SAN DIEGO -- Juan Soto immediately grimaced, hopping up and down seven times on his right foot before finally attempting to put weight on his left. The result was a pronounced limp, forcing him to a knee.
For several minutes after that, Mets trainer Joe Golia tended to Soto, testing him for the pain points that could indicate a broken bone. Those results at least offered everyone involved a measure of relief.
The bad news for the Mets is that Soto ultimately left Tuesday’s 7-1 loss to the Padres due to continued discomfort in his left foot. The good news is that X-rays came back negative. Mets officials are confident nothing is broken and expect Soto back within a matter of days.
He was not in the starting lineup for Wednesday's series finale in San Diego, but the Mets are hopeful he'll be back there by Friday's opener against the Giants at Citi Field.
"I think it’s going to be good,” said Soto, who was diagnosed with only a left foot contusion. “We’ve just got to get the swelling down. Whenever the swelling is down, I think we’re going to be fine.”
"Talking with Juan, looking at his face, I think we dodged a bullet here," manager Carlos Mendoza said.
Batting in the fourth inning against Padres starter Ryan Bergert, Soto fouled a ball off the top of his left foot, near the toe. Following Golia’s examination, he returned to the batter’s box and grounded out.
But as he swung the bat and attempted to jog to first base, Soto felt continued pain. Mendoza decided not to take any further chances, replacing his star outfielder on defense for the bottom of the fourth.
"It was a tough moment,” Soto said. “I just tried to come out and see if it goes away. Definitely when I swung the last moment, I tried to run, tried to push. Couldn’t do it. We’ll just take our time and see how it goes, but at the end, we decided not to keep pushing it.”
Although Mendoza couldn’t be certain that Soto will avoid the injured list, he expressed confidence that this is a day-to-day scenario. Particularly with top-of-the-order hitters Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso scuffling, the Mets can ill afford to lose Soto, who is batting .248/.382/.488 with 25 homers in 107 games. He’s in the first season of a 15-year, $765 million contract.
"Not a good feeling,” Mendoza said, “especially when you watch him go down like that, and it looked like he was in a lot of pain. Then he hits that ball, and he looks uncomfortable running down the line. … You’re kind of just holding your breath there. And then once I got the news, obviously a sense of relief.”
Sometimes in the presence of swelling, X-rays cannot detect small fractures in a bone. But Mets trainers are confident with their initial round of testing and don’t believe a follow-up MRI or CT scan will be necessary. Soto, wearing a compression sock on his left foot after the game, said he felt more numb than sore.
"I don’t feel anything right now,” added Soto, who hasn’t been on the IL since 2021. “Definitely, it’s getting a little stiff, but we’re going to see.”
Although the Mets are not deep at the corner outfield spots, Jeff McNeil and Starling Marte each boast significant experience in right. New York used both there in the back half of Tuesday’s game, with Tyrone Taylor and Luisangel Acuña manning center. (Acuña, who had just two previous innings of center-field experience in the Majors, made a sliding catch to rob Xander Bogaerts of a hit.)
It was a disappointing evening overall for the Mets, who watched José Buttó and Chris Devenski combine to allow six runs in the sixth and seventh innings at Petco Park. Still, things could have been worse had Soto’s injury proven more serious.
"It’s usually maybe a couple of days,” Mendoza said. “We’ve just got to see how he responds when he wakes up tomorrow morning, and we’ll go from there.”