Mejia leaves with injured shoulder in third inning

Jenrry Mejia's rocky rookie season likely ended last night after he suffered his second shoulder injury in three months, and the Mets can only hope that's the worst of it.

The Mets announced during their 8-7 win over the Pirates that their top pitching prospect was sent for a MRI after the injury forced him to leave after only 42 pitches.

The team's initial diagnosis is "an acute strain of a muscle in the back of his shoulder," but the results of the MRI at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan will show the severity of the injury. An announcement is expected Thursday.

The 20-year-old hard-throwing righty already missed about a month earlier this summer because of a strained muscle also in the back of his shoulder.

Mejia hurt his shoulder on a 1-and-0 pitch to Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen in the third inning. The pitch was in the dirt and he reacted awkwardly in his follow-through, which catcher Henry Blanco and pitching coach Dan Warthen noticed.

Mejia instantly straightened out his back after releasing the ball and stretched his right arm outright. "I knew something was not OK," Blanco said. "I looked at his face and he was in pain. I asked him what's wrong and he said something in his back. He didn't feel right."

Blanco relayed that message on the mound to Warthen, who then turned to the dugout and called for trainer Ray Ramirez. After a brief discussion with Ramirez, Warthen and manager Jerry Manuel, Mejia agreed to walk back to the dugout.

Mejia's first shoulder injury occurred June 27 during his second start with Double-A Binghamton. The Mets said the next day that he had a posterior cuff strain and was prescribed rest after an examination by team doctors.

Warthen said Mejia told him this time that the pain was in a different area than the first shoulder injury. In his third start since returning from the minors, Mejia did not give up a hit but walked two and allowed one unearned run in 2 1/3 innings.

After missing all of July because of the first shoulder injury, Mejia was 2-0 with a 1.27 ERA in seven starts for Binghamton and Triple-A Buffalo. He rejoined the Mets on Sept. 1 and lost his first two starts, allowing 10 runs and 17 hits, striking out only four in nine innings.

The Pirates built a 5-0 lead after Mejia left, but the Mets answered with a seven-run fourth inning that was helped by two errors. Angel Pagan's two-out, two-run single capped the inning.