NEW YORK -- It was not lost on the Mets that a day after their powerful protest with the Marlins at Citi Field, Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson Day around the country. The Mets did not consider sitting out another game, as they felt Jackie Robinson Day provided the perfect forum for them to play while still representing their message.

“We’re definitely proud and honored to be playing baseball today,” manager Luis Rojas said, “and representing Jackie Robinson Day.”

Major League Baseball chose to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day, normally in April, on Aug. 28 for two reasons. It’s the anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, which the Robinson family attended, and it also is the date in 1945 when Robinson and Branch Rickey met to discuss his future as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In conjunction with the celebration, MLB announced a partnership extension with the JRF Scholarship Program, the Jackie Robinson Museum and the annual JRF ROBIE Awards. The extension is through 2023 and includes a $3.5 million commitment on behalf of MLB.

This year, Jackie Robinson Day also coincides with a time of particular social unrest following the police shootings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake and countless others. Mets players, in solidarity with others from MLB, the NBA, the NHL and other sports, decided to sit out a game this week in protest of police brutality around the country.

The Mets and Marlins staged a poignant walkout Thursday at Citi Field, holding a 42-second moment of silence in honor of Robinson and draping a Black Lives Matter T-shirt over home plate.

“I think it’s something Jackie Robinson would have been proud of,” Mets reliever Dellin Betances said.

Speaking Friday, Mets players made it clear that their actions cannot stop here. To that end, the team’s newly founded Department of Diversity, Opportunity, Inclusion and Training has created a three-part video series covering race and baseball, featuring interviews with former players Edgardo Alfonzo, Cleon Jones, Darryl Strawberry, Ron Swoboda and Mookie Wilson. Similar initiatives in the future, Betances said, will aid in the pursuit of change.

“I grew up in communities where 65 percent were African American, and just to see all the stuff that they’ve been going through for years and years, it seems like nothing has changed,” Betances said. “We’re just tired of everything that’s happened in the Black communities. It’s just sad. It could be any one of us going through that situation.”

Mets second baseman Robinson Canó believes education must happen for baseball players at a young age, so that by the time they reach the Majors, they are prepared to use their social platform for good.

“The way we can make a difference is by having conversations, educating the young kids, ourselves, keep having conversations like we’re having now with teammates,” Canó said. “No matter where you’re from and what country, who you are … treat everybody the same, with respect and kindness.”

Roster moves galore
The Mets made a flurry of roster moves both before and during their doubleheader against the Yankees on Friday. The team activated pitcher Michael Wacha, outfielder Jake Marisnick and infielder Andrés Giménez from the injured list, placed pitcher Corey Oswalt on the IL with right biceps tendinitis, optioned reliever Drew Smith to the alternate training site in Brooklyn, and designated outfielder Juan Lagares for assignment. Additionally, the Mets recalled catcher Patrick Mazeika from Brooklyn as their 29th man for the doubleheader.

Wacha, who had been on the IL since Aug. 8 due to right shoulder inflammation, started Game 1 of the doubleheader. Between games, the Mets activated rookie David Peterson (left shoulder inflammation) from the IL to start Game 2, designating Walker Lockett for assignment to clear roster space.

Giménez spent only three days on the IL for an undisclosed reason. He returned to the ballpark along with bench coach Hensley Meulens, who was also absent for an undisclosed reason. Catcher Tomás Nido and third-base coach Gary DiSarcina remained absent.

As for Oswalt, the pitcher began complaining of arm discomfort following his four-inning relief outing on Tuesday.

“The next day, he didn’t want to throw,” Rojas said.

Lagares, a longtime Met who returned to the team earlier this month, appeared in just two games in a reserve role. With fellow center fielders Billy Hamilton and Marisnick active, the Mets did not have much of a role for Lagares to remain on the team.

Of greater concern to the Mets was the DFA of Lockett, who pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win in Game 1 of the doubleheader, a 6-4 victory over the Yankees. The team has seven days to trade the 26-year-old Lockett, release him or place him on waivers; in any event, it is likely that the Mets will lose him to another organization.

Hey, I know you
Ten months after leaving the only professional organization he had known, Betances returned to Yankee Stadium on Friday eager to connect with some of his old teammates. Betances, a Yankee from 2011-19, said he still counts Yankees players Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, Gary Sánchez and Miguel Andújar among his close friends.

He also plans to do his best to get them out.

“Once you put on the uniform, you belong to the team, said Canó, who spent nine seasons with the Yankees before returning to face them as a member of the Mariners and Mets. “You don’t care who’s on the other side when you come to the line. You just want to win the game, no matter if you have your brother on the other side. You’re just going to go out and do the best you can.”

Player pool adds
The Mets added two players to their 60-man pool on Friday: outfielder Guillermo Heredia, whom they claimed off waivers from the Pirates, as well as fourth-ranked Mets prospect Brett Baty. Both players reported to the Mets' alternate training site in Brooklyn.

Heredia, 29, appeared in eight games for the Pirates this season, going 3-for-16 while playing center field and right field. He gives the Mets depth following the DFA of Lagares.

Baty, the Mets' first-round Draft pick in 2019, will now be able to receive live reps in the absence of a Minor League season. The move also makes him eligible to be included in trades prior to the Aug. 31 Deadline.