Mets reliever Drew Smith suffers dislocated right pinkie
Mets pitcher Drew Smith walks off the field with with manager Buck Showalter, left, during the seventh inning of a game against the Phillies on Sunday at Citi Field. Credit: AP/Mary Altaffer
Reliever Drew Smith left the Mets’ 5-4 victory over the Phillies on Sunday night when he suffered a dislocated right pinkie while trying to field a hit by J.T. Realmuto with his pitching hand.
Initial X-rays were negative and Smith is listed as day-to-day.
“Going to try to avoid the IL and see how it responds the next couple of days and go from there,” he said.
Smith said the finger is not as swollen as he expected, but he could not bend it after the game.
As he left the mound, he was visibly upset. “It was frustration,” he said. “You know as a pitcher you’re not supposed to do that. It’s just reaction.”
He said he had a similar play in Colorado recently and was told by pitching coach Jeremy Hefner not to do that again.
“And I did it again,” he said. “Needless to say, I won’t do that again. I learned my lesson and hopefully escaped with no broken bones.”
Smith said shortstop Francisco Lindor looked at his finger and said he thought it was broken, and it looked that way. But a team doctor popped the joint back in place.
“He said, ‘This is going to hurt’ and he popped it right back in,” Smith said. “It wasn’t as bad as I expected. I definitely don’t want to do it again, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”
Notes & quotes: Starling Marte hit a triple, giving the Mets a major league-best 13 this season . . . Luis Guillorme led off for the second game in a row and went 2-for-5, making him 5-for-7 as a leadoff man for the weekend . . . Lindor extended his RBI streak to seven games . . . The Mets are 4-0 in extra innings . . . The Mets acquired infielder-outfielder J.T. Riddle from the Reds for cash considerations. He will be assigned to Triple-A Syracuse.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
