Terry Collins told reporters that Tuesday nights starter Jenrry Mejia will throw a bullpen session on Friday to see whether the blister on his right middle finger will be a factor.
After his bullpen, Collins will look to see how he responds before making a determination as to whether the 24-year old righty will be able to make his next scheduled start on Monday.
“I feel bad for him. Feel terrible, because he has shown he has the stuff to be a winner at this level. But we just have to get him to stay out there,” says the skipper.
After tossing just 77 pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, Mejia had to leave the game because of a torn blister on his right middle finger.
Mejia was absolutely dominant throughout his start, hurling five scoreless innings and limiting the D’Backs to just two hits while striking out three. His strong performance even drew rave reviews from some of the opposition after the game.
“He had a 94 mph cutter that was pretty filthy. And he was locating it pretty well on the outside corner,” said Arizona center fielder A.J. Pollock. “I took a couple of swings and felt like I was right on it, but that much movement that late is tough. It seemed like he really had good command of his fastball and that’s what made him really hard. ”
When it was all over, Mejia picked up his second win of the season as the Mets completed the shutout victory and beat the D’Backs by the score of 9-0.
Despite having to battle his way onto the Mets rotation this Spring, the 24-year old righthander now leads the team with a pristine 2.81 ERA and .200 BAA.
Mejia reportedly wanted to continue pitching despite the blister issue and didn’t want to show his finger to the staff after the fourth inning However, after he completed the fifth, pitching coach Dan Warthen insisted he take a look and then told his starter his night was over..
“I wanted to keep pitching,” Mejia said. “I wanted to take care of my bullpen, because I know they were a little bit tired. But they said no.”
Mejia has had some tough luck to start the season, having to already deal with a bunion in spring training, getting hit in the arm by a come-backer in Montreal, and now this blister. But he remains optimistic and said he expects to be ready to go for his next start at Citi Field.
(Photo Credit: Brad Barr/USATSI)
