MLB

Mets injuries force infield shuffle

(
)

David Wright said he would have enjoyed playing his first game at shortstop “probably since high school” if the Mets had a big lead.

Instead, the third baseman made his pro debut at short because of what Justin Turner likened to a “battlefield” that resulted in Jose Reyes and second baseman Daniel Murphy leaving with injuries and manager Terry Collins having to be creative to get through yesterday’s 6-5 loss to the Braves at Citi Field.

Reyes went out in the second with stiffness in his left hamstring and Murphy was knocked out with what a source confirmed was a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee in the seventh, thanks to being spiked by Jose Constanza on a stolen base attempt.

BOX SCORE

Murphy’s absence forced Scott Hairston to move from right field to second for the first time in three years — and Lucas Duda from the bench into right.

Things got more complicated in the eighth, as Collins made a pair of pitching changes, moved Turner back from shortstop to second, Wright from third to short, Hairston back to right, Nick Evans from first to third and Duda from right to first.

“When you have injuries like that, you have to piece it together,” Turner said. “Guys have to move around . . . you can’t expect [Mike] Pelfrey to go out and play shortstop.”

So they asked Wright.

“[Infield coach] Chip Hale told me he was fine there and David told me he was fine there,” Collins said. “I asked David to reassure me, since I would never, ever put him in a situation not only where he could get hurt, but where he could fail.”

Wright accepted the challenge.

“I wasn’t excited to play there under the circumstances,” Wright said. “It was a little over to my left. Not that big of an issue.”

Turner had to make sure his newfound middle-infield partners knew what they were doing.

“Just little stuff, like making sure they’re holding guys on when there were base-stealers,” Turner said. “They did fine.”

Hairston, using Murphy’s glove, didn’t have to field a ball, while Wright was only required to catch Turner’s toss to second for a force out to end the top of the ninth.

The Mets don’t figure on being in quite as tough a spot tonight against the Padres, but they know it will continue to be a challenge without Reyes and Murphy.

“There’s gonna be 25 guys in here,” Turner said. “I don’t know who the 25 guys are gonna be, but we have a job to do.”

dan.martin@nypost.com