Carlos Mendoza delivered encouraging updates on the Mets’ two significant injury scares from the past few days, but only one player found his way back into the starting lineup.
Juan Soto, who left Tuesday’s loss in San Diego after smashing a foul ball off his left foot, was back in right field and went 1-for-4 with an RBI single. X-rays were negative on his foot, which cost him 1 ¹/₂ games.
He has played in 108 of 110 games in his first season in Queens.
“He’s good to go,” said Mendoza, who could not quite say the same yet for Francisco Alvarez, although the prognosis still was positive.
The young catcher has been feeling good, Mendoza said, after he exited the Wednesday finale against the Padres when his head absorbed a foul ball.
Alvarez was held out of the lineup for Friday’s 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Giants at Citi Field, but Mendoza said Alvarez has passed each step of the concussion protocol.
“We want to make sure that he goes through all the baseball activities today,” said Mendoza, who turned to Luis Torrens as his catcher. “He should be [available] for us, but we want to give him an extra day and make sure that he moves around, catches a [bullpen session], does all the defensive drills, does [batting practice] and see what the response is.”
With Soto’s career-best 16th steal, the Mets have safely stolen 29 consecutive bases.
It is the longest active streak in the majors and the longest single-season streak for the Mets since they stole 35 straight bases from May 14-June 29, 2023.
Mark Vientos (1-for-3) extended his hitting streak to a career-high-tying 10 games, during which he is slashing .343/.361/.486.
José Castillo, whom the Mets designated for assignment Sunday, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse.
The lefty has pitched to a 2.19 ERA in 14 games with the Mets this season.
Lefty Brandon Waddell, who has been on the IL since July 22 with a right hip impingement, is set to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Binghamton on Saturday.
The Mets put together a pregame tribute video for José Buttó, who received a round of applause while in the visiting dugout before the game.
Buttó, who was signed out of Venezuela in 2017 and spent his career with the Mets until he was shipped to the Giants on Wednesday, tipped his cap to the crowd.
Buttó walked one while getting the final two outs of the eighth inning for the Giants on Friday.
The Mets held moments of silence for Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, who died Monday, and Didarul Islam, the police officer who was one of four people killed in the mass shooting in Midtown on Monday.
