It was quite an eventful night.
Juan Soto made his return after over two weeks sidelined by a strained right calf, but, unfortunately, another Mets player went down with an injury requiring further examination.
Francisco Lindor exited the game in the fifth inning due to a left calf issue. This came after he had struggled around the bases to score from second on a double by Francisco Alvarez just the inning before.
Despite the win, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza looked a bit down. He noted he’d assess the shortstop situation come Thursday.
“It really stinks,” Mendoza remarked after the 3-2 victory. “Watching a tough guy like Lindor grimace while running the bases… you just knew something wasn’t right.”
Lindor safely slid into home after Alvarez’s hit but took his time getting back up.
“I could see it in his face as he walked to the dugout,” Mendoza added. “It was clear something wasn’t right.”
Earlier in the game, Lindor had made an impressive play, catching a line drive from Trevor Larnach and later driving in Bo Bichette with an infield hit before being ejected.
Mendoza mentioned he wasn’t quite sure when Lindor’s injury had occurred, but it evoked the memory of Soto’s calf strain while he was running the bases against the Giants back on April 3.
The Mets are possibly facing another round of injury issues, as Soto missed 15 games due to his injury, which coincided with a frustrating 12-game losing streak that finally broke on Wednesday.
“This is the situation we’re coping with,” Mendoza said. “We can’t make excuses; that’s not how it works.”
He expressed concern, saying they’ve already lost Soto and now might lose another key player. “We have to wrap our heads around that,” he said.
It seems likely that Lindor will miss the upcoming game against Minnesota.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what the next steps are,” Mendoza concluded.
