NEW YORK (AP) Mets stars Yoenis Cespedes and Noah Syndergaard left New York’s game against the Washington Nationals with injuries Friday night.
Cespedes was pulled after three innings with a strained right quadriceps. The slugger made a sliding catch in shallow center field in the top of the third and was replaced by Juan Lagares in the fourth.
Syndergaard exited in the fifth with arm fatigue that was not elbow-related, the Mets said.
The injuries came hours after New York announced struggling pitcher Matt Harvey will have season-ending surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.
Pitching with a bone spur in his right elbow that he has called “pretty insignificant,” Syndergaard stepped off the rubber with two outs in the fifth and a 2-2 count on Jayson Werth.
Catcher Rene Rivera visited the mound and then went back behind the plate before manager Terry Collins and assistant trainer Brian Chicklo came out of the dugout, prompting groans from the crowd. Syndergaard waved his glove in their direction as if to shoo them away, but after a meeting on the mound, he walked back to the dugout with Chicklo.
Syndergaard was throwing his sizzling fastball in the high-90s (mph) earlier in the game, but his first two heaters to Werth clocked 93 mph.
Seth Lugo relieved with New York trailing 3-0 and was given all the time he needed to warm up. The rookie right-hander tossed two hitless innings.
Cespedes and Syndergaard were both selected for the All-Star Game on Tuesday in San Diego.
Collins will manage the National League squad and said before Friday night’s game that Syndergaard would definitely pitch in the Midsummer Classic, a pledge that now seems likely to change.