The Mets expect Clay Holmes will return to pitch this season, but the team needs to fill plenty of starts until then. 

Without providing a firm timeline Saturday, manager Carlos Mendoza indicated the veteran right-hander will need at least six weeks for his fractured right fibula to heal before potentially beginning a full spring training buildup that would allow him to return in the second half. 

“He’s going to be down for quite a bit, but definitely we’ll see him,” Mendoza said Saturday before the Mets faced the Yankees at Citi Field. 

Holmes sustained the injury Friday night, taking Spencer Jones’ 111.1-mph line drive off his leg in the fourth inning of the Mets’ 5-2 loss to begin the Subway Series.

Holmes remained in the game to finish the fourth inning and pitch into the fifth before finally succumbing to the discomfort. 

Mendoza said he learned from the trainer in the seventh inning that Holmes had sustained the fracture. 

“We felt it,” Mendoza said. “[Friday] night was tough. We have been hit a lot this year with a lot of our superstars, with a lot of key players, but this one felt different. Today walking around the clubhouse and understanding that we lost a big part of our team and they understand the responsibility.” 

Holmes, who was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday, owns a 2.39 ERA in nine starts this season.

He became the second member of the Mets rotation that began the season (Kodai Senga is the other) to land on the IL. 

The Mets recalled reliever Joey Gerber to fill Holmes’ roster spot, but will need a starter for Wednesday in Washington.

Options include Zach Thornton, Jack Wenninger and Jonah Tong at Triple-A Syracuse.

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Internally, the Mets could stretch out Tobias Myers, who has emerged as a valuable bullpen piece. 

Mendoza confirmed Myers is a consideration, adding that it would be difficult to remove him from the bullpen because of his versatility, whether pitching in long relief, as an opener or in a save situation.

The right-hander earned his first major league save in Arizona on the Mets’ last road trip. 

The lefty Thornton impressed Mets officials during spring training and has pitched to a 3.16 ERA in seven starts for Syracuse.

In his most recent start, Thornton pitched six shutout innings Friday and aligns perfectly to start in Holmes’ spot. 

Senga, who has been sidelined for the last three weeks with lumbar spine inflammation, is set to begin throwing live batting practice in Port St. Lucie, according to Mendoza.

Sean Manaea, who has been banished to the bullpen in a mop-up role, is also part of that conversation. 

The Mets will not only miss Holmes’ right arm, but the presence he brings to the clubhouse as a veteran leader. 

“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Mendoza said when asked to elaborate on why losing Holmes felt different than other injuries that have hit the Mets. “Not only the injury, but what Clay means to this team, not only on the field but off the field, the competitor, the person, the human, what it means to that clubhouse and what it means to the team and the rotation. That is why [Friday] felt different.”