Mets place Francisco Lindor on 10-day IL with left calf strain
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor slides home before a tag by Minnesota Twins catcher Victor Caratini during the fourth inning of an MLB game at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
As expected, Francisco Lindor is heading to the injured list.
The Mets announced that Lindor, who was removed after the fourth inning of Wednesday night’s game against the Twins, was placed on the 10-day IL with a left calf strain on Thursday afternoon.
The Mets recalled Ronny Mauricio, who has a .293/.349/.638 slash line with six homers and 13 RBIs for Triple-A Syracuse this season and had a walk-off single for the Mets on April 7.
Neither Lindor nor Carlos Mendoza provided a timeline for the injury, though Mendoza said "he's going to be down for quite a bit." Mendoza said they knew right away for Juan Soto's calf strain that it was the "best-case scenario," but "I don't think we're dealing with the same thing here."
"There is definitely some level of concern," Lindor said. "I'll be out for a minute."
Lindor appeared to hurt himself running the bases Wednesday, grimacing as he was rounding third to score in the fourth inning. He was replaced in the top of the fifth inning, and the team initially described the injury as left calf tightness.
Lindor had his typical slow start to the season, posting a .167/.296/.250 slash line with no RBIs, no homers and only three extra-base hits in his first 15 games. But he had heated up over his last nine games, slashing .333/.353/.545 with two homers and five RBIs.
It’s been a haunting month of calves for the Mets, who lost Soto to a right calf strain after he hurt himself running the bases on April 3. Soto returned to the lineup Wednesday, 19 days after he became injured.
Soto’s return coincided with the end of the Mets’ 12-game losing streak. While having Soto back undeniably helps, Lindor’s absence certainly hurts an offense that ranks last in MLB in runs scored (25), batting average (.200), on-base percentage (.247), slugging percentage (.290), OPS (.538), RBIs (24) and wRC+ (54) since April 8, when the stretch of 12 of 13 losses started.
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
