Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard was scratched from a simulated game Sunday after experiencing what the team called "general soreness."
Syndergaard, who has not pitched for the Mets since April 30 after being diagnosed with a partially torn right lat, threw 36 pitches Thursday in a rehab start for Class-A Brooklyn. He gave up three runs on three hits.
Syndergaard was supposed to throw 50 pitches before the Mets hosted the Reds, but the Mets shut him down.
"He may not throw the rest of the summer, we don't know," manager Terry Collins said. "But we certainly hope that we get to the point where we can get him in a game to where it eases his mind and everybody's else's mind that he's going to be OK."
Collins said Syndergaard did not specify what was bothering him. "General body soreness, he said he's still sore," the manager said. "He didn't say anything about it whether it was the lat, the arm, I just think he's still sore from pitching. You know when you're pitching for the first time and there's extra effort there. Your hips bother you, your butt bothers you because of the leg kick. Your lower back's sore because of the follow through. Your ribs can be sore due to the torque ... He didn't point to one specific area and say 'Boy this is really sore today.'
"We're aren't going to push him, first of all. We'll go at his pace and how he feels. (Saturday) night he said he was feeling a little sore from the outing the other day and wanted to throw a bullpen, we just said 'No. Until you feel better we're not going to do that.' We'll see how he is on Tuesday. Hopefully Tuesday we can get him back on the moon and have a side session in Chicago."
Collins said it is important for Syndergaard to get on the mound before the season ends. "The upside is when he goes in the wintertime he knows that all he has to do is worry about getting ready for spring training and not have to rehab. The rehab process which started to take place at the end of April hopefully has reached its course to where he can get back on the mound and say 'Hey look I am healthy. Now I can go into the winter and do my thing,' instead of backing off until spring training starts and then you're that far behind. We are still hoping and think it's important that by Oct.1 this guy can pitch in a game. Will he? We don't know. But we hope to get him to that point."
Syndergaard was not available for comment.
