Carson Benge back in Mets' starting lineup vs. Pirates after off day following wrist injury scare
· Yahoo Sports
After an off day on Saturday to recover from wrist soreness, Mets outfielder Carson Benge is back in the starting lineup for the rubber game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Benge jammed his wrist into the left field wall on a spectacular sliding catch in the third inning of Friday's game and left shortly after. After the game, interim manager Andy Green said the rookie's X-rays came back negative as New York avoided an injury scare.
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Regardless, the team would wait and see how Benge felt the following day before deciding what to do and sure enough, out of an abundance of caution, Benge was on the bench in the second game of the series.
"Great," Green said regarding how Benge feels. "He’s mad he didn’t play yesterday. His swings look good, he’s moving around fine. Obviously recovered pretty quickly from the collision with the wall so we’re glad to have him back out there. We waited a while to let the lineup out [today], we wanted to see if he was gonna be good to go and he felt great."
Benge is batting cleanup and playing right field with A.J. Ewing sliding over to left field and Luis Robert Jr. in center field.
Not in the lineup is Jorge Polanco, who played the first two games of the series while going 0-for-7. Green said that's where the team is at with Polanco right now, not starting him for more than 2-3 days in a row.
"We’ve been doing that fairly repetitive with him," the skipper said.
Meanwhile, Green also spoke about the plan for Robert Stock who pitched on Saturday and struggled mightily, going three innings and allowing eight earned runs on nine hits and five walks -- the complete opposite from his season debut against the Miami Marlins on Aug. 2 in which he allowed one run over five innings.
"I think more than likely we’re anticipating him making his next start for us," Green said. "Still kinda being a little bit patient before being fully committed to it, but I think we’re leaning that direction."
Despite having a day off on Thursday next week before hosting a six-game homestand at Citi Field, the Mets are reluctant to skip Stock's turn in the rotation entirely because of the heavy workload that their young starters have already been through this season.
"I don’t think that’s our best choice given the load a lot of the young guys have carried into their first full season in the big leagues," Green said. "So as much as we’d like to get those guys back on the mound quickly, the extra day is good for them."