MILWAUKEE — Neil Walker wasn’t quite sure what had hit him.
The Mets second baseman took a one-hop shot off the chest from Hernan Perez in Thursday’s seventh inning and later felt woozy enough to remove himself from his team’s 5-2 victory over the Brewers at Miller Park. The exit velocity on Perez’s liner was upward of 100 mph.
Walker was examined by a doctor and indicated the injury is nothing serious. He expects to play Friday. Matt Reynolds pinch hit for Walker in the ninth and stroked an RBI single.
“I pretty much got hit right in the meat of my chest,” Walker said. “You get a ball kind of close to your heart and your rib cage there and I didn’t want to go out there and dive or do something to aggravate it more. As long as I don’t wake up and things are feeling worse, I think I will be OK. But it was mostly precautionary.”
Juan Lagares returned to action with a splint on his left thumb and doubled in the ninth after entering the game as a defensive replacement. But Lagares, who has a partially torn ligament in the thumb, rankled manager Terry Collins by diving into second base.
“That play was a little dangerous,” Lagares said. “But when you are out there you don’t think about what’s going to happen.”
Lagares had last played on Saturday, when he injured the thumb making a diving catch in the outfield.
“He looks fine,” Collins said. “He’s got a splint on his hand, so he was just getting it used to it today because it’s in his glove and it’s a different feel. He will be OK.”
Kelly Johnson is scheduled to join the Mets on Friday. Collins said there was a “good chance” the veteran utilityman would be in Friday’s starting lineup. Johnson, who played for the Mets last season, was reacquired Wednesday in trade with the Braves for pitching prospect Akeel Morris.
Steven Matz will pitch Sunday’s series finale against the Brewers, giving Jacob deGrom two extra days of rest before facing the Pirates on Tuesday.