NEW YORK — Colin Holderman woke up early in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to have breakfast ahead of the Syracuse Mets’ game at the RailRiders. A few hours later, he made his major league debut for the Mets at Citi Field.
“Not the Sunday I was expected but the Sunday I really enjoyed,” the 26-year-old right-hander said.
Right-hander Tylor Megill was placed on the 15-day injured list by the Mets because of biceps tendinitis in his pitching arm, four days after he allowed eight runs over 1 1/3 innings during a defeat at Washington.
Holderman replaced Megill on the active roster and entered in the ninth inning of New York’s 8-7 loss to Seattle. He gave up a single to Ty France and struck out J.P. Crawford on a full-count 95 mph sinker. Jesse Winker, an All-Star last year, popped out, Julio Rodríguez singled and Eugenio Suárez popped out.
“Not the easiest of innings, but I was glad I got the grind, slowed my heart rate down and got after it,” he said.
New York trailed 8-5 at the time and drew closer in the ninth before Diego Castillo struck out Pete Alonso to end the game with the bases loaded.
“I thought we were going to able to snake him out a win,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said.
The Mets said Megill had an MRI and will take a few days off from throwing, then be reassessed later this week.
“It just creeped up. Woke up the next morning after my start in Washington, a little discomfort,” the 26-year-old said. “We don’t want it to linger or get worse.”
Megill is 4-2 with a 4.41 ERA in seven starts, striking out 37 and walking nine in 34 2/3 innings. He had been part of a rotation that includes Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco.
“I was worried just because I’ve never had, like obviously, discomfort,” Megill said. “I was a little freaked out about it, but obviously the results came back really well. So not too bad.”
Because David Peterson pitched for Syracuse on Friday, Trevor Williams is likely to start Monday’s series opener against St. Louis.
New York, which made the IL move retroactive to Thursday, already was missing ace Jacob deGrom (right scapula), catcher James McCann (broken left hamate bone) and relievers Sean Reid-Foley (Tommy John surgery) and Trevor May (right triceps inflammation), who was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
“Nobody cares about your problems. They’re happy you got them,” Showalter said. “It’s not woe is me. I’m not going to wallow around in self-pity.”
Holderman was surprised when Mets player development director Kevin Howard called and told him to report to New York. There was no time for the pitcher’s family and friends to get to New York.
“I was fortunate that I got it this morning, because if I would have got it last night, I would have got zero sleep,” Holderman said.
Holderman went to PNC Field to get his gear and waited 30 minutes for an Uber to arrive. He said it was a white 2010 Camry, and he arrived in Queens either during or just after the first inning.
“As show as it gets,” he said. “We had a great conversation the whole way here.”
Holderman wasn’t sure how much the Uber cost.
“The Mets take care of that,” he said. “Especially with gas these days, I didn’t want to look at that bill.”