Mets reliever Jeurys Familia lands on injured list with sore shoulder, Mickey Callaway says

Jeurys Familia blew his six-out save attempt after getting five outs against Cincinnati Tuesday night, continuing the bad beginning to his sequel with the Mets. Then the $30 million reliever with the 6.28 ERA reached out to the team Wednesday morning with more bad news.

“His shoulder was a little sore,” Mickey Callaway said before the series continued Wednesday night at Citi Field.

The manager said Familia received an MRI and then an injection. The 29-year-old righty was placed on the 10-day injured list.

“The MRI came back fairly clean,” Callaway said. “He does have a Bennett lesion that he’s dealt with for years and years. It flares up on him. So that’s probably what he’s feeling right now.”

That lesion is usually defined as a bony spur.

“Every time you put a player on the IL, you have to hold your breath to a degree,” general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said. “But I think the report we got from the doctors today gives us every bit of confidence that this shouldn’t be a long-term issue.”

Van Wagenen added that “hopefully it’s only a couple of days and then hopefully the program will allow him to be back up and running when he comes off the IL.”

The Mets traded Familia to Oakland last July, then re-signed their former closer to a three-year deal in December, making him their prime setup man for Edwin Diaz. Callaway wasn’t sure whether the shoulder had been at the root of Familia’s bad results, which included 13 walks in 14 1/3 innings across 14 outings.

“We’ll talk to him about it,” Callaway said. “The stuff has been there. If he was feeling uncomfortable, that can lead to command issues.”

Diaz had worked three straight games. That’s why Familia was trying to close in what became a 10-inning, 4-3 Mets win. Ryan O’Rourke was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to replace Familia on the roster. Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman would seem to be the primary candidates to replace him in the eighth.

O’Rourke was 0-1 with a 4.61 ERA in nine Triple-A games, eight of them in relief. The 31-year-old lefthander didn't allow a run in six of his last seven outings. Callaway said he has been effective against lefties and righties.

“O’Rourke’s been throwing the ball extremely well,” Callaway said.

Familia has not. He admitted Tuesday night that he was “having kind of a bad season.” But Callaway expressed confidence that Familia can find his way again.

“Fama has done this for a long time,” Callaway said. “He’s been through ups and downs. He’s done it on the biggest stages, in the World Series, trying to get through the playoffs, things like that. He understands what it takes.”