Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, Mets fans!

The second wave of Mets injuries is upon us. After nearly half the roster was wiped out between the beginning and middle of May, the Mets have now suffered a rash of injuries over the last couple days from Robert Gsellman and Jeurys Familia hitting the injured list to Joey Lucchesi officially needing Tommy John surgery. The latest are:

Late Tuesday night, minor league right-hander Tylor Megill was promptly called up to start Wednesday’s game.

It’s returning to “bleak” territory with regards to injuries, and Zack Scott and Sandy Alderson will likely be playing roster gymnastics once again over the next week or so.

Now let’s get into the morning briefing.

Latest Mets News

The Mets were shut out for the fourth time in eight games Tuesday as they lost 3-0 to the Braves. Read the recap here.

Michael Conforto was supposed to be activated for the game, but the Syracuse Mets had to postpone their game Tuesday because a player tested positive for COVID-19. That caused the Mets to be cautious with Conforto, but he tested negative, and he should be in the lineup Wednesday.

Dellin Betances‘ rehab moved from St. Lucie to Syracuse Tuesday, as MLB.com‘s Anthony DiComo points out. In three appearances with the St. Lucie Mets, the righty reliever had two solid outings (scoreless inning with two strikeouts each) and one terrible one (one out, five runs). Zack Scott said Betances could be back in another week or two.

In some more positive minors news, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies combined for a no-hitter Tuesday. Starter Josh Walker threw the first six hitless, but he had to come out of the game after fouling a bunt off his face. Andrew Mitchell finished the last three innings.

Jacob Resnick details a handful of Mets minor league transactions before Tuesday’s games got underway, including Matt Winaker making it to Triple-A Syracuse. He started the season in early May in High-A Brooklyn.

Latest MLB News

Wander Franco, the top prospect in baseball, made his major league debut Tuesday night. He walked in his first plate appearance and homered in his third one, because of course he did.

George Springer returned to the Blue Jays lineup Tuesday. It was just his fifth game of the season after dealing with oblique and quad issues.

Jacob deGrom became the first pitcher checked for substances after MLB introduced its substance-checking protocol on Monday. Max Scherzer was check during his outing Tuesday, and he (reasonably) did not like it. Then Phillies manager Joe Girardi asked the umpires to check Scherzer mid-inning, and he reacted pretty reasonably. Check it out:

https://twitter.com/MLBNetwork/status/1407504300872454145?s=20

Scherzer later showed his hat and glove to Girardi from his dugout, and Joe Girardi did not like it, and he was (reasonably) ejected.

Bryon Buxton was diagnosed with a fracture of his left hand after being hit by a pitch on Monday. Buxton, who was enjoying his best season so far, had just returned from a lengthy injured list stint with a hip issue. It was just his third game back.

Melanie Newman, a broadcaster for the Orioles, called the Rangers vs. A’s game on YouTube on Tuesday. It’s was a big deal.

Mickey Jannis, a knuckleballer who was in the Mets system from 2015 to 2019, was called to the major leagues by the Orioles. He also used to write a blog for Metsmerized about traveling through the minors as a pitcher who threw a knuckleball!

Minor league pitcher Dylan Cozens retired Tuesday in order to pursue a football career. He played defensive end in college, but he was drafted by the Phillies in 2012 out of high school and took the $660,000 signing bonus. The 27-year-old was going to play football for the Arizona Wildcats before being drafted, Wikipedia tells me. He played in the Phillies, Rays and Brewers organizations.

Latest on MMO

Dilip Sridhar looked at the four best pitching options for the Mets a little more than a month out from the trading deadline.

Matt Muscio notes how the Mets’ under-the-radar offseason moves have meant a lot to their success this season.

John Flanigan recapped the ins and outs of Zack Scott’s press conference Tuesday. He also dubbed Dominic Smith and David Peterson as Players of the Week.

John Jackson dug into Jacob deGrom‘s and Jerad Eickhoff‘s starts from Monday’s doubleheader.

Rich Sparago detailed some career accomplishments from Tom Seaver and John Franco that happened on past June 22nds.

Beyond the Blog

Locked On Mets: On today’s episode, host Ryan Finkelstein talks about Marcus Stroman’s injury last night and where the pitching staff goes from here as injuries continue to mount. Also is it time we stop making excuses for the Mets offense? Ryan discusses on today’s show.

On This Date in Mets History

Okay, so I’d never heard of this one.

On this day in 1963, former Met Jim Piersall hit his 100th home run. A wonderful milestone, especially in that day-and-age, and especially in his 12th season in the majors.

The late Piersall had spent most of his career with the Red Sox to that point. He made a couple All-Star teams and earned a couple Gold Gloves. He finished 13th in MVP voting 1961 with a .322/.378/.442 slash line. He’s giving me Brett Gardner without the stolen bases vibes.

So 100 home runs was important to Piersall. He allegedly told media members, according to the radio broadcast, that when he hit his 100th home run, he’d run the bases backward (like turned around–not third-second-first like my dumbass thought) because he believed there wasn’t enough hoopla around Duke Snider hitting his 400th career home run. Milestones matter, Piersall thought.

On June 23, 1963, after about 6000 plate appearances, Jimmy hit a ball down the right-field line at the Polo Grounds in the 5th inning. It went over the wall (so, like, 275 feet), and now Piersall had 100 home runs. Piersall kept his word and ran around the diamond ass-to-base.

The center fielder was met at home plate by Tim Harkness, and he was met with a boot to the ass by Casey Stengel a couple days later when he was cut from the team. He signed with the Los Angeles Angels a couple days later.

Let’s go Mets!