Matt Harvey asked Mets to revise innings limit plan

AP Photo/Alex Brandon
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Matt Harvey pitched into the seventh inning Saturday in Cincinnati to help the Mets beat the Reds and claim their first National League East title since 2006. It was a surprisingly lengthy outing from the 26-year-old right-hander, who’s been the subject of a very public and drawn out workload controversy throughout September.

He got lifted after five innings of scoreless, one-hit ball last Sunday in an eventual loss to the Yankees, and that didn’t sit well with anybody. Harvey included.

John Harper of the New York Daily News digs deeper into why and how the plan changed

Terry Collins was in the outfield during batting practice at Citi Field last Tuesday when Matt Harvey approached him and said, “I need to talk to you.”

“The way he said it,’’ the Mets’ manager recalled, “I knew something was eating at him.”

As it turned out, that was the start of a new Harvey plan, prescribed not by Scott Boras but by the Mets’ pitcher himself.

“I think Matt got frustrated by what happened in the Yankee game,” Collins told the Daily News late Saturday. “He got caught in the middle of this thing, and I’ve said all along that he’s a good teammate, but some guys in that clubhouse got turned off by it. And I can understand that.”

So apparently the reins are off. Or have at least been loosened.

Harvey will now prepare to face the Dodgers in the NLDS.

MLB homer leader Pete Alonso to IL with bone bruise, sprain in wrist

pete alonso
Dale Zanine/USA TODAY Sports
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PITTSBURGH — The New York Mets will have to dig out of an early-season hole without star first baseman Pete Alonso.

The leading home run hitter in the majors will miss three-to-four weeks with a bone bruise and a sprain in his left wrist.

The Mets placed Alonso on the 10-day injured list Friday, retroactive to June 8. Alonso was hit in the wrist by a 96 mph fastball from Charlie Morton in the first inning of a 7-5 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Alonso traveled to New York for testing on Thursday. X-rays revealed no broken bones, but the Mets will be missing one of the premier power hitters in the game as they try to work their way back into contention in the NL East.

“We got better news than it could have been,” New York manager Buck Showalter said. “So we take that as a positive. It could have been worse.”

New York had lost six straight heading into a three-game series at Pittsburgh that began Friday. Mark Canha started at first for the Mets in the opener. Mark Vientos could also be an option, though Showalter said the coaching staff may have to use its “imagination” in thinking of ways to get by without Alonso.

“I’m not going to say someone has to step up and all that stuff,” Showalter said. “You’ve just got to be who you are.”

Even with Alonso in the lineup, the Mets have struggled to score consistently. New York is 16th in the majors in runs scored.

The team also said Friday that reliever Edwin Uceta had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Uceta initially went on the IL in April with what the team called a sprained left ankle. He is expected to be out for at least an additional eight weeks.

New York recalled infielder Luis Guillorme and left-handed reliever Zach Muckenhirn from Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets sent catcher Tomás Nido to Triple-A and designated reliever Stephen Nogosek for assignment.

Nogosek is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 13 games this season.