Mets' Jonathon Niese to miss start; Ruben Tejada on DL
Struggling shortstop Tejada was injured against the Yankees and will be replaced by Omar Quintanilla.
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Mets pitcher Jonathon Niese will miss at least one turn in the starting rotation because of a sore shoulder. Shortstop Ruben Tejada will be out at least two weeks with a strained right quadriceps and could lose his starting job.
Niese was examined Thursday and diagnosed with shoulder tendinitis. While the left-hander is 3-5 with a 4.40 ERA in 11 starts, Niese allowed one run in seven innings against the Yankees on Monday.
"He's been bothered with a little discomfort for a couple of starts," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "He was a lot sore after his last start."
Niese's turn Sunday at the Miami Marlins will be taken by Collin McHugh. The Mets have a day off Monday, so the next time his turn comes up will be June 8 at home against the Marlins.
For now, New York didn't think about putting Niese on the DL.
"If he's not ready in the 10 days, we'll do something else," Collins said.
Asked whether the Mets gave consideration to bringing up prospect Zack Wheeler, who turned 23 Thursday, Collins said "no" twice and "none" twice.
Wheeler is 3-1 with a 4.13 ERA in 10 starts at Triple-A Las Vegas, striking out 53 in 52 1-3 innings.
"Absolutely there's reasons why," Collins said, without elaborating.
Because more than eight weeks of the season have been played, the Mets already have virtually ensured Wheeler cannot be eligible for salary arbitration after the 2015 season. The top 22 percent of players with 2-to-3 years of major league service are eligible after each season along with those with at least 3 years but less than 6; the service-time cutoff last winter was 2 years, 139 days, and 122 days remained this season after Thursday.
Tejada limped off the field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday after getting hurt chasing a foul fly down the left-field line. He received an injection Thursday and the Mets said he will travel Friday to their spring training complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The Mets selected the contract of infielder Omar Quintanilla from Triple-A Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League, and he started at shortstop and batted ninth in the series finale against Yankees left-hander Vidal Nuno. Collins said Quintanilla could bat leadoff against right-handers.
Tejada didn't play between May 6 and June 24 last year because of a similar injury. He is hitting .209 this season, is in an 11-for-76 (.145) slide and before the injury was in danger of demotion to the minors. While he had a leadoff single in a five-run first Wednesday, his mental lapse in the field that allowed the Yankees to score twice in the sixth.
"When he comes back, the situation will dictate what his status is going to be here," Collins said. "If it's six weeks this time, a lot of things can happen in the next six weeks."
