HOUSTON — One night after a foul pitch to the hand, catcher Francisco Alvarez is back in the Mets’ lineup. The club was extremely relieved to learn they wouldn’t lose one of their best hitters for an extended period of time, especially since Pete Alonso just missed a week with a wrist injury that occurred when he was hit with a fastball.
“I had him show me his hands, I was looking at them between innings,” manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday at Minute Maid Park. “It’s hard to tell what looks swollen on him. His hands are very meaty, to say the least. But it looks like we dodged one there.”
Alvarez had his throwing hand in front of him when Martin Maldonado fouled off a pitch that hit him right between his thumb and index finger Monday night in the first game of a three-game series against the Houston Astros. He remained in the game, though clearly in some discomfort, and X-rays were negative.
The injury looked serious upon impact.
“It was really hard because I don’t have any protection on the hand,” he said through a translator. “It hit me flesh on the hand. From the initial impact, it hit me hard.”
Alvarez expected to undergo further testing, but the swelling was minimal even following the game and he didn’t feel discomfort when swinging the bat. The Mets gave him the OK to play Tuesday. The Mets were already planning to sit him Wednesday and Thursday in favor of Omar Narvaez, so should he aggravate the injury in the game, any pain and swelling will have a chance to subside.
However, the Mets don’t anticipate any aggravation. They’ll continue to monitor their 21-year-old rookie sensation, but he got through batting practice without any incident.
“They felt pretty confident about what they saw there and that there was no need for it,” Showalter said.
Other than Alonso’s injury, the Mets have been relatively lucky health-wise as of late. There was a rash of early-season pitching injuries and Max Scherzer has needed extra days off to work out things like neck spasms, but he was able to avoid an injured list stint. Left-hander Jose Quintana appears to be on schedule to return after his spring bone graft surgery, Alonso returned at least two weeks ahead of his projected timeline and the Mets are getting some Triple-A pitching depth restored as well.
Stephen Ridings, an oft-injured former Yankees reliever, came off the injured list and was sent to Triple-A Syracuse over the weekend. Ridings, a big righty from Long Island, hasn’t pitched since 2021 because of a shoulder impingement.
MLB released an updated tally of All-Star Game votes. In Phase 1, first baseman Pete Alonso is now in third place behind Atlanta’s Matt Olson and Los Angeles’ Freddie Freeman. Voting for Phase 1 will end Thursday at noon ET. Fans can submit up to five ballots per day on MLB platforms during this first round of voting. MLB Network will reveal the top two vote-getters at each position in the two leagues Thursday night. Those candidates will advance to the Phase 2 to determine who starts for each league when the All-Star Game is held July 11 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
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