TORONTO — Paul Blackburn was hoping he would only have to miss one start in Toronto, but one day after the Mets scratched him for Tylor Megill, the team decided to keep him on the injured list a little longer. The right-hander will not start this weekend in Philadelphia against the Phillies.
“I don’t think that’s the case, especially, with what we saw today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday at Rogers Centre. “I think it’s safe to say that he won’t pitch against the Phillies.”
Blackburn, who initially went on the injured list Aug. 25 with a bruised right hand, is still unable to run due to back tightness. The issue popped up a week ago after he pitched 6 2/3 innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse.
The Mets have not decided who will take his turn through the rotation this weekend in Philadelphia. Blackburn was scheduled to pitch the series finale Sunday, but with the team having Thursday off, the Mets have some time to decide and some wiggle room to work with.
Megill would appear to be the leading candidate after throwing six shutout innings against the Blue Jays on Monday night, but the Mets have been hesitant to use Megill in big games. They used him against the Chicago White Sox when they called him up on the last trip and had David Peterson go against the Arizona Diamondbacks on regular rest, preferring to have one of their top arms going in a Wild Card battle.
They could use that strategy again this weekend against the NL East-leading Phillies, and save Megill to face the Washington Nationals when the Mets return home for the following series.
However, whether it’s in Philadelphia or New York, Megill earned himself another start with how he pitched Monday.
“We’ve got a couple of options that we could go with here,” Mendoza said. “But Megill will get another opportunity, for sure, after what we saw last night.”
LINEUP DECISIONS
With two of the Mets’ best hitters struggling at the wrong time, Mendoza has some important lineup decisions to make. Tuesday, he moved Brandon Nimmo down in the order to fifth and J.D. Martinez to sixth. DJ Stewart hit seventh and with Toronto’s Chris Bassitt having struggled to get left-handed hitters out as of late, he put infielder Eddy Alvarez in the lineup hitting ninth.
Mendoza was impressed by Alvarez’s base-running in Monday night’s win and wanted to give Jose Iglesias a night off. He also configured the outfield differently using Jesse Winker in left, Nimmo in center and Stewart in right.
“Coming into the series, I knew I wasn’t going to play [Starling] Marte all three days because of the turf, and when we were looking at the matchups, I thought today against Bassitt was a good day to get all the lefties in there,” Mendoza said. “We went with it.”
Nimmo had three hits against Arizona on Aug. 28 but has fallen into another slump since then, hitting just .195 with one extra-base hit, eight strikeouts and five walks in 12 games (48 plate appearances) since.
“He’s giving us good at-bats, it’s just the results are taking a little bit longer than he would like or we would like,” Mendoza said. But every time he’s at the plate, we feel good. I moved him down, but that’s a high leverage spot still in the lineup.”
VALOR IN RELIEF
Right-handed reliever Sean Reid-Foley received the 2024 Bob Feller Act of Valor Award for his work with the military community. His father, Dave Foley, served in the U.S. Coast Guard while he was growing up in Florida.