Mets’ Francisco Lindor still thinks he’s day-to-day despite not playing Saturday

Unavailable on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies a day after feeling lower back soreness and getting removed from the game, Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor still believes his injury is not a long-term issue and that he will be available for the stretch run of the regular season.

While nothing is confirmed yet, Lindor said after the 6-4 loss to the Phillies that his back already feels better thanks to treatment from the trainers and that hopefully on Sunday he wakes up and is good to go to help his team.

“I definitely feel better today than I did last night so I truly believe it’s a day-to-day type thing,” Lindor said. “[Manager Carlos Mendoza] made the decision to give me a full day off and I respect it and I was on the same page with him. So hopefully tomorrow I wake up and I’m in a much better position to come out and be available for the team.”

The decision not to play Lindor, even in a pinch-hitting role late in the game, caused the shortstop to miss his first full game of the season – ending his chance at becoming the second Met in history to play in every game of a 162-game season. It also broke his streak of 193 consecutive games played.

It wasn’t for a lack of trying on Lindor’s part, though.

“I felt like I tried,” he said. “I got up early, I tried to do whatever I had to do. The trainers worked extremely hard. But I felt like it was gonna be a little unfair to let Mendy know for the guy who was gonna play an hour and a half before game time. I was trying to give him the most time that I could to make a decision. I went to the cage and the time just kept getting closer and closer and that’s when the decision became a little easier to say ‘hey Mendy, make sure you have someone ready for game time’.”

That someone ended up being Luisangel Acuña who was called up from Triple-A Syracuse earlier in the day and made his MLB debut, playing shortstop and batting ninth.

The top prospect had an auspicious start to his career as the 22-year-old finished 2-for-4, including a leadoff single in the ninth inning off Phillies closer Carlos Estevez as the Mets tried to mount a comeback down by two runs.

“I thought he had a really good game,” Mendoza said about Acuña. “That last at-bat against a pretty good closer was pretty impressive. It was good to see him fight and put a good swing and get us going in the ninth. I thought the at-bats overall were really good. I thought he slowed the game down, so I thought he was good.”

Lindor also praised the youngster for his performance, but he wasn’t surprised.

“He looks very relaxed,” Lindor said. “He had the same demeanor in spring training. Ever since I met him I think that’s just gonna be who he is, even-keeled. He looked fantastic today… There’s no limit for him and hopefully he continues to get better.”

Whether Acuña will be back out there on Sunday (either at shortstop, second base or even center field) remains to be seen and likely hinges on how Lindor feels in the morning.

But no matter how impressive of a debut it was for Acuña, having Lindor back in the lineup gives New York the best chance to win which is crucial for the Mets who need every win they can get at this point of the season.

“Of course every time you don’t have Lindor in the lineup you’re gonna have a different lineup, but I feel like we scored runs today,” said right-hander Luis Severino, who got the no-decision after six strong innings but allowed two home runs to Bryce Harper. “The guys gave us a chance to win the game today, but [the Phillies have] a good lineup and they’re gonna fight until the end.”

New York will now need to win the rubber game on Sunday to take the series and win their eighth series out of their last nine (they split a four-game set against the San Diego Padres) to hold serve in the NL Wild Card race.

At the very least, giving Lindor a full day off on Saturday can only help in him returning to the field as soon as possible to help his team do so.

For now, Mendoza said “we’ll see” on his shortstop’s availability for Sunday.

“Obviously we want to win every game,” said reliever Reed Garrett, who surrendered the game-winning, two-run double to Cal Stevenson in the seventh inning. “I don’t think [this loss is] gonna detract from anything going forward. We all believe in ourselves and we all believe in what we can accomplish so I think that’s the biggest thing. Tomorrow’s a new day so let’s go out and go 1-0 tomorrow.”