The New York Mets will send struggling Paul Blackburn to the mound on Wednesday night as they attempt to end their season-long four-game losing streak when they visit the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves erased a 4-1 deficit Tuesday to win the opener of the three-game series 5-4 on Austin Riley’s long sacrifice fly in the 10th inning.
Atlanta has won four of its past five games.
Blackburn (0-0, 6.75 ERA), a right-hander, will oppose Atlanta ace Chris Sale (4-4, 2.79) on Wednesday.
Blackburn will make his second start of the season and first since June 2, when he threw five scoreless innings in a 4-3, extra-inning win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. His past two appearances were out of the bullpen, and neither was clean — he gave up three runs in four innings but got a save against Colorado on June 8 and was tagged for four runs in one-third of an inning in a 7-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
“It’s been tough,” Blackburn said of the different roles. “It’s completely different routines. … I haven’t really been down (in the bullpen) for a long time, so I think it’s just a lot of trial and error.”
Blackburn is 0-0 with an 0.90 ERA in two career starts against Atlanta, striking out 10 in 10 innings.
The Mets set up their rotation to allow the left-handed Sale to face both the Mets and Philadelphia Phillies — the two teams Atlanta is chasing in the National League East.
Sale has returned to his Cy Young Award-winning form from last season over his past 10 starts, going 4-2 with a 1.61 ERA. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in nine of those starts — only three in the other — with 83 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings.
In his most recent outing, a 7-1 win against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 9, Sale pitched seven innings and allowed one run with 11 strikeouts – the fourth double-digit strikeout game he’s had this season and the 91st of his career.
“Chris has been good. He’s been on a nice little run,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “You don’t appreciate it until you’re with him every day and you see him at 2 in the afternoon, what he does, and how consistent he is and how dedicated he is to his craft. There’s reasons why those guys play long and have the success they do.”
In four career starts against the Mets, Sale is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA.
New York’s Juan Soto had two hits on Tuesday, and the 26-year-old needs one more to reach the 1,000 mark. Jeff McNeil singled in the opener and has reached base safely in 19 straight games.
The Braves announced Tuesday that outfielder Jurickson Profar has begun a two-week assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett. He had played four games this season for the Braves when the league found Profar had tested positive for a banned substance, which drew an 80-game suspension. Snitker said Profar will play nine innings of each game he plays for Gwinnett until he can be activated on July 2.
The Mets placed starting pitcher Tylor Megill on the injured list with a right elbow strain. He is expected to miss up to five weeks.
–Field Level Media
