Starling Marte exits in first inning with neck strain after headfirst slide
Starling Marte of the Mets is checked out after stealing third base in the first inning against the Marlins at Citi Field on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Mets’ offense suffered a significant blow when it lost Starling Marte to injury in the first inning of their 7-2 loss to the Marlins on Sunday. Now they have to wait to see the exact extent of that loss.
Marte, who collided headfirst with Jean Segura’s knee while stealing third base, was removed at the end of the inning and preliminarily diagnosed with a neck strain. He’ll also continue to be monitored for a concussion, Buck Showalter said, and is considered day-to-day. Early examinations for the concussion, at least, seemed to be positive.
Jeff McNeil moved from second base to take over for Marte in rightfield and Luis Guillorme entered to play second.
“He had a pretty good lump there when I got there,” Showalter said. “He’s a tough guy and some of the things you look for, you just didn’t want to take any chances at that point, but we’ll see what [today] brings. It looked like he tested pretty good as far as concussion but the neck, he got pretty good whiplash there.”
Marte began his season going 10-for-33 with a home run. He more than proved his value last year when he went down with a hand injury in September that greatly hamstrung the Mets’ offense down the stretch.
Rocky day for the rookie
Despite an RBI single, Francisco Alvarez didn’t have the best afternoon in his 2023 debut. The catcher allowed five stolen bases and committed an error in the eighth when he threw the ball away trying to nail Segura attempting to steal second. Segura advanced to third on the play. Alvarez’s error broke the Mets’ nine-game errorless streak to begin the season — the longest in franchise history.
Alvarez’s defense has been a concern in his early development, but Showalter was quick to point out that it wasn’t all on the rookie.
“I’m not so sure that they weren’t on the pitchers, most of them,” Showalter said of the stolen bases. “You give him a chance and he’ll throw out people he’s supposed to throw out, but nowadays, it’s probably one of the toughest jobs this year compared to last year — the running game. They took away a really big weapon and that’s the holding step-off. That was what stopped those guys from cheating in their break.”
The first week of baseball was dominated by baserunners trying to exploit the new rules, with successful attempts going up from 68.5% in 2022 to 80.5%, according to MLB.com. Overall attempts increased from 1.02 per game to 1.69.
“I think I could have made better throws,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.
Alvarez hopes he can correct those mistakes as he gets more acclimated to this pitching staff. He said that once he does that, “it’s going to be a lot better.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
