Freak finger injuries sideline Brandon Nimmo, J.D. Davis

PHILADELPHIA — Brandon Nimmo and J.D. Davis avoided the injured list Sunday, but they weren’t ready to play.

Nimmo has a bruised left index finger and Davis has a sprained left middle finger, ailments each described as freak, unexpected issues they had never experienced or even seen previously.

The Mets consider both players day-to-day. Manager Luis Rojas said the medical staff "feels pretty good" about their chances of staying off the IL.

Nimmo’s problem is on the bone. X-rays were negative. He got jammed Friday night by a pitch from the Phillies’ Chase Anderson, causing a bruise. The vibration of the bat connecting with the ball triggers discomfort.

Facing Zack Wheeler, who likes to pitch inside and jam batters, made it worse Saturday.

"Wheeler just blew me up all day," said Nimmo, who left in the middle of an at-bat. "The last at-bat, it just felt like my hand exploded. Couldn’t take it anymore. I was trying to gut through it after the first few ABs."

Usually, hitters have this sort of issue with their thumbs, so some wear a small thumb guard when swinging. Nimmo was surprised to encounter it on another finger.

"That’s what makes this so abnormal and weird," he said.

Davis’ problem is in the soft tissue in his finger, not the bone. He might get an MRI, he said. It popped up during a swing Saturday.

"I just tried to foul it off and for some odd reason, I can’t put one-two together, but my middle finger kind of got caught and I felt like I kind of yanked it," he said. "I just tried to hang on to the bat with my bottom hand, and my middle finger got caught in some way. It felt like a yank."

He added that he has "way more movement and way more grip strength" compared to when he got hit by a pitch on the hand last month, which necessitated an IL stint.

Like Nimmo, Davis said this injury was new to him.

"That’s the weird part," he said. "I’ve never really had this before in any case, even down in the minor leagues, college, high school or anything. So it’s very weird for me and that’s why I was — I don’t want to say beside myself — but confused about what was going on in my hand."

Nimmo and Davis were annoyed to have to sit out, especially considering how well they were playing. Entering Sunday, Nimmo was hitting .318 with a .430 OBP and .439 slugging percentage, a relative cool-down from his hot start. Davis has a .390/.479/.610 slash line in 14 games, having missed time because of a bruised hand last month.

"Absolutely it’s frustrating," Davis said. "You’re swinging a hot bat, you’re seeing the ball well, you’re playing well. Of course you don’t want to be taken out of the lineup, especially for something that really has nothing to do with [something] out of your control."

"It’s extremely frustrating," said Nimmo, who missed three games late last month with a minor hip condition. "I felt like it was going pretty well there and I was helping the team out. And then just ran into the hip and it seemed like right when I felt like, ‘All right, I’m kind of over the hump of the hip,’ this comes out of nowhere. So I’m extremely frustrated right now. These little things that keep popping up."

For the Mets, the timing is particularly unfortunate. They lost Luis Guillorme to a right oblique strain Friday, so they are down both of their top two third basemen. Jonathan Villar got the start Sunday.