'Fatigued' Francisco Lindor held out of Mets' starting lineup
Francisco Lindor after catching fly ball by Giants' Brandon Belt in fifth inning Tuesday night, Aug. 24, 2021. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
A day after his first game in a month, and his first since returning from the injured list with an oblique strain, Francisco Lindor was back on the bench under the advice of the Mets performance team, Luis Rojas said.
Lindor didn’t have any ill effects from playing all nine innings Tuesday, Rojas said, but since the shortstop didn’t play in any rehab games in an attempt to get him on the field quicker, he was "obviously, a little fatigued," Rojas said. Lindor went 0-for-4 in his return and, after the game, preached urgency, as the clock on the Mets season continues to accelerate and the gap between them and first-place Atlanta gets more and more formidable.
He stuck out on a slider in the dirt in the seventh inning, stayed in at shortstop, and popped out to first in the ninth.
"We don’t have a lot of time," Lindor said. "It’s time to go. It’s been time to go. We’ve got to find a way, find a way to compete, continue to grind and not make excuses."
Rojas said that this was just a temporary precaution, however, and not an allowance they plan to make for the rest of the season.
"It’s the first nine inning game that he’s played given skipping the rehab assignment but this is some of the things that he did so he could start playing sooner for us, so Day 2, he’s just not in there," Rojas said. It’s "very fluid [depending on] how he feels. This is part of his progression into coming back from the IL."
Javier Baez played shortstop in Lindor’s stead Wednesday.
"This week would be the one that we’ll be monitoring more on how he feels and how he does," Rojas said. "We have some metrics of guys and how they’re moving [that we’re using] because he hasn’t played for five weeks and then he plays nine innings. We just want to be smart about this."
Syndergaard starting rehab
Noah Syndergaard (Tommy John) will begin his rehab assignment Thursday and pitch one inning with Single-A Brooklyn. Acting general manager Zack Scott said Tuesday that the plan is still to use Syndergaard in relief when he returns to action, and that the role will allow for a shorter rehab stint. Syndergaard threw a side on Tuesday and came out of it feeling well.
Nido, McCann progress
Tomas Nido (thumb) could be back as soon as this weekend, Rojas said. James McCann (back) will likely take longer to return but is beginning to do rotational movements.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
