Starling Marte won’t be back with the Mets for a while.
The outfielder was diagnosed with a deep bone bruise in his right knee and placed on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday, and manager Carlos Mendoza said Marte would not do baseball activities for two weeks, meaning he’d be out for a month.
It’s a blow to the Mets and the 35-year-old Marte, who was in the midst of one of his best stretches of the season.
“It’s a big loss for us,’’ Mendoza said. “But we feel good with what we have in here.”
Before leaving Saturday’s game against the Cubs in Chicago with knee discomfort, Marte had an OPS of .937 in his previous 15 games, since May 29.
To take his spot on the roster, the Mets selected ex-Yankee prospect Ben Gamel from Triple-A Syracuse, but with Gerrit Cole on the mound for the Yankees in the Subway Series opener Tuesday at Citi Field, Tyrone Taylor started in right.
Mendoza said the team would be without Marte for at least four weeks, and he would rely on Taylor, DJ Stewart, Gamel and Jeff McNeil, if needed.
None will be as productive as Marte when he’s playing well — which he has at times after an ugly 2023 season, when he missed most of the second half due to migraines and groin discomfort.
Marte’s play in the outfield this season has not been good, perhaps due in part to the knee injury, which he indicated has bothered him for several weeks. He’s scheduled to be examined again in two weeks to determine if he’s ready to begin baseball activities again.
How he exactly got the injury remains something of a mystery.
“That’s a good question,’’ Mendoza said.
The manager said he asked Marte if there was one play in particular when he might have suffered the bruise and pointed to a play at Washington when Marte went after a ball, went back to his position and “felt something.”
“We’ve been very careful with him, giving him days off,’’ Mendoza said. “It got to a point Friday, after the game we talked about him needing a couple games and he said he wanted to be in there.”
But after taking his first at-bat Saturday, Mendoza knew a move needed to be made.
“Something didn’t look right, and he came out,’’ Mendoza said.
The Mets will also be playing a man short while closer Edwin Diaz serves his 10-game suspension for using a sticky substance, a ban that began Tuesday.