The New York Mets have scored 23 runs and earned a trio of lopsided wins since Juan Soto exited with a right calf strain in the first inning of Friday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants.
Now the Mets just need to figure out how to maintain that Soto-less surge for the next two or three weeks.
The Mets will play their first game without Soto on the active roster Tuesday afternoon, when they host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series.
Freddy Peralta (1-0, 4.35 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Zac Gallen (1-1, 3.60 ERA) in a battle of right-handers.
The first two games of the three-game series were each moved to 4:10 p.m. from 7:10 p.m. due to expected cold and windy conditions in New York.
Both teams were off Monday after earning wins Sunday, when the Mets came back to beat the host San Francisco Giants 5-2 and the Diamondbacks edged the visiting Atlanta Braves 6-5 in 10 innings.
Soto, who was injured running from first to third on Bo Bichette’s single, was placed on the 10-day injured list Monday, retroactive to Saturday. The Mets said the timetable for his injury is two to three weeks. The stint on the injured list is the first for Soto since April 20 through May 3, 2021, when he was sidelined due to a strained left shoulder as a member of the Washington Nationals.
The sight of Soto exiting the field Friday seemed to be another troubling turn of events for the Mets, who started the season 3-4. But New York rolled a 10-3 win Friday before cruising to a 9-0 win Saturday, when Tyrone Taylor hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in place of Jared Young, who started in left instead of Soto.
Young went 3-for-3 while patrolling left field Sunday, and pinch hitter Luis Torrens hit the go-ahead two-run double in the eighth to lift the doubly short-handed Mets to a 5-2 victory.
Torrens, the Mets’ backup catcher, was pressed into duty as the last player off the bench because Brett Baty was scratched due to a jammed left thumb.
“We have got good players up and down,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’re dealing with a few guys that have injuries and we’re feeling really good, not only with the guys that are in the lineup who are getting to play more but on the bench as well. There’s a lot of versatility.”
The Diamondbacks also exited the weekend feeling better about themselves after recording a pair of wins to salvage a split of the four-game series with the Braves and finish 5-2 on their first homestand of the season.
Arizona, which was outscored 19-2 in losses Thursday and Friday, earned a 2-1 win Saturday before Ketel Marte laced the walk-off RBI double leading off the 10th Sunday, after Jonathan Loaisiga blew a ninth-inning save opportunity.
Loaisiga’s struggles were a rare blip for Diamondbacks relievers, who allowed two runs (one earned) over 9 1/3 innings Saturday and Sunday. A quartet of pitchers combined to retire the final 12 batters Saturday and preserve the win for Michael Soroka.
“Going 5-2 with an offense that’s kind of struggling a little bit … we got pitching-heavy in those wins and that carried us,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.
Peralta didn’t factor into the decision last Wednesday, when he allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings as the Mets fell to the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in 11 innings. Gallen earned the win last Wednesday after tossing six scoreless innings in the Diamondbacks’ 1-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Peralta is 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA in six career games (four starts) against the Diamondbacks. Gallen is 2-2 with a 3.07 ERA in nine starts against the Mets.
–Field Level Media
