Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil both played minor league rehab games Sunday and are due to be at Citi Field on Monday to be reevaluated.
After that, they are likely to continue to get minor league at-bats before returning to the Mets, according to Carlos Mendoza.
Alvarez, sidelined since spring training with a fractured hamate bone in his left hand, is finished with the medically mandated portion of his rehab assignment and went 1-for-5 as the DH on Sunday with Double-A Binghamton.
Mendoza said Alvarez might get some at-bats at Triple-A Syracuse to make sure his timing is right at the plate.
McNeil, out with an oblique injury, played the second of back-to-back games with Binghamton on Sunday and had four hits, including a homer and a double.
The Mets have been without both starters since they went down with injuries during spring training, but they have received stellar performances from Luis Torrens behind the plate and Luisangel Acuña has been good at second base.
Acuña had two hits in Sunday’s 7-4 win over the Cardinals, extending his hitting streak to eight games.
“He’s like having another leadoff guy down there [in the lineup],’’ Francisco Lindor said of Acuña, who batted sixth on Sunday and scored an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth.
Mark Vientos was unavailable for Sunday’s win after leaving Saturday’s victory with a groin injury, but the third baseman said he was feeling better and might be able to come off the bench Monday for the series opener against the Phillies.
He expects to get more treatment Monday and test himself both with swings and at third prior to the game.
Without Vientos on Sunday, Brett Baty started at third and was held hitless, although he reached base on a catcher’s interference in the fourth.
Lindor celebrated after reaching base on an infield hit in the seventh, a nubber just in front of the plate with one out in the inning.
Asked about the reaction, the switch-hitting shortstop noted it was his first hit from the right side of the plate this season.
He had entered the game 0-for-13 against lefties.
“They were throwing a no-hitter against me from the right side,’’ Lindor joked. “Now I don’t have a zero on that side. They say hits come in bunches. We’ll see what happens. At least there’s one on the board.”
Before Brandon Nimmo came through with a key RBI hit Sunday, Mendoza said he was confident the left fielder was going to break out of his recent slump.
“I thought at some point on the road trip, he was a little too aggressive and going out there and swinging at a lot of first pitches, which is intentional,” Mendoza said. “We went into some of those games with a game plan of attacking the pitching staffs and we didn’t get results as a whole, Nimmo included. But I like where he’s at, especially the past couple of games …”
Mendoza said Paul Blackburn came out of his rehab outing with Class-A Brooklyn fine on Saturday. He is on the 15-day IL with right knee inflammation.
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