ANAHEIM — The way Paul Blackburn pitched Friday night in his Mets debut was typical for the right-hander. He gave up one earned run, walked two and threw 82 pitches over six innings. With that kind of efficiency, he could have gone another inning but the Mets wanted to get righty Jose Butto into the game.
This is what the Mets and their fans can expect from the newly-acquired pitcher moving forward.
“Oh 100%, he was pretty pitch-efficient,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the Mets beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-1 at Angel Stadium. “He was through five and I looked up and he was through I don’t know how many pitches, but then it was an easy decision to send him back out for the sixth. He’s going to throw strikes, he’s going to move the ball around, he’s going to keep hitters off-balance. He’s going to give you a chance.
“That’s what we saw today.”
Efficiency hasn’t exactly been the forte of the Mets’ starting staff this season. Some of the struggles in the dismal month of May were attributed to pitchers routinely failing to go deep in games and an overtaxed bullpen. While the Mets have mostly corrected that trend by now, Blackburn’s pitching style is a welcome addition.
Blackburn isn’t a power pitcher. The lanky righty (6-1, 196 pounds) has a fastball that sits in the low-90s and while he throws six pitches, none of them miss bats at a high rate. Blackburn has a career strikeout-per-nine-innings rate of only 6.9. Last season with the Oakland A’s, it was up to 9.0, a career-best rate, but it’s back down to his career average this season.
That’s not a bad thing. Blackburn isn’t reliant on strikeouts to get the job done.
“I think that’s just kind of how I have to be,” Blackburn said. “I understand that I’m not a guy that has overpowering stuff. I’m a guy that has to attack and kind of put them on the defensive side of things and not fall into bad counts. And that’s just kind of the pitcher I’ve always had to be.”
It’s been working for him over eight seasons, including one All-Star season, so why mess with a good thing?
Blackburn typically works off of a four-seam fastball that he throws for strikes but can elevate when needed. The four-seamer is complemented by a cutter, a slider and a sinker. He throws the cutter and the slider to lefties often and the sinker inside to right-handed hitters. The key to it all is moving the ball around.
“I was talking with him early, and we had a great conversation,” catcher Francisco Alvarez said. “I met him and he told me what he can do, and he told me, ‘I like to move the ball around and hit the glove so you can move to either corner.’”
Friday night, Blackburn went heavy on the changeup and barely used the cutter. Having faced the Halos a week ago with the A’s, he knew what worked and what didn’t. Alvarez called for more changeups and it worked.
One of the first questions Alvarez asked him was about his best pitch. Alvarez noticed early on how well he was throwing his changeup and called for more of them. Blackburn, impressed by their pre-game conversation, trusted the backstop right away.
“I just was thinking, like, if we’ve got a problem, I can use that pitch because it’s his best pitch,” Alvarez said. “The changeup was easily his best pitch, and he did great.”
Throwing Blackburn right into the fire was a test of the Mets’ processes as well. Everyone was on the same page after the pregame meetings. It was a successful, though challenging day for all involved.
Blackburn will finally get a chance to pitch in meaningful games this summer, and possibly beyond. The Friday win put the Mets back in the third Wild Card spot and with the Amazins’ set to face key NL opponents later this month like San Diego and Arizona, Blackburn projects to be an important part of the rotation at an important time.
“I haven’t really ever got a taste of a playoff race,” Blackburn said. “It’s something that I’ve always looked forward to. It’s why we play the game.”
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