Mets right-hander Matt Harvey diagnosed with a stress injury in right shoulder

Matt Harvey‘s tough year continued on Wednesday night against the Chicago Cubs. This time it wasn’t his pitch counted that limited his action, but a tired right arm.

The Mets have officially announced that Harvey was “diagnosed with a stress injury to the scapula bone in the right shoulder.” He received a PRP injection on Thursday, and although surgery is not needed, “he is expected to miss several weeks.”

With Harvey sidelined for some weeks, the logical thing would be for the Mets to return to their five-man rotation, but apparently that’s not going to happen right away.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the outcome Harvey or the fans hoped for, but at least we could say there’s a reason for his struggles this season. Hopefully he can return healthier and stronger than before.

After only 58 pitches, Harvey departed the series finale against the defending World Series champions. The Mets right-hander got beat up again this time allowing four runs in the four innings he pitched. He was able actually get nine hitters out in a row at one point, but eventually his attempt to finesse his way through the game backfired.

Harvey surrendered three home runs on the evening — back to back shots to start the game, and a mammoth shot to Kyle Schwarber that disappeared over the Shea Bridge in the 4th.

What was the most concerning about Harvey was his velocity was as down as it’s been in a long, long time. Throughout the game, he was unable to get his fastball into the typical mid-90s. In some cases, the gun would show him in the high 80s, something that Harvey said he hadn’t seen since his freshman year of high school.

Mets manager Terry Collins was actually so unsure of a pitch that registered in the high 80s that he asked pitching coach Dan Warthen if it was a fastball or a slider.

After the game, we learned that Harvey will be looked at by the doctors on Thursday to see if there’s anything physically wrong with him that caused this type of arm fatigue.

The 28-year-old Harvey is still trying to get back to his normal, old pitching self. After undergoing surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, that task has proven to be a lot more difficult than he expected. This dead arm period could be related to that as well, but until he’s evaluated, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Next: Neil Walker leaves game with left leg injury

In Wednesday night’s game, the Mets would eventually rally and come back to win, 9-4, but obviously, the concern around their once-beloved ace is real. Add to that the fact that Neil Walker also went down with an injury in the same game, and well, it could have been worse if they had lost. Hopefully by Thursday we’ll know more about Harvey, Walker, and what can be expected for both of them going forward.