Jacob deGrom scratched from start vs. Cardinals with inflammation in right lat, avoids injured list

Jacob deGrom was scratched from his start Tuesday against the Cardinals with right side tightness. Hours later, an MRI revealed inflammation in his right lat.

Encouragingly, the Mets did not place deGrom on the 10-day injured list. He was advised to “refrain from throwing for the next few days,” a team statement said, which means the Mets are hopeful deGrom can return to the mound relatively soon, maybe even this weekend.

“Next few days no throwing,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said. “He’s getting treatment here right now. He’s going to be able to maybe throw a side and that will determine when his next start is going to be.”

DeGrom started feeling the tightness a couple of days ago, per a source. The Mets wanted to limit his workload in response, then Tuesday morning when the tightness didn’t get any better, they scratched him from his sixth outing of the year.

“I saw him before coming to the field and he was stretching, trying to feel his right side a little bit and that’s when we started discussing whether he was going to start or not,” Rojas said on Tuesday.

Right-handed reliever Miguel Castro was scheduled to start in place of deGrom. Pitcher Jordan Yamamoto, who started the year at the alternate site and joined the Triple-A Syracuse Mets, was scheduled to start for the minor-league affiliate’s season opener on Tuesday. In response to deGrom’s injury, Yamamoto was scratched from his Syracuse start and called up to the big-league roster. Right-hander Sean-Reid Foley was optioned to Triple-A as the corresponding move.

DeGrom entered May with an MLB-best 0.51 ERA through five starts and 35 innings.

His start this week was originally pushed back from Monday, on a normal five days of rest, to Tuesday, on an extra day of rest. It was the second time this season the Mets pushed deGrom’s start back one day. DeGrom also pitched on six days of rest against the Nationals on April 23, when he threw a complete-game shutout with a career-high 15 strikeouts and a 2-for-4 day at the plate.

Rojas maintained the decision to push his start back one day this week, from Monday to Tuesday, had nothing to do with his recent side tightness. The manager said he learned about deGrom’s discomfort on Tuesday.

“The times that we’ve pushed him is just because it’s been precautionary, thinking of the long run more than anything,” Rojas said. “It’s nothing that had to do with this.”