expressed well-wishes for their former closer. Spencer Jones, the outfielder who hit the low liner, apologized to his friend Holmes.
The Mets mostly couldn’t believe Holmes had stayed in the game to face seven more hitters after being hit, lauding him for his toughness.
Myers noted that he once took a 94 mph comebacker off his leg in Los Angeles and was forced to cancel a golf game the next day. Left-hander David Peterson said Holmes may not have felt the injury immediately, but likely did once he came out of the inning, which makes the fact that he went out for the fifth inning even more impressive, but not necessarily surprising.
“Knowing Clay, no, because we know he’s tough, and he battles through a lot,” Peterson said. “He’s going to give us everything he has until he can’t.”
____