Mets' Francisco Alvarez homers, hit in injured hand during rehab game

Alvarez flexed the injured left hand and was looked at by a trainer as he walked to first base, but stayed in the game to run the bases and catch the bottom half of the sixth. He was then replaced behind the plate in the bottom of the seventh.

It is encouraging that Alvarez was able to finish out the inning, but terribly unlucky to have this scare just a week into his rehab assignment. Aside from this unfortunate moment, Alvarez looked to be back to his former self: with two strikes in the top of the third, the righty turned on a hanging breaking ball and smashed a no-doubter over the left field fence.

Alvarez's swing has looked uncompromised after surgery and if Tuesday's hit-by-pitch proves to be nothing serious, the young slugger should see his way back into the major league lineup shortly. Nonetheless, it wouldn't be shocking if Alvarez's return is delayed once an update on the severity of the incident is provided. The Mets have been committed to taking their injured guys along slowly, and it's fairly common for rehabbing players to exit early without any re-injury.

For now, New York will continue to lean on Luis Torrens and Hayden Senger, who have both been reliable in Alvarez's stead. Torrens in particular has done an excellent job as the Mets' starting catcher, hitting .289/.325/.500 with six extra-base hits while throwing out four baserunners on seven stolen base attempts.