Mets Notes: Ryan Helsley’s strong outing, outfield plan with Jose Siri back in the mix

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza provided some updates prior to Tuesday night's game against the Philadelphia Phillies…

CF plan with Siri's return

The Mets will receive a nice boost on Tuesday, as Jose Siri was activated from the IL.

Siri's been sidelined since mid-April, but he immediately slides into the lineup, batting ninth and playing center. 

The speedster is expected to take on the bulk of the playing time against left-handed pitching, but Jeff McNeil and the struggling Cedric Mullins will still be in the mix. 

“We’re going to play matchups,” Mendoza said. “Cedric has had some good numbers against lefties, but we’re going through a a rough stretch, and getting Siri back there’s a good chance he’ll hit lefties and Cedric will face some righties when we need.

“Jeff is in the conversation too, especially if I want to get an extra lefty in the lineup we’ll do it. So it’s really just playing the matchup, or playing the hot hand if you want to call it that, and we’ll go from there.”

Another strong defender could be jumping back into the mix soon too, as Mendoza said Tyrone Taylor is doing well in his recovery from a hamstring strain and could begin a rehab assignment as early as next week. 

A positive from Hells Bells

Things haven’t gone well for Ryan Helsley since joining the Mets, but the right-hander finally pieced together a strong outing on Monday. 

It was arguably his best appearance while donning the orange and blue. 

Helsley struck out two of the three batters he faced as he pieced together a perfect bottom of the eighth to keep it a 1-0 ballgame. 

The biggest change? Just one of the 15 pitches he threw were fastballs.

“It was a really good step in the right direction,” Mendoza said. “He needed that for his confidence, especially for the situation we put him in. We kept talking about putting him in low-leverage spots, and here we were in a one-run game in the eighth.

“I know he’s working really hard. For him to get the three outs and give the team a chance to get back in the game yesterday, I really liked what I saw.”

The team feels Helsley has cleaned up his tipping issues, now it comes down to execution.