Lagares exits with hyperextended right elbow
Center fielder aggravates old injury, will be evaluated Wednesday
NEW YORK -- Juan Lagares exited the Mets' 9-1 win over the Marlins on Tuesday in the top of the fifth inning with what the team announced as a hyperextended right elbow. Kirk Nieuwenhuis entered the game, playing center and batting leadoff.
Lagares injured his right arm on a throw in the fourth inning. After a bad read on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia line drive to center, Lagares fielded the ball on a short hop and wound up firing to second to force out Garrett Jones.
The play aggravated an injury that Lagares initially felt when the team played in Cincinnati earlier this month. He did not miss any time then.
"[Lagares] did it one other time in Cincinnati. A couple days later he was fine. It hasn't bothered him since. Today he had a stinger," manager Terry Collins said. "Because of that, and because of the way he described it, [we] thought it was maybe more than just hyperextended -- you worry about the nerve or something. We'll have him looked at [Wednesday]. The doctors right now don't think it's anything real serious."
Lagares, who said he will probably get an MRI on Wednesday, noted after the game that he felt better then than he did in the fifth inning.
"I want to … get checked to make sure," Lagares said. "Let's see tomorrow [after] I talk to the doctor."
Lagares finished the game 0-for-2. He popped out in the first and grounded out in the third.