Mets slugger Juan Soto leaves game against Cubs with back tightness

NEW YORK (AP) — Mets slugger Juan Soto was removed from Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs because of back tightness.

Soto appeared to grimace when he flied out in the first inning. He flied out again in the third and was replaced in left field in the top of the fifth with New York trailing 7-2. Jared Young moved from first base to left field, and Mark Vientos entered at first in Soto’s third spot in the batting order.

In the bottom of the sixth, the last-place Mets announced Soto left with tightness on the left side of his back.

“Back locked up there. So, he’s day-to-day. We’ll see where we’re at. He got treatment during the game, but he got to a point there, you could tell something was off,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after his team’s 9-6 defeat.

“He was making some faces there and obviously I checked with him and he got to a point where it was like, it was bothering him to throw and then to just get his A swing on it. So at that point, I thought it was just best to get him out of the game and have the trainers look at him.”

Soto, a four-time All-Star and six-time Silver Slugger award winner, began the night batting .301 with 17 homers, 38 RBIs and a .974 OPS. He spent time on the injured list in April with a calf strain.

In other injury-related news, star shortstop Francisco Lindor (left calf strain) had two hits and scored twice in a rehab game with Triple-A Syracuse. A decision is expected Wednesday on whether to reinstate him from the injured list or wait a little longer.

In the same game with Syracuse, outfielder Tyrone Taylor (right hip flexor strain) went 3 for 5 with a homer, a double and three runs against Lehigh Valley. Switch-hitting infielder Ronny Mauricio (broken left thumb) had two hits and three RBIs.

New York expects right-hander Christian Scott (right hip impingement) to come off the injured list this weekend and start Saturday or Sunday against Philadelphia.

And the Mets claimed outfielder Jared Oliva off waivers from the San Francisco Giants and optioned him to Syracuse.

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