BALTIMORE -- When Jesse Winker returned from the injured list on the same day that fellow designated hitter Starling Marte went on it, manager Carlos Mendoza called it “funny how things work … you gain one, you lose one.”
Less funny is the idea of losing both DHs. Two days after returning, Winker exited the Mets' 3-1 loss in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Orioles on Thursday due to back tightness. He immediately returned to New York for further testing, including an MRI.
Asked if Winker may require a stint on the injured list, Mendoza replied: “Potentially. Potentially, yeah.”
“Pregame, he was fine,” Mendoza said. “Went through his pregame routine, he was fine. After the first at-bat, he just came in and said that his back locked up.”
In that at-bat, Winker fouled off two pitches and popped up another. When his turn to bat came around again in the fourth, Mark Vientos replaced him in the lineup.
Winker had just returned to active duty Tuesday after missing more than two months due to a right oblique strain. In his absence, Marte assumed much of the team’s DH reps. But with Marte nursing a right knee injury of his own, Vientos and Ronny Mauricio figure to share DH duties through the All-Star break.
Marte has expressed confidence that he’ll be ready to return as soon as the second half begins on July 18.
“I’m 100 percent confident that I’ll be able to return, bounce back right after the All-Star break,” Marte said earlier this week.
Winker was batting .229/.309/.400 in 26 games. He re-signed in New York on a one-year, $8 million contract late in the offseason, with expectations of reprising his role as the regular DH against right-handed pitchers.
Given that Marte should only miss a few more games, utility man Jared Young makes the most sense as a short-term roster patch. He and Francisco Alvarez are the only position players at Triple-A Syracuse already on the 40-man roster. Young has also been hot, with a 1.095 OPS in nine games since his demotion late last month.