Mets' Taijuan Walker Exits Start With Shoulder Injury
The Mets' pitching depth has already been put to the test early on.
The latest starter to go down with an injury was Taijuan Walker, who was forced out of his first outing on the season on Monday due to shoulder irritation, as the Mets announced.
Before exiting his start, Walker was cruising with four strikeouts across two innings. The righty set down all six batters he faced against a high-powered Phillies' offense.
Walker underwent knee surgery in January and was recently experiencing soreness in this area, which cut his final start of spring training short. As a result, Walker's pitch count was set at 60-to-65 pitches on Monday because he was not stretched out enough to go any further. However, a shoulder issue limited him to just 30 pitches tonight.
Left-hander David Peterson, who was added to the active roster when closer Edwin Diaz landed on the bereavement list, replaced Walker and threw four scoreless innings with three strikeouts in relief.
Peterson and second-year hurler Tylor Megill were initially projected to serve as depth starters in Triple-A Syracuse to begin the regular-season. But due to injuries to Jacob deGrom, and now Walker, the Mets have been forced to turn to this duo early-on in the 2022 campaign.
The Mets built a 4-0 lead entering the eighth inning on Monday night, but the bullpen was unable to hang on, surrendering five unanswered runs to drop their second straight game in the series opener with the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Update
According to manager Buck Showalter, Walker and Trevor May (left in eighth inning with potential arm fatigue) will both receive MRIs.
Luckily, these pitchers did not express much concern about their injuries.
As Walker told reporters, he first felt his shoulder issue pop up when he threw a slider during this outing.
"It just didn't feel right, so I came out to be safe," Walker said. "It's already feeling better now, but going to go for an MRI tomorrow to see what we're dealing with."
As for May, the righty reliever described his arm fatigue as typical biceps and triceps soreness that he deals with early in the season when building his arm up. With the shortened-spring training brought on by the lockout, May and the rest of the pitchers around the league had less time to prepare their arms this year.
“At the beginning of the year, I’m usually working through some biceps and triceps soreness and It’s a normal thing for me," May said. "I’ve been treating it heavily for the last week or so. Just kind of pushing through by throwing and getting in shape.
"It’s my version of dead arm and I was feeling pretty good recently. Was able to throw long toss (Monday) and then I went out there and felt fine in the first inning. But then when you sit and It’s cold outside, that’s usually when you have to find a way to fire it back up. It’s been a little bit since I’ve done it, so I went out there and didn’t really loosen up. There was no pitch or sharp pain, It’s all stuff that I've felt before."
Stay tuned for further updates on these two hurlers.
Read More:
- Carlos Carrasco Shines In Season Debut, Mets Fail To Sweep Nationals After Late Collapse
- Why Mets Had Right Blueprint When Assembling 2022 Rotation
- How Mets' New-Look Offense Is Paying Early Dividends
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