Holmes sustains fractured fibula on 111.1 mph comebacker

NEW YORK -- A Mets team already decimated by injuries endured a nightmare scenario late Friday night, when the club learned that starting pitcher Clay Holmes suffered a fractured right fibula and will “be down for a long time,” according to manager Carlos Mendoza.

“It’s a huge blow,” Mendoza said. “He’s been one of the most consistent guys that we had in that rotation.”

Holmes was pitching in the fourth inning at Citi Field when Spencer Jones struck him on the right leg with a 111.1 mph comebacker. The right-hander stayed on his feet, even going as far as to jog after the ball, before receiving a visit from Mendoza and a trainer.

Even then, the concern did not immediately present itself. After a couple of warmup pitches, Holmes said he was fine and remained in the game, facing seven more hitters before departing.

“That’s the crazy part,” Mendoza said.

Only after Holmes exited in the fifth inning did he undergo X-rays, which revealed the break.

“We all know how tough he is,” teammate Juan Soto said. “He’s not going to come out that easy. When I saw him coming out of the game in the next inning is when I was thinking something was wrong.”

Holmes, 33, had been the Mets’ best pitcher over the first seven weeks of the season, producing a 2.39 ERA over nine starts. He allowed four runs Friday in a 5-2 loss to the Yankees, doubling his previous season high. Of those, three occurred before Holmes fractured his leg.

“I could tell he was hurt, and he’s not a guy that’s showing it a lot or trying not to show it, but you could tell it got him good,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who oversaw Holmes from 2021-24 in the Bronx. “Even watching him move off the mound when he was walking off, I know it didn’t look that great.”

Jones, a rookie who worked out with Holmes over the offseason, apologized after the game, calling him “a friend.”

It was unclear late Friday night how much time Holmes might miss. Most broken bones require at least six weeks to heal, which would take him into late June. Given that the break is in Holmes’ push-off leg, his recovery could be complicated. The location of the fracture also matters. Mets officials will know more in the coming days.

In the interim, they must brace for at least a weeks-long absence for a pitcher who had become their most reliable rotation arm. Not only are he and Nolan McLean the only Mets starters to pitch into the seventh inning this season, but Holmes has done it three times.

“It sucks,” said rotation-mate David Peterson. “You never want to see someone go through something like that. To know that we’re going to be without him for a while, it’s tough. He’s pitched his ass off this year, and he’s been one of, if not our best player of the entire season. You feel for him, first off, not being able to be on the field. And then obviously the impact on the team.”

Without Holmes, the Mets will proceed over the next four days with a rotation of Peterson, Freddy Peralta, Christian Scott and McLean. The most obvious candidate to take Holmes’ place is fifth-ranked prospect Jack Wenninger, a 24-year-old right-hander who has produced a 1.08 ERA over seven starts at Triple-A Syracuse. But Wenninger has also walked 18 batters over 33 1/3 innings, suggesting the need for some further development.

Other candidates include Tobias Myers, who is not stretched out after spending the first seven weeks of the season in the bullpen, and No. 2 prospect Jonah Tong, who has a 5.68 ERA over nine starts at Syracuse, including a seven-run blowup in his most recent outing. None of them is a perfect solution.

Given his early-season run of success, Holmes was, in some sense, irreplaceable. But the Mets don’t have any choice. They must replace him.

“It’s tough. Clay is… one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen in my career,” Soto said. “It’s really sad what happened to him, but it’s part of the game. We’re going to support him. We’re going to be right there for him in any kind of way that he needs us. But it just sucks.”