SAN DIEGO — It was about as bad of a start in as big a regular season game as the Mets could have asked for. Right-hander Paul Blackburn had already given up four runs and had a runner on base with none out in the third inning.
It didn’t take long to add insult to injury.
Blackburn was hit by a comebacker that went 100.3 mph off the bat on the wrist of his pitching arm as he shielded his face. He sat in front of the Petco Park mound as the trainers ran to examine him, looking defeated and left the game with a wrist contusion.
By that point, the Mets, too, had been defeated by the San Diego Padres. They lost 7-0 on Friday night, evening the four-game series at a game apiece.
“Pretty scary,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Blackburn’s injury. “A line drive right, right on his head — his face. And it got him pretty good.”
They played out the rest of the game but could do little against a familiar foe, right-hander Joe Musgrove.
In case you forgot, Musgrove eliminated the Mets from the playoffs in 2022 after the Mets noticed high spin rates and something shiny on one of his ears which led to then manager Buck Showalter asking for the umps for a sticky stuff check. Musgrove turned in a similar performance Friday, one-hitting the Mets through seven innings and striking out nine in the win (4-4). The Mets managed only two hits the entire night.
“I thought Musgrove was really good,” Mendoza said. “Every pitch had movement. We had a hard time picking up his breaking ball with the spin. The cutter, the location — he was on tonight.”
The Mets were doomed right from the start with Luis Arraez homering to lead off the bottom of the first. Blackburn nearly gave up another to Jake Cronenworth with two outs. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat Cronenworth took a full-count changeup all the way back to the warning track where Harrison Bader made the catch for the out.
But then Blackburn gave up singles to Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts before getting the third out. After Musgrove retired the side in order in the top of the second, Blackburn gave up a single, a two-run homer, a bloop single and a line drive before Jurickson Profar finally lined into a double play.
He gave up two more hits after that. Blackburn needed 50 pitches to get through two innings, down 4-0.
Disaster struck in the third.
Jackson Merrill led off with a ground ball to Pete Alonso, who was positioned just past first base. Alonso fielded it and pointed at Blackburn to cover the base. Blackburn caught the flip but stopped short of the base, allowing Merrill to reach.
Then Peralta lined one off of Blackburn’s wrist. Luckily, he managed to get his hand in front of his face to protect his head.
“A lot of times you don’t see those ones, but I actually saw it,” Blackburn said. “I saw it the whole way. Kind of went into defense mode there. I’m just glad it didn’t hit me in the head, honestly. I just kind of went into defense mode there. Was able to kind of deflect it.”
X-rays were inconclusive and Blackburn will get a CT scan Saturday. However, he did note that he has full mobility of his wrist and hand. The Mets are unsure of whether he will require an injured list stint.
Blackburn was charged with five earned runs on 10 hits over 2 1/3 innings (5-4).
“Not good,” Blackburn said. “I felt like the good pitches I made got hit, I felt like the bad pitches I made got hit. It was just one of those days where I felt like I was searching for anything to create some swing and misses or anything like that. I feel like I got a decent amount of soft contact in there, but some balls fell, some balls found some holes, definitely, found some barrels as well.
“All in all, just not good. Could have been a lot better.”
Ryne Stanek came in to relieve him and gave up an RBI double to former Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka.
The bullpen didn’t give up another run until the eighth inning. They did what they could to hold off San Diego, but the Mets will need a big performance from left-hander David Peterson on Saturday to spell the relief corps.
“We’ve still got a few guys available for tomorrow,” Mendoza said. “I’m not going to sit here and speculate. As we speak here, we’ve got a few guys that didn’t get in the game, and we should be alright.”
Heading into the two weekend games, the Padres (73-57) are sitting in second place in the NL Wild Card standings, a half game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Mets (67-62) are 2.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves, who hold the third Wild Card spot.
Both teams have exchanged blows in the series. The Mets might need to deliver a knockout punch to jump back into a playoff spot.
Originally Published:
