The walking wounded became the walking dead Thursday night — hardly the kind of preamble the Mets needed heading into a series with the defending NL East champions.
An already hurting bunch was left to wonder about Yoenis Cespedes’ status, after the All-Star outfielder departed the Mets’ 6-4 loss to the Phillies at Citi Field with a left hamstring injury.
Cespedes is scheduled to receive an MRI exam on the leg Friday. The team said he departed the game with a cramp in the hamstring, but Cespedes indicated otherwise.
“It’s not a cramp — I felt, like a shock,” he said, adding that a doctor told him he will miss at least the next two or three games. “I’ve had this injury before. This time it doesn’t feel as serious as other times.”
Cespedes’ hamstring injury came on a night the Mets were already without Lucas Duda, Wilmer Flores and had Travis d’Arnaud available only to pinch hit.
Yes, the Mets (8-8) could use a few healthy bodies for the start of their three-game series against the Nationals on Friday.
“Our training room is starting to fill up again, and we don’t need that,” manager Terry Collins said.
On Thursday the Mets were left to inhale the stench of a fifth loss in six games, as Noah Syndergaard stumbled early — with his defense committing two blunders — and the lineup going silently over the final six innings.
Syndergaard (1-1) battled and gave the Mets seven innings in which he allowed five runs, two of which were unearned, on seven hits with 10 strikeouts. And the stud righty made it 26 innings without a walk to start the season.
Neil Walker’s three-run homer in the third resurrected the Mets after they had fallen into a 5-1 hole against Aaron Nola, but the bats then went silent.
Errors by Jay Bruce — playing first base for the first time since 2014 — and Asdrubal Cabrera had led to the Phillies scoring two unearned runs against Syndergaard. In Bruce’s defense, there was an evident miscommunication between Walker and Syndergaard covering first base in the second inning, and Bruce’s flip went uncaught.
“Noah has got to get over there,” Collins said. “He just made a late break.”
Neither Duda (hyperextended left elbow) nor Flores (knee infection) is expected to play Friday and d’Arnaud (bruised right hand) said he won’t know until before the game if he is ready to resume catching duties. The Nationals were without Daniel Murphy (leg tightness) in Atlanta on Thursday, but Nationals manager Dusty Baker indicated he expects his second baseman would play against the Mets on Friday. And Trea Turner will likely be activated from the disabled list before the first pitch of the three-game series.
If last year was any indication, these Mets-Nationals scrums, played over 19 dates this season, could easily determine the 2017 NL East champion.
Last year the Mets went 7-12 against the Nationals, a significant factor in a September spent hunting for the wild card instead of a second straight division title. The Nationals rolled to the NL East title for a second time in three years, finishing eight games ahead of the Mets.
“We know the senses will be heightened when we play them just because the best way to creep up in the standings is to beat the teams you know are going to be ahead of you or right behind you,” Walker said.
Murphy nearly single-handedly crushed the Mets last season, hitting .413 with seven homers and 21 RBIs in the 19 games, after arriving to the Nationals on a three-year contract worth $37.5 million. The Mets had declined to extend a multi-year offer to Murphy after he carried the team to the NL pennant.
“He’s a fierce competitor — we got to see that in the playoffs when he was with us in 2015,” Michael Conforto said. “He kind of rises to the occasion, so I have seen that, being a teammate, and also against him as an opponent. He’s just a tremendous competitor and we’ve got to be ready for him.”
But if the Mets place too much emphasis on Murphy, there are other potential assassins in the Washington lineup. Start with Harper, who entered play on Thursday with a .404 batting average. He was also tied for second in the NL with six homers.
“We know our strength is our pitching staff, so if they do their job and we score runs, we feel like we have our best chance,” Walker said.