NEW YORK -- The Mets placed Marcus Semien on the 10-day injured list with a left hip flexor strain on Thursday before the series finale against the Cubs at Citi Field. In a corresponding move, the club recalled infielder Ronny Mauricio from Triple-A Syracuse, as well as right-hander Daniel Duarte after it traded lefty David Peterson to the Cubs.
Prior to Thursday’s game, manager Carlos Mendoza said that Semien had been experiencing this issue for a number of weeks. The injury seemed to be dealt with through treatment in the first couple of days, but in the past 10 days, the pain had persisted to something that Semien needed to manage and play through.
“It’s a tough one there. This is something he has been battling for weeks now,” Mendoza said. “It goes to show you this guy is [as] tough as it comes. He continues to put the team first, he sacrificed a lot.”
Semien first reported more pain during his first at-bat in the second inning of Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader sweep, when he grounded into a double play. But according to Mendoza, his mobility during the club’s error-filled loss in the second game was the red flag that caused them to get him an MRI, which revealed the strain.
“In that last game … you could tell,” Mendoza said. “When he was going after the pop fly balls, he got there, but you could tell. The ball to his left, and then there was a take where he pointed [at his hip], and I was like, ‘Something’s obviously not right.’”
The immediate plans for the second-base position, where Semien had started 80 games for the Mets, involve Brett Baty (who started on Thursday in the No. 9 spot) and the newly elevated Mauricio (who started at shortstop in the No. 7 spot for a resting Francisco Lindor). Semien, who is slashing .214/.271/.341 this season, is considered to be “week to week,” with the club letting rest and treatment be the primary mode of recovery until the injury dies down.