Stroman exits with tight right hamstring

A tight right hamstring may have prevented Marcus Stroman from completing what could have been a lengthy outing in Friday’s 2-1 loss to the Phillies, but it shouldn’t linger long enough to cost Stroman any additional time.

Stroman said the hamstring initially “kind of grabbed on me” in the third inning Friday, though he wasn’t sure if it was related to his time on the basepaths. Batting ninth, he led off the top of the third with a double, then remained on second base for the rest of the inning amidst cool, blustery conditions in Philadelphia. By the bottom of the third, Stroman was experiencing some discomfort.

“I just felt it get really tight, and then it kind of progressed in the fourth and the fifth,” he said. “It’s just one of those things, just leaning on the side of caution, honestly. It’s such a long year. I don’t think it made sense to go out there and press it and force it in the sixth and seventh, and risk potentially making it worse.”

The hamstring tweak did not appear to affect Stroman’s production, as he struck out the side in the third inning and fanned two more in the fifth. At that point, Stroman was at only 64 pitches, but as the Mets rallied in the top of the sixth, reliever Aaron Loup began warming. Stroman did not return to the mound, taking a tough-luck loss despite allowing only two unearned runs in five innings with a season-high eight strikeouts. He is now 3-2 with a 1.86 ERA in five starts.

“He’s pretty optimistic about making his next start,” manager Luis Rojas said. “We’ll keep checking him, day to day, and see how he’s doing, see how he’s responding.”

Stroman has had some recent trouble with muscle strains -- most notably last July, when he tore his left calf and began the season on the injured list. He wound up electing not to play the rest of the season before he finished healing.

But Stroman does not expect this injury to linger in a similar way. Asked if he thinks it could be a problem in his next start Wednesday in St. Louis, Stroman replied: “It won’t be.”

“I know what I have to do in these next four or five days,” he said. “The staff here is unbelievable. So it’s just a matter of getting in there and doing everything that we need to do to get it better, strengthen it. I have 100 percent confidence in my mind that I’ll be back out there in five days.”