Mets notes: Injury updates, Senga’s staying power, stolen bases

MINNEAPOLIS — The Mets are on the mend.

Infielder Luis Guillorme (right calf strain) played Friday night with High-A Brooklyn and the reports were positive. Guillorme is expected to rejoin the big league team before the season ends Oct. 1.

The Mets have also not ruled out a return for outfielder Starling Marte (right groin strain). Manager Buck Showalter said the club has been encouraged by the progress he has made with trainers in his goal of strengthening the groin and core. Marte is swinging and running, though not at full speed.

“That’s going well,” Showalter said Saturday at Target Field. “He took some swings and he ran and had a high percentage based on the way they gauge it based on the numbers and tracking miles-per-hour and everything.”

However, a return for Marte is still not close.

DJ Stewart returned to the Mets lineup Saturday for the second game of a three-game set against the Minnesota Twins. The outfielder has been dealing with an oblique issue of some sort over the last week and has been on the bench.

Stewart has helped the Mets remain competitive throughout this post-trade deadline stretch of games. He’s had a monster stretch over his last 17 games with 10 home runs and an OPS over 1.000. Stewart has contributed in wins over tough opponents and contributed when the Mets were looking for a spark. Saturday in Minnesota, he hit his 11th home run of the season in the eighth inning with the Mets trying to claw back from a four-run deficit.

Stewart was called up from Triple-A Syracuse on July 4 and wasn’t expected to play much at the time, with the Mets still trying to chase a playoff spot. But once they dealt Tommy Pham and Marte went on the injured list, it opened up a path for Stewart.

Getting Stewart back will give the Mets a chance to get an extended look at him heading into the offseason. If this turns out to be a sustainable streak, then the Mets may have a nice bench piece on their hands next season. But Stewart is 29 and has never hit like this in the past, so it’s still unclear.

“Nobody really knows,” Showalter said. “But I’ve said a lot of times that I’ve seen a lot of guys around 27-29 starting to figure it out. If they’re true to their trade and they really have that want-to, they’ll figure it out.”

Senga Genesis

Seattle Mariners right-hander Joseph Kirby had some interesting comments about his usage in Tampa Bay on Friday night. The 25-year-old complained that he should have been taken out of a game against the Rays after six innings. Kirby had thrown 93 pitches and helped Seattle to a 4-2 lead heading into the seventh, but then gave up the game-tying homer on his 103rd pitch of the game.

That would be his final pitch, and he lamented the fact that he had to throw that many.

“I wish I wasn’t out there for the seventh, to be honest,” Kirby told reporters. “I was at 90 pitches. I didn’t think I needed to go any more. But it is what it is.”

This comment was not well-received. It made ripples across baseball with several Mets comparing that sentiment with the one that right-hander Kodai Senga expressed after he went six innings Friday against the Twins.

The Mets were proud that Senga was able to gut it out on a night where he didn’t have his best stuff.

“Just because I don’t feel good or I’m not feeling my best, it doesn’t mean I just fold and give up the game,” Senga said through translator Hiro Fujiwara on Friday night. “I’m given four or five days to prepare for this game and I think it’s my job to stay out there and make the game winnable. I take pride in that, yeah.”

Kirby apologized to manager Scott Servais on Saturday and walked back his comments.

Securing the bag

More than 3,000 stolen bases have been recorded this season across the league, a number that hasn’t been met since 2012. The league implemented several rule changes this year to encourage more action on the basepaths, including introducing bigger bases. They seem to be having the intended effect.

The Mets are right in the middle of the league when it comes to stolen bases, with 103 total this season. They had hoped to use these new rules to their advantage at the start of the season, but then Tim Locastro was injured and Starling Marte played hurt all season. Brandon Nimmo had previously said he wanted to steal more bases this season but he hasn’t even attempted one in months.

Expect the Mets to bring more speed next season as the game continues to encourage more stolen base attempts.