The Mets’ bullpen took two punches to the gut Friday, when red-hot reliever Josh Edgin was placed on the disabled list with a rib stress fracture, and closer Bobby Parnell was ruled out until at least tomorrow with a neck issue — and in all likelihood will be unavailable until after he is reexamined Monday.
Edgin is expected to miss four to six weeks. Pedro Feliciano was called up to replace him on the roster.
“It caught me off guard [yesterday] morning,” Edgin said before the Mets beat the Royals 4-2 in 11 innings Friday night at Citi Field to open a six-game homestand. “I was thinking, ‘All right, just take a couple days and get it healed back up.’ I guess I found out otherwise.”
Edgin said he first felt discomfort when he pitched in consecutive games in Pittsburgh on July 12 and 13. But it wasn’t until Monday’s outing against the Marlins he became concerned and an MRI exam was scheduled.
“When I threw in Miami the second game there it hurt a little more after than it usually did,” Edgin said. “That’s when we said, ‘All right, let’s go ahead with the MRI and make sure it’s nothing serious.’
“Come to find out that’s what it was. … They said just time, no real time table. They don’t know exactly how long. I’ve heard four weeks, I’ve heard six weeks. You don’t know how long it’s going to take a bone to heal.’’
The injury is a stress fracture in his eighth rib on his left side, revealed in an MRI exam yesterday that left Edgin somewhat surprised.
“We started off thinking it was an intercostal strain. Once we got the MRI they found different results,’’ said Edgin, whose sterling 0.93 ERA in 23 outings since being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas made the news all the more vexing.
“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “I was starting to get on a roll there, throw like how I know how to throw, starting to figure out some things mechanically. It happens, I guess.”
Edgin has stranded 18-of -22 inherited runners, eighth-best in the NL.
“I started feeling it when I threw in Pittsburgh. I had a little pull in my side. I was pitching well so I wanted to keep going. At this level, you’ve got to pitch through injury sometimes … well, not knowing that I was injured. It just progressed, got a little worse the other day and we said, ‘Let’s check this out.’ We checked it out, and that’s what happened.
“Until the other day it was fine. It wasn’t even when I was pitching — it was when I was coming down off that adrenaline rush that you’d feel it. Then the other day, I don’t know what happened. After I threw in Miami, that’s when we took notice to it, went to get an MRI scheduled.’’
As if losing Edgin for a significant period weren’t enough of a blow, the Mets are still without Parnell, who has been suffering from a neck issue and has not pitched since Tuesdayin Miami.
“Bobby has seen a doctor [and] he has gotten some medication to quiet this area down, see if we can get those muscles to relax a little bit,’’ manager Terry Collins said. “He’ll be reexamined on Monday and see how he is.’’
When asked if he expected Parnell — who has 22 saves and a 2.16 ERA — to be available before then, Collins shrugged and said, “We don’t know. He’s not available … Saturday. Maybe Sunday.’’
Until Parnell is ready, Collins said the Mets will use David Aardsma as the closer and leave LaTroy Hawkins in an eighth-inning role.
“Aardsma has closed in the past, so we’ll probably use him right now, and leave Hawk where he is. He’s done such a good job in the eighth inning.’’
The Mets purchased Feliciano’s contract from Las Vegas. The 30-year-old lefty was 0-0 with one save and a 1.29 ERA in Single, Double and Triple-A this year, but hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2010.