ATLANTA — Pete Alonso got booed in the first inning Wednesday against the Braves for a taunt that had been caught on mic the previous night, but that was hardly the worst part of his at-bat.
The Mets’ first baseman was drilled in the left wrist by a 97 mph fastball from Braves right-hander Charlie Morton and left the game after examination by the trainer.
X-rays were negative, leaving Alonso’s status as day-to-day with a wrist contusion.
Tommy Pham took Alonso’s spot in the batting order and Mark Canha moved from left field to first base.
Alonso, the MLB leader in homers with 22 entering play, is the most irreplaceable piece of a Mets lineup that lacks another genuine power threat.
The Mets had a similar injury scare with Alonso last June, when he was drilled in the wrist by a pitch from the Padres’ Yu Darvish.
But Alonso avoided the injured list, returning to the lineup after missing only one game.
Most notably, the Mets lost Starling Marte for the final month of the regular season last year after he was hit by a pitch and was diagnosed with a fractured right middle finger.
On Tuesday night, Alonso was heard on a dugout microphone taunting Braves pitcher Bryce Elder after the Mets slugger had homered on a hanging slider in the third inning.
“Throw it again, please!” Alonso yelled toward the pitcher.
Manager Buck Showalter had considered flip-flopping his Nos. 2 and 3 hitters in the Mets batting order for “a while,” but wasn’t enamored with the idea of two lefties — Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil — atop the lineup.
Wednesday, Showalter finally made the switch, moving McNeil to second in the lineup and Francisco Lindor to third. Neither player has flourished lately, but Lindor homered a night earlier, and there was thought that perhaps moving up McNeil to hit behind Nimmo would give McNeil better pitches to hit.
McNeil entered play in a 7-for-34 (.206) slump and his OPS for the season had dropped to .702 – the lowest it has been since the early days of the season.
Over his past 11 games entering play, Pham was 9-for-26 (.346) with two homers and a 1.164 OPS.