Mets’ Siri bruised after fouling ball into leg

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — About an hour after Jose Siri, unable to walk under his own power, was helped by two athletic trainers into the cart that drove him off the field, the Mets got good news: His leg was not broken.

X-rays were negative, leading the Mets to conclude that his left shin is bruised — painfully bruised, but merely bruised nonetheless.

“Honestly, I was expecting the worst,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “When I went out there, he was in pain. He couldn’t put any weight [on it].”

Siri’s scare came in the top of the second inning in a 3-1 loss to the Athletics on Saturday, when he fouled a pitch from righthander J.T. Ginn into his leg. He crumbled to the ground and remained there for a couple of minutes. Upon rising, he limped to the dugout, clearly unable to continue in the game.

The ball caught him just under the knee, “right on the bone, where there’s not a lot of fat or a lot of muscle,” Siri said through an interpreter.

“I’m in a lot of pain. A lot of pain,” Siri, using crutches after the game, said. “Right now, I don’t feel like I have any power in that leg.”

He added that he did not know if he will have to go on the injured list. The Mets consider him day to day.

“What we should do is wait and see how it feels in the next few days and then we’ll have a better understanding of it,” he said.

Siri is 1-for-20 (.050) on the season but has impacted several games with his high-end defense and high-octane baserunning.

Wincing Juan

When Juan Soto whiffed in the fifth inning Friday night, then winced and took a moment to gather himself, the Mets noticed — and worried. Mendoza stepped to the top of the dugout. Head athletic trainer Joseph Golia perked up, on the stairs right behind Mendoza.

But Soto proved to be fine. The issue was his right elbow, he said.

“It just hyperextended a little bit,” Soto said. “The slider away, I locked in [the arm] too hard.”

Soto added that he has experienced that sensation on occasional swings in the past, but that was the first time this year.

Pitching plans

The Mets intend to insert a sixth starter during their next home series, beginning Thursday against the Cardinals. That would give the rest of the starters an extra day of rest amid this stretch of 13 consecutive games without a day off.

The only healthy starter available on the 40-man roster is righthander Justin Hagenman, who has never pitched in the majors and is not off to a good start with Triple-A Syracuse. Lefthander Brandon Waddell has been Syracuse’s best rotation arm.

Prospects Brandon Sproat or Blade Tidwell could be options. Sproat had the best of his three starts with Syracuse on Saturday, tossing 4 1⁄3 innings of one-run ball (75 pitches). He struck out six and allowed two hits and two walks.

Extra bases

Jesse Winker has been dealing with flu symptoms, Mendoza said, so Starling Marte served as the DH despite the Mets facing a righthanded starter . . . Luis Torrens is still dealing with a right forearm bruise — the underside of his arm black and blue — but reported feeling fine after returning to the lineup Friday. . . The Mets didn’t give Hayden Senger a start behind the plate until the sixth game of the season, preferring to ride Torrens for the first five games. Now, with Senger holding his own at a hitter and more than holding his own as a catcher, how much more comfortable are they slotting him in? “Honestly, we felt pretty comfortable plugging him in there (from the start),” Mendoza said. “This is a guy we know is going to be able to take care of a pitching staff, his receiving skills, his blocking skills, his ability to shut down that running game. And he’s given us some decent at-bats, some good at-bats” . . . Former Mets manager Jerry Manuel, who lives in the area, attended the game.