After Brandon Nimmo returned to the lineup to play through a nagging hip issue over the weekend, the Mets are using their off days this week to nip it in the bud.

Nimmo received an injection in his hip on Monday to treat a mild impingement, which kept him out of the starting lineup for Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to the Red Sox at Citi Field. But he entered as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, striking out, and manager Luis Rojas expected him to be back in Wednesday’s lineup if all goes according to plan.

“The decision is so we don’t have to deal with this, he doesn’t have to deal with this more,” Rojas said. “[The shot] takes about 24 to 48 hours to kind of settle there.”

Nimmo underwent an MRI exam on Friday after the Mets got back from Chicago, a series in which Nimmo sat out two of three games with hip stiffness. He was cleared to return later on Friday and went 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs that night, starting all three games of the series against the Nationals.

But with an off day Monday and another on Thursday, the Mets opted to treat Nimmo’s hip, which he admitted Friday night still wasn’t “100 percent better.”

“He said the process went really well,” Rojas said. “It happened quicker than he expected, but he’s been here since early and he’s getting stretched out and getting his range of motion checked and everything.”

Kevin Pillar started in center field for Nimmo on Tuesday, going 1-for-3. To provide insurance off the bench, the Mets called up infielder Jose Peraza and optioned reliever Stephen Tarpley to the alternate site.

A group of Mets will receive their second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine after Wednesday’s game, giving them Thursday’s off-day to recover from potential side effects. The Mets’ quest to reach MLB’s 85 percent threshold, which allows teams to relax safety protocols, is “still a work in progress,” Rojas said.

Over the weekend, the Mets transferred Dellin Betances (right shoulder impingement) from the 10-day IL to the 60-day to make sure he is fully healthy when he returns.

“It just became a more thorough plan to get him to a better point with the treatment and with the strengthening and a lot of different things,” Rojas said. “So that’s why the progression. It was explained to him, and it was explained to us too, that it was going to take a little longer. So it only makes sense to have him at his best when he comes back.”

Reliever Drew Smith, who was activated off the IL and optioned to the alternate site Sunday, is available whenever the Mets need another arm, Rojas said.