NEW YORK \u2014 From inside the New York Mets dugout, manager Carlos Mendoza followed the ball and watched shortstop Francisco Lindor field a routine grounder for an out. Like so many others, Mendoza didn\u2019t see what happened to starting pitcher Griffin Canning during the play. Once he turned his attention toward the mound and the rest of the dugout went silent, he saw Canning on the ground.<\/p>\n
In the third inning of the Mets\u2019 4-0 win over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night, Canning turned to watch Lindor and took an awkward step off the mound. After hobbling on his right leg, he went to the ground in visible pain. For several moments, Canning stayed on the ground, raising his left leg. Eventually, two athletic trainers helped him slowly walk to the dugout.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like an Achilles injury,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
On Friday, test results confirmed those fears. Canning was placed on the 60-day injured list with a ruptured Achilles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sucks,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cYou hate to see it, especially the way he went down right away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such an injury is a significant blow to a Mets rotation already down three starting pitchers.<\/p>\n
Canning, who allowed just one hit with three strikeouts Thursday, had just recaptured some of the success that made him one of MLB\u2019s most improved pitchers this season. After posting a 5.19 ERA with the Los Angeles Angels last year, Canning, a 29-year-old pitching on a one-year deal, had a 3.77 ERA at the time of his injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou feel for the guy,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
Despite the injury, the Mets\u2019 bullpen authored one of its best performances of the season. Austin Warren, whom the Mets just recalled on Thursday, replaced Canning and retired Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., the first batter he faced. A friend of Canning since their time with the Angels, Warren then threw two more scoreless innings.<\/p>\n
Mets reliever Dedniel N\u00fa\u00f1ez, who has struggled with his command this season after his breakout last year, rediscovered his form with a sharp slider and increased velocity on his fastball. N\u00fa\u00f1ez threw two perfect innings with four strikeouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the best we\u2019ve seen out of him,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201c(It\u2019s) kind of like the version of the N\u00fa\u00f1ez we saw last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mets (48-34) pulled out an impressive win to finish with a series split against the Braves (37-43).<\/p>\n
Still, Canning\u2019s injury forces the Mets to further rely on their depth. They\u2019ve made at least one roster move every day for nine consecutive days. Friday will be no different.<\/p>\n
Right-handed pitching prospect Blade Tidwell, who was the scheduled starter for Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday before it got rained out, was added to the roster in Canning\u2019s place. It\u2019s unclear what Tidwell\u2019s role will be this time, but he threw 3 2\/3 innings and allowed two runs in a start last week in Philadelphia. There may be additional moves coming as well.<\/p>\n
Though Frankie Montas returned from the injured list Tuesday, the rotation is missing key contributors, with Kodai Senga (hamstring), who is playing catch this week, and Tylor Megill (elbow) hitting the injured list this month.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sean Manaea resumed throwing on Thursday after the club briefly shut him down during his rehab assignment. An MRI that showed a loose body in his left elbow prompted the move.<\/p>\n
Manaea said things went normally and that he felt good. The Mets expect the issue to slow him down by only a couple of days. He is set to make a final rehab start early next week, with his season debut after that.<\/p>\n
Beyond Montas, the healthy pitchers in the Mets\u2019 rotation are David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Paul Blackburn.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody is going to feel sorry for us,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cWe will find a way. Guys will step up. Our mentality is, \u2018What do we need to do today?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photo: Kent J. Edwards \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 From inside the New York Mets dugout, manager Carlos Mendoza followed the ball and watched…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1266,1305,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-20502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-new-york-mets","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114758308563340125","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}