The Mets placed Kodai Senga on the 15-day IL with a left calf strain on Saturday after the starting pitcher suffered the injury in Friday night's win over the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning.
Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Senga's injury is a high-grade strain and "it's fair to say he's pretty much done for the regular season."
Senga dazzled in his long-awaited 2024 season debut, allowing two runs on two hits with nine strikeouts over 5.1 innings before going down.
The injury came on a pop-up near the mound, as Senga moved out of the way for Pete Alonso to make the play, and fell to the ground while grabbing his calf. He then got up on his own and headed straight to the locker room.
"It's a huge blow, but at the same time, we got to this point without him," Mendoza said. "Sucks for him, for all of us. The way I see it is, we've been through a lot, and if we get to see him pitch again this year that means we're in a good spot. And hopefully, that's the case. We only got two months.
"It's hard for him, we're feeling it for him because he's been through a lot the whole year. He goes out there and has a game like that. And then for him to go down that way, it sucks. You got to keep going, nobody is going to feel sorry for us."
Mendoza went on to say the timetable for Senga's return is up in the air, as it could take up to 10 weeks for him to fully recover and be ready to pitch. The manager reiterated that if Senga pitches again this year, it would likely mean the Mets are in the postseason.
"Yeah, like I said, hopefully, if we get to see him pitch, that means we're in a good position," Mendoza said. "It's hard to put a timetable here, especially we're talking about calf, those are tricky. We could be looking at 8-10 weeks before he's a big league pitcher, 85 pitches you know. It's hard to predict what we're dealing with, but it's a high grade."
In corresponding moves, the Mets recalled RHP Tylor Megill from Triple-A Syracuse and he will start Saturday's contest. Additionally, RHP Eric Orze was optioned to Triple-A and recently acquired RHP Ryne Stanek has been activated.
Mendoza added the team will stick with a five-man rotation, and Stanek will immediately take a role in the bullpen. He also noted he's hopeful Harrison Bader is available to play Saturday.