Just two days after leaving the game with soreness in his left side, Eduardo Escobar returned. But the Mets may have lost Luis Guillorme for some time on Sunday.
Escobar replaced Guillorme at third base in the top of the fifth inning of the Mets’ 6-0 victory over the Phillies after Guillorme pulled up lame rounding third base in the bottom of the fourth. The Mets diagnosed it as left groin tightness. Guillorme will undergo an MRI exam on Monday.
“We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. It is tight,” Guillorme said. He said he felt the groin grab as he rounded third and scored a run.
Escobar went 0-for-2 at the plate. Before the game, he said he was feeling better, but there was still some soreness hitting from the right side, by far the switch hitter’s better side. He only batted left-handed in the victory.
“I was scared,” Escobar said through a translator. “An oblique isn’t like a hamstring, where it’s a certain amount of time you feel you’ll be out. With an oblique, it may be three months. From stories that I’ve heard from other players who have gone through it, it’s been a while to recover, and that’s what I didn’t want.”
Luis Guillorme reacts after scoring, and injuring his groin, in the fourth inning. Jason Szenes
The Mets haven’t ruled out calling up Brett Baty.Corey Sipkin for the NY POSTFortunately for Escobar and the Mets, he only missed a few days. But now they have Guillorme’s groin to worry about. The two infielders have been platooning at third base.
The Mets haven’t ruled out the possibility of promoting Brett Baty from Double-A Binghamton to fill the need at third base, according to The Post’s Mike Puma. The former first-round pick is hitting .312/.406/.544 with a .950 OPS, and is ranked as MLB’s No. 18 overall prospect.
Manager Buck Showalter said catcher James McCann will start behind the plate Monday night to open the series against the Braves. McCann drove in a run with a single on Sunday and Showalter wants to get him in more of a rhythm after starting Tomas Nido Friday and Saturday.
With a first-inning, run-scoring single Francisco Lindor became the Mets’ franchise leader in RBIs by a shortstop with 82. Jose Reyes held the previous mark of 81 set in 2006.
Zack Wheeler was tagged for six earned runs in six innings by the Mets. It was the most the Phillies’ right-hander had allowed against his former team in 11 starts.
