The Mets’ first-choice outfield was whole for the first time all season last night. It lasted all of five innings.
Jason Bay returned from his rib-cage injury, just in time to see Angel Pagan go down with one of his own.
The center fielder left with a pulled muscle in his left side, an inning after being run into by rookie second baseman Justin Turner.
“It’s nothing bad. My last at-bat, the first swing I took I felt like I pulled a little bit my left side,” Pagan said after the Mets’ 9-1 win over the Astros at Citi Field. “When I flew out to second base, I just told [manager] Terry [Collins], ‘Hey, I felt something on my left side.’ And he took me out. I had this last year. I don’t think it’s as bad as last year. Hopefully it’ll only take a few days.
“They say day-by-day. I’m just taking medication right now and see how it feels [today] and go from there. . . . Hopefully I’ll be out maybe two or three days.”
Turner was running into shallow center chasing a Hunter Pence popup when his shoulder hit Pagan’s left arm, sending him tumbling to the ground. The oft-injured Pagan got up holding his elbow.
He flew out to center in the fifth and left the game but said the collision had nothing to do with the injury.
“No, I don’t think so,” Pagan said. “With the collision, it just kind of hurts in the elbow a little, but I toughed it out and kept playing. Maybe I pinched my nerve a little bit, and my pinky went numb, but nothing bad.”
Turner, in just his third game, held on for the out.
“I was going back trying to wave him, and I never heard anything,” Turner said. “He said he called it right at the last second. I don’t know if we said something at the same time, but I barely got him. He said he was fine.
“It was pretty windy, pretty loud; not easy to hear. It was pretty scary, actually.”
Willie Harris came on for Pagan in the sixth, and on his first chance misplayed Brett Wallace’s drive into a double over his head.
Collins, who was ejected in the first inning for arguing a call, said he was undecided who will play center field tonight against Arizona.
“It all depends on how bad [Pagan’s injury] is,” he said. “Scott Hairston played center field in San Diego last year. We know they can both go out there.”
Pagan, hitting just .167, acknowledged a few days off might help him.
“Hopefully,” Pagan said. “I’ve been maybe trying too hard these last couple of days, maybe putting a little pressure on myself at the plate.”