The Mets will “probably” be down two relievers Wednesday against the Yankees.
Right-hander Drew Smith was placed on the 15-day injured list about 30 minutes before the start of the second game of the Subway Series with a right elbow sprain, the severity of which is not known.
The transaction is retroactive to Monday and the club called up right-hander Ty Adcock from Triple-A Syracuse to take his place on the roster.
Smith was taken for imaging just after 4 p.m., having alerted the trainers to tightness in his forearm while playing catch. Edwin Diaz is serving the second game of his 10-game suspension on Wednesday for a violation of prohibited substances. With the Smith move coming so close to game time, it’s highly unlikely that Adcock will be able to get from Buffalo to Queens in time for the game. When asked if the Mets will play shorthanded, manager Carlos Mendoza said, “probably.”
Smith entered the game after Diaz was ejected in the bottom of the ninth inning during Sunday’s game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. With Diaz having been ejected before throwing a pitch, Smith was forced to come in cold.
“I threw zero in the bullpen,” Smith said Sunday night at Wrigley Field. “It was all on the deal that I had no idea. Going in, nobody was warming up. So I just warmed up entirely on the field.”
The league allows unlimited warmup pitches in those situations, but Smith felt the urgency of trying to close out a 5-2 win and rushed through his pitches before the game resumed. Smith struggled to loosen up his arm and as a result, his fastball lacked life and velocity.
It raised some red flags for the Mets. Mendoza got left-hander Jake Diekman warmed and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner made a mound visit to check on him.
Smith insisted he was fine.
“Just a little stiff,” he said. “Just trouble warming up a little bit. I’ve been throwing a lot this week, and I think I probably could have taken a little more time to warm up out there, to be completely honest. But yeah, it’s nothing, nothing major. Just was having trouble getting loose a little bit.”
The Mets pulled him after 12 pitches with two outs and one on, bringing in a much more prepared Diekman to face left-handed hitter Pete Crow-Armstrong. The Cubs countered by pinch-hitting Patrick Wisdom, a right-handed hitter, but Diekman still struck him out for the one-out save.
It’s not clear if the forearm tightness is related to his Sunday outing, but the Mets haven’t eliminated the option.
“He didn’t pinpoint anything specific on Sunday,” Mendoza said. “He was just having a hard time getting warm. And then yesterday, and then today, again there was some tightness there, and so that’s what we got.”
The schedule works to the Mets’ benefit with off days bookending the two games against the Yankees, so relievers got rest Monday and will get rest Thursday. Adcock will be with the Mets by Friday when they open a three-game series against the Houston Astros.
A 27-year-old out of Oxford, North Carolina, Adcock posted a 3.45 ERA over 12 innings for the Seattle Mariners last season and is currently 3-1 with a 5.82 ERA for three Triple-A teams this season (Seattle, Detroit and New York).
TRAINER’S ROOM
Right-hander Kodai Senga will throw another live batting practice session Thursday at Citi Field. The Mets will bring hitters from High-A Brooklyn to face the ace in a two-inning simulation.
