The New York Mets offense exploded last night, but they also lost Juan Soto, who will get an MRI on his injured calf.
The New York Mets got their offense cranked up last night against the San Francisco Giants, and outfielder Juan Soto was an integral part of it initially until he sustained a calf pull going from first to third in the middle of the Mets two-run rally in the top of the first.
The injury forced Soto to leave the game, and he’ll undergo an MRI today to determine the extent of the injury, according to Henry Schulman of MLB.com.
Francisco Lindor led off the game with a single, and Soto followed with one of his own. He was injured going from first to third as Bo Bichette followed with a third single, and Soto was then forced out at home as part of a Brett Baty groundout that resulted in a double play.
When the inning ended, though, manager Carlos Mendoza decided to take no chances with his superstar, as he pulled Soto from the game and sent Tyrone Taylor to left field.
“There’s obviously concern any time you send a player for an MRI, and those areas, the calf area, can be tricky,” Mendoza said. “So we’ve just got to wait.”
Soto has only had this injury once before, according to Schulman, so there’s no history here. He came out of a game after hurting his left calf back when he was with the Washington Nationals, but this injury was to his right calf. Soto was unavailable to comment after the game, as he’d already left Oracle Park.
Few players wanted to speculate about the extent of the injury, but second baseman Marcus Semien did comment.
“You never want to lose a guy like that,” said Semien. “I don’t know how bad it is yet, but I know he works extremely hard, and he’s going to get himself back as soon as possible.”
Semien was one of the offensive stars in last night’s 10-3 win over the Giants, and Soto is one of the few Mets hitters to start the season strong, as he was 11-for-31 with a home run.
Catcher Francisco Alvarez was one of the other stars with a pair of homers, and he nearly had a third in the eighth inning when his fly ball to center died on the warning track, but Alvarez expressed confidence in the Mets ability to win without Soto.
“Juan is one of the key pieces to this lineup,” Alvarez said. “I think it’s unfortunate he hurt his calf, and it’s tough to play without him, but I think if guys step up we can be OK.”