Expecting to add Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil in the coming days, the Mets encountered yet another injury scare.
Mark Vientos left Saturday’s game at Citi Field against the Cardinals with groin discomfort, the Mets announced, and was replaced by Brett Baty at third base for the fifth inning.
It was immediately unclear when the injury occurred.
Vientos had grounded out and popped out in the game.
In the fourth inning, Brendan Donovan sent a bullet that Vientos leapt for and caught, needing every bit of his 6 feet and 3 inches of height.
The Mets would never want to lose Vientos, but especially not when the third baseman is heating up.
After a slow start to his season, Vientos had homered in consecutive games and spiked his OPS from .463 to .580 entering play.
Baty — who himself has been swinging better — entered and immediately made an impact.
With Thomas Saggese on third base and one out in the fifth, Yohel Pozo grounded to Baty, who fielded and threw a strike to Luis Torrens, who applied a tag to Saggese at home.
