SAN DIEGO — A poor start from New York Mets right-hander Paul Blackburn ended painfully during an all-around brutal Friday night for the club.
With one out in the third inning of the Mets’ 7-0 loss to the San Diego Padres, Blackburn departed the game after being hit by a line ball to his right hand, just below his pinky finger. X-rays came back unclear, but the Mets diagnosed the injury as a contusion of the hand. Blackburn anticipates receiving a CT scan early on Saturday that should provide insight into the extent of the damage.
“It doesn’t feel great, to be honest,” Blackburn said.
By the time Blackburn left, everything had fallen apart. San Diego took an early 4-0 lead. Blackburn often left pitches over the plate, and the Padres pounced on those enticing deliveries. Blackburn gave up seven hard-hit balls and ten hits, two of which were home runs.
Blackburn was traded to the Mets on July 30 in exchange for the Oakland Athletics. In his five starts with the Mets, he has had two bad outings and three excellent ones. Right-handers Christian Scott and Kodai Senga had been added to the injured list, meaning that the Mets, at the very least, needed to strengthen their rotation with a back-end option. That was their perspective of Blackburn.
Padres 7, Mets 0: The Mets failed to reach base until Marte doubled in the fifth. That was their lone base runner until Lindor's hit w/ two outs in ninth. At one point, the Mets K'ed six straight times. Before an injury, Blackburn allowed 10 hits, five runs. New York is 67-62.
— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) August 24, 2024
In the event that Blackburn is sidelined for an extended length of time, the Mets would revert to their pre-trade deadline position. At that point, their fifth starter, Tylor Megill (5.17 ERA in 10 games, nine starts), lingered. When asked if Megill would be the replacement if the Mets needed one, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza remained reticent, but it does not appear like there are many compelling options.
Additionally, the Mets’ bullpen was endangered by Blackburn’s blunder. New York lacks a long reliever due to José Buttó’s rise to high-leverage positions and the absence of reliable alternatives for set-up work. The Mets might want to consider doing so given Jose Quintana’s recent problems, but who would be that long reliever and who would loom following Megill on the depth chart is still up in the air.
“It’s good that a couple of the guys were able to go multiple innings today,” Mendoza said, referencing Ryne Stanek (1 2/3 innings), Danny Young (two innings) and Adam Ottavino (two innings). “We were able to keep some of the other guys from coming into the game today.”
After Blackburn was lifted, Stanek—who the Mets also acquired in July—allowed one inherited runner to score and another in the third inning. Earlier in the day, the Mets traded Dedniel Núñez, who was back off the injured list, for the struggling Huascar Brazoban, who was acquired in another trade last month. Despite the lopsided score, Ottavino gave up one run in the eighth and encountered enough trouble that right-hander Reed Garrett had to begin loosening up in the bullpen.
The pitching staff and trade deadline acquisitions were only two aspects of the problem.
The Padres held the Mets to just two base runners.
It was not until Starling Marte blasted a double to right field with one out in the fifth inning that New York managed to get on base against Padres starter Joe Musgrove. He was left stranded in New York. It was Francisco Lindor’s double with two outs in the ninth inning that brought the Mets back to base.
Musgrove was both good and economical in equal measure. Musgrove had thrown just 64 pitches, including an astounding 49 strikes, by the end of the sixth inning.
The Mets once struck out six straight batters. With just 11 pitches needed, Musgrove struck out the side in the seventh inning, including Mark Vientos swinging, J.D. Martinez looking, and Pete Alonso swinging. Jason Adam, a right-hander, then hardly needed to exert much more effort. Adam pitched 17 pitches in relief of Musgrove, striking out Jeff McNeil (swinging), Marte (swinging), and Jose Iglesias (looking).
The Mets struck out 14 times throughout the game, matching their season-high of eight.
“I thought Musgrove was really good,” Mendoza said when asked about his team’s at-bats. “Every pitch, the movement — we had a hard time picking up his breaking ball, the spin. But the cutter, the location — he was on today.”
The Padres have a strong pitching staff, and the Mets have two games left to turn things around in a tight postseason race. Friday’s walk-off victory against the Washington Nationals gave the Atlanta Braves (69-59) a 2 1/2 game lead over the Mets (67-62) in the race for a postseason spot. The Mets were reminded that they cannot afford to experience too many more bad nights.
(Photo of Paul Blackburn and Francisco Alvarez: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
