Mets' Eduardo Escobar regrouping after health scare
Eduardo Escobar #10 of the New York Mets hits a two-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres on June 6, 2022 at Petco Park in San Diego, California. Credit: Getty Images/Denis Poroy
Eduardo Escobar had a health scare, but thankfully, a scare was all it was.
Escobar, who went to the hospital Thursday after experiencing a headache and dizziness, said Friday evening that he “700%” expects to be in the lineup on Saturday. “I wanted to play today but Buck [Showalter] said no,” he added. Tests came back clean, he said.
“I feel really good today,” Escobar said. “I got up at one point and I felt a little dizzy and then I went outside to field ground balls and I wasn’t feeling right, so I told the trainers and they just told me to go inside and they ended up sending me to the hospital."
Escobar said he’s been feeling pressure in his ears of late and believes the issue to be related; he’s currently being medicated for it.
“He’s had quite the night and he’s not working on a whole lot of rest,” Showalter said Friday, adding that Escobar was texting him from the hospital at 2:30 a.m.. “He finally got through all the testing, and I think he’s trying to catch up on some rest as we speak, I hope, in the locker room …They tested everything, I’m sure…Going through the process, I was getting updated from the trainers. I was just concerned about him during the game, and they did every test known to man basically to rule stuff out.”
Marte returns
Starling Marte, who had a bruised right forearm after getting plunked on Wednesday, was back in the lineup, playing right and batting second. The Mets have been hit a major league-leading 45 times going into Friday, putting them on pace for 112, which would erase the modern-era record of 105 set by the Reds last year. (The overall record belongs to the Orioles, who were hit 160 times in 1898.)
McCann mending
James McCann (wrist) caught for six innings and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his first rehab assignments with Double-A Binghamton. He’s expected to play in two more rehab games — DHing on Friday and catching again Saturday.
“Other than 0-for-4, three strikeouts, [he’s] good,” Showalter said. “Six innings, went good . . . I haven’t heard anything about him negative physically.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
