WASHINGTON -- Jenrry Mejia has a new medical issue facing him, although the closer downplayed the severity.
Although Mejia wanted to pitch an additional inning, Terry Collins would not let Mejia return to the mound for the 13th on Thursday because Mejia was dealing with calf tightness.
Jenrry Mejia
#58 RP
New York Mets
2014 STATS
- GM41
W5
L4
BB34
K76
- ERA3.61
Mejia had complained of lower-back tightness in a loss on Monday. The calf since has been bothering him for a couple of days. He had the muscle massaged pregame and declared himself available Thursday.
Mejia allowed two baserunners to reach scoring position but escaped the 12th unscathed. Carlos Torres gave up a game-deciding two-run homer to Bryce Harper in the 13th as the Mets lost, 5-3.
“It’s just a little bit tight,” Mejia said. “… It doesn’t affect me to be ready tomorrow.”
Said Collins: “We’ll find out more tomorrow. If it’s still bothering him, he certainly won’t pitch tomorrow. The trainers, right now they don’t think it’s anything serious. But it’s serious enough that he wasn’t going to pitch any more today. He said, ‘Well, if we get the lead, I can go back out.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to lose you for six weeks for two outs or something. If you pull that thing, you’ll be done.’
“So we’ll wait to see what it is tomorrow. He said it’s been a little sore for a couple of days. We gave him the last two days to kind of rest it. He said he was fine to pitch today. So it acted back up.”