The ball went off Spencer Jones’ bat at 111.1 mph and ricocheted off Clay Holmes’ lower leg toward the first base foul line. At the time, as the Yankees rookie hustled down the line for a hit, Jones had no idea he’d broken Holmes’ fibula.
But he did recall this: “It sounded loud.”
After the game, a game in which Cam Schlittler dominated the Mets en route to a 5-2 win for the Yankees at Citi Field Friday night, Jones seemed surprised to see a crowd of reporters gather at his locker. He hadn’t heard the damage his liner had done to Holmes, not to mention the Mets’ season, and he seemed stunned when a reporter relayed the news to him.
It hit hard in part because Holmes is one of the good guys in the sport, one who has pitched for both the Mets and Yankees, and perhaps even more so because Jones considers him a friend, one with whom he works out in the offseason in Nashville.
“I didn’t know,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry to hear that. He’s a tough guy. He went back out there and pitched on a broken leg. That’s incredible.”
Indeed, that may be the most stunning part of all. Holmes not only pitched to five more hitters in the fourth inning, after the Jones liner, allowing no runs, but told Carlos Mendoza in the dugout he was fine and went back out for the fifth inning, striking out Cody Bellinger before showing signs of the fracture with his delivery that forced the manager to take him out of the game.
Mendoza seemed practically sick to his stomach as he announced the injury in the interview room, and didn’t try to downplay it in the slightest.
“It’s a huge blow,” he said.
There wasn’t much else to say. Only Juan Soto spoke in a group interview in the Mets clubhouse, and he’s not one to throw compliments around for sound bites, so when he praised Holmes as “one of the hardest workers I’ve seen in my career,” it told you much the pitcher’s teammates were feeling for him.
So on a night when much of the Subway Series buzz died quickly at Citi Field as quickly as the Yankees took an early 3-0 lead and Schlitter shut down the Mets’ offense, it was hard not to compare and contrast the sights and sounds from the two clubhouses, as well as the state of the Mets’ and Yankees’ seasons.
The Yankees room was full of noise, smiles, and good vibes after the win. They haven’t played well lately, but there’s no question this team knows it’s going to the postseason, with Ben Rice emerging as a masher to ride shotgun for Aaron Judge, and Schlittler continuing to make a statement as the early AL Cy Young Award favorite.
“It’s really something to watch him pitch,” Rice said.
On the other side, you got the sense that the shock of losing Holmes was settling in through the clubhouse.
Just when the Mets were finally showing signs of life, with the sweep of the Detroit Tigers this week, they lost the guy who has been their best pitcher this season, a dominant force in his own right.
In truth, it’s hard to see how they recover from this one, especially with all of their other injuries, considering there is no telling yet how soon the likes of Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert Jr. and others will be back.
As it is, their better play over the last couple of weeks was difficult to measure. For four straight series, the Mets played teams that were each in long losing streaks, playing their worst baseball of the season, and the 5-4 record on their nine-game road trip actually felt like a disappointment.
But then came the energy and hope that came with A.J. Ewing’s call-up, and the sweep of the Tigers finally offered evidence that perhaps the Mets aren’t as bad as they’ve played this season.
In that respect, this Subway Series loomed as a litmus test of sorts. The Yankees have been slumping themselves, but if the Mets could play well against them this weekend, it would validate the Tigers sweep to a degree and further their momentum.
Well, one game down, and maybe they can shrug it off to the brilliance of Schlittler, who is shutting everybody down this season.
They have two more games to prove they’ve raised their game against more hittable starters in Carlos Rodon and Ryan Weathers.
Yet suddenly it’s not just the offense that is the problem, but a starting rotation that has a huge hole in it, due to the Holmes injury.
Holmes, Nolan McLean, and Freddy Peralta were the only reliable starters for most of the first several weeks of the season. David Peterson has been better lately, but only when used after an opener, for whatever reason, in relatively short stints. And Christian Scott offers promise but plenty of uncertainty.
Even with Ewing and Carson Benge providing a spark, these Mets need pitching depth and a fair amount of dominance to have any chance of winning with the consistency it will take to get back into contention.
Soto, for one, didn’t want to believe the reality of the Holmes injury.
“We’re going to miss Clay for maybe a month,” he said. “Hopefully less.”
Nobody wanted to tell him a broken fibula likely means Holmes will miss three months or so.
By then, the trading deadline will have come and gone, and at the moment, that feels like a day that will be significant for these Mets for all the wrong reasons.
