Steven Matz was throwing Thursday and seemed confident he would make his next scheduled Mets start. Noah Syndergaard is still waiting to test his own injured finger.
“Right now I’m glad where we’re at,” Matz said Thursday before the Mets lost 5-1 to the Cubs at Citi Field.
On Tuesday the lefty departed early from his start in Atlanta after straining his middle finger on a swing and miss at the plate that sent his bat flying. Matz, who avoided the disabled list, is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Friday. He is the Mets’ scheduled starting pitcher for Sunday’s series finale.
Syndergaard, who was placed on the disabled list Tuesday with a strained ligament in his right index finger, expects to wait until the weekend before throwing. The right-hander said he sustained the injury pitching against the Brewers last Friday.
“It has progressed quite a bit since from the initial injury, so it’s going a lot better,” Syndergaard said. “We’ll give it a few more days of rest until we pick up a baseball again.”
Seth Lugo or Jason Vargas could pitch in Syndergaard’s place Tuesday if needed. Lugo threw four scoreless innings Thursday. With two scheduled off days next week, manager Mickey Callaway will have the luxury of reorganizing his rotation.
Callaway was expected to add another bench player for Friday’s game, provided the Mets didn’t drain their bullpen Thursday.
With the Mets thin on healthy position players on the 40-man roster, it’s likely Dominic Smith would be recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas.
The Mets played Wednesday and Thursday with only three bench players because of the extra arms needed in the bullpen due to injuries and a heavy workload for relievers.
Devin Mesoraco remained in the game after getting hit with Javier Baez’s backswing in the seventh inning. The Mets catcher indicated he received some “quick” testing for a possible concussion.
“It was just a couple of quick questions to see how I was feeling, but no issues,” Mesoraco said. The Mets played Wednesday and Thursday with only three bench players because of the extra arms needed in the bullpen due to injuries and the workload for relievers.
Marysol Castro debuted Thursday as the Mets’ first female public-address announcer. She is sharing duties with Colin Cosell (the grandson of legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell), who will debut on Saturday.
The first games on Shannon Forde Field in Little Ferry, N.J., are scheduled for Saturday. Forde, a longtime Mets public-relations employee, succumbed to breast cancer in March 2016, and $250,000 was subsequently raised to build baseball and softball fields in her hometown.
The first annual Shannon Forde Girls Softball Tournament to be held on the fields will feature teams from nearby towns. Forde’s children, Kendall and Nick, will throw out the ceremonial first pitches.