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The Mets made a change of plans on Monday afternoon, announcing that Tylor Megill, and not the previously scheduled Paul Blackburn, will start the series opener in Toronto against the Blue Jays.
Blackburn, who was placed on the 15-day IL on Aug. 25 due to a hand bruise after getting hit by a comebacker against the San Diego Padres, looked good in his one rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse, allowing just one earned run in 6.2 innings of work.
Manager Carlos Mendoza later explained that Blackburn is now dealing with a lower back issue that popped up the day after his rehab start.
“After the outing in Triple-A, the next day he complained about his lower back. He didn’t think anything serious, we didn’t think it was anything serious, so we started treating it,” Mendoza said. “The whole time he was thinking and we were thinking that he was going to be good to go for today. And then yesterday, right before game time, I would say probably around noon, right after he got done playing catch, he tried to run for he first time outside and he couldn’t do it. So the back kind of locked up on him.”
According to Mendoza, Blackburn will not pitch in this series against Toronto, and the Mets are going to wait 48 hours to see how the right-hander’s back responds. If there is no improvement, Blackburn will head back to New York for further testing.
Blackburn told reporters that his back felt “really tight” on Wednesday, and says the best-case scenario is that he can pitch at some point on the current road trip.
“We’re just kind of taking it day-by-day right now,” Blackburn said. “Really, we’re just trying to get some things to just calm down and just relieve a little bit of pain that I have and go from there.”
So it will now be Megill on the mound as the Mets look to build a new winning streak following Sunday’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds, which ended a nine-game span without a loss.
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