SAN FRANCISCO — Travis d’Arnaud’s stay in the minors might not be brief, but the Mets have hardly given up on the catcher.
A day after the struggling d’Arnaud was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas, manager Terry Collins said the Mets made the move to keep the rookie from falling into a deep abyss from which he might never emerge.
“He’s a young player still learning, trying to get better,” Collins said before the Mets lost 6-4 to the Giants. “You weighed the factors of ‘Is he getting something out of this or is it hurting him in the long run?’ ”
D’Arnaud was in a 3-for-26 (.115) drought since his return on May 29 from a concussion. Overall, he was hitting .180 with three homers and nine RBIs in 128 at-bats this season.
“One of the things we saw is he tried to make adjustments daily. That’s hard to do,” Collins said. “In this market, it’s hard to do. There’s not a lot of room for forgiveness here. That’s what I told him: ‘As hard as you’re working and as bright as your future is, it’s hard to get it going here.’ ”
Taylor Teagarden arrived from Las Vegas and will share the catching duties with Anthony Recker, according to Collins.
Teagarden had an opt-out in his contract if he hadn’t been placed on the major league roster by June 15.
David Wright tried to talk his way into the lineup, but Collins rested the third baseman with the belief skipping Sunday and Monday’s scheduled day off would be beneficial for Wright, who had previously started every game this season.
Eric Campbell started at third base and finished 2-for-4. Wright entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and struck out.
Curtis Granderson’s “splash hit” into McCovey Cove in the sixth inning was the first by a Mets player since Carlos Delgado reached the water on May 9, 2007 against Matt Morris. Cliff Floyd is the only other Met with a “splash hit.”