But the Mets' day took a sour turn even before their 6-2 loss to the Washington Nationals when they learned that David Wright had sustained a small fracture to the pinkie on his right hand.Wright will not need surgery, and the finger will be placed in a split and re-evaluated on Wednesday. The team said he could resume baseball-related activities when he could tolerate the pain in his finger.
Wright was scratched from Tuesday's lineup shortly before the Mets took the field against the left-hander Ross Detwiler. Detwiler allowed only two hits in five shutout innings, and the Nationals cobbled together a three-run sixth inning to hand the Mets their first loss.
Jayson Werth went 4 for 5 and drove in two runs for the Nationals, who had 13 hits. Ian Desmond went 2 for 4 and led off the game with a home run.
Wright has been integral to the Mets' unexpectedly hot start, but he injured the finger, on his throwing hand, in the third inning of their 4-3 victory over the Nationals on Monday. Wright was hurt while sliding into first base to avoid being picked off. He wrapped the finger after Monday's game, but it swelled overnight. He wore a heavy wrap on his hand while speaking with reporters Tuesday.
"It would be very difficult to go out there and perform at even a decent level," Wright said. "I think anybody else they put out there today would be able to perform a lot better than I could. When I gripped the bat, I knew that it was going to be difficult."
The injury left the Mets with a piecemeal infield lineup. The veteran infielder Ronny Cedeno played third base in place of Wright, and Justin Turner was at first base instead of the slumping Ike Davis, who had been scheduled to have the day off.
Cedeno went 3 for 4 and drove in a run in the eighth inning while batting second. Daniel Murphy, who batted in Wright's No. 3 spot, went 0 for 4 and struck out twice.
The loss of Wright, for however long it may last, represented a troubling development for the Mets. Seeming to benefit from the new dimensions at the smaller Citi Field, Wright was hitting .583 with four runs batted in four games.
"I'm sure they can go out and win without me," Wright said, "but I'd hate to see a last-minute lineup adjustment and not being able run that same lineup out there. We've been having success, and like I said, I don't want to be the person that breaks that momentum."
The Mets' steam faded early on Tuesday when Dillon Gee gave up a leadoff home run to Desmond. Gee allowed seven more hits, giving up three earned runs and striking out six batters in five and a third innings.
The Mets' lineup lacked pop, perhaps in part because of the absence of Wright, who felt pain when he took swings in the batting cage. He taped the finger and put padding around his bat, but nothing worked.
Wright still lobbied Manager Terry Collins to play.
The Mets have grown accustomed to injuries in recent years, including those to Wright, Johan Santana, Jason Bay, Scott Hairston and Lucas Duda. After having routinely played 150-plus games each year, Wright has been banged up more recently. He missed 59 games last season with a stress fracture in his lower back and was sidelined for most of spring training this year with a torn abdominal muscle.
"He could play, if needed," Collins said. "We went through this last year where we lost him for three months. To have a day now I think is minor, and I need to make sure he's healthy for a long period of time.
Hopefully maybe he can play tomorrow."
That might be wishful thinking on Collins's part, however. The Mets struggled against Detwiler, who struck out six and walked one. The Mets scored a run each off Craig Stammen in the seventh and Tyler Clippard in the eighth.
That was not enough for the Mets to remain unbeaten. The Mets opened with four straight wins in 2007 and in 1973, when they went to the World Series.
But the pursuit of a Mets memory fell by the wayside. Perhaps more consequentially, Wright's finger provided a painful reminder of the franchise's all-too-familiar injury history, mixing ugly memories of the past with an unexpectedly auspicious present.
INSIDE PITCH
Ike Davis was not in the starting lineup because the Mets are being cautious about overexerting him. Davis is believed to have contracted valley fever, a fungal infection of the lungs. Davis struck out while pinch-hitting in the seventh inning, with two outs and runners on first and third. He is 0 for 16 for the season.
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