ANAHEIM, Calif. — The acquisition of Paul Blackburn from Oakland earlier this week likely resulted in a collective “Who?” from most Mets fans, but on Friday it was time for the official introduction.
And Blackburn’s first impression was excellent.
The right-hander provided the efficiency that has been missing from the Mets’ starting rotation this season, helping his team to a 5-1 win over the Angels to start a 10-game, four-city road trip.
Blackburn, who remained on the West Coast to reunite with the Mets after Tuesday’s trade, met his new teammates in person for the first time before the game, but he left the game after throwing 82 pitches in six innings, allowing six hits, six strikeouts, two walks and one earned run.
Blackburn kept batters off-balance, using a mix of cutters, changeups and sliders, allowing the Angels just two strong hits through six innings.
His fastest pitch of the night was 92.5 mph.
The Mets are looking to the 30-year-old Blackburn to help stabilize a rotation that was left without Kodai Senga, who was sidelined with a calf injury and making his first appearance since coming off the disabled list.
Another starting pitcher, Christian Scott, is out with a right ulnar collateral ligament sprain.
Tyler Megill was viewed as a valuable addition to the starting rotation at the start of the season, but he struggled and was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse after Wednesday’s game.
That leaves Blackburn in a rotation of Luis Severino, Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea and David Peterson, and keeps the Mets (58-51) in contention for a National League wild-card spot.
Blackburn’s good pitching was followed by two scoreless innings by Jose Butt, before Phil Mutton pitched a scoreless ninth.
Francisco Alvarez’s RBI single in the second of the game brought in the first run of the game.
Jose Iglesias led off the inning with a double and then homered on Alvarez’s single to left.
It was a welcome offensive contribution for Alvarez, who had a .577 OPS with just six RBIs in July.
For Alvarez, it followed a strong performance in June following his return from surgery to repair a torn thumb ligament.
Joe Adel’s grounder off the glove of Mark Vientos in the top of the second inning resulted in an RBI single, tying the score at 1-1.
Mickey Moniak singled and Zach Neto walked before Adell’s run-scoring hit.
Adell helped minimize the damage in the inning by getting outed by Alvarez while attempting to steal second base.
Pete Alonso’s two-run homer in the third inning gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Brandon Nimmo led off the inning with a single, then Alonso smashed a cutter ball from Tyler Anderson into the left field stands.
The outburst was Alonso’s 23rd of the season and his third in five games.
Later in the inning, a fielding error by Luis Guillorme put Iglesias on base, but Anderson got Tyrone Taylor out for the third out.
Former Mets player Guillorme fought back in the fifth inning, when he walked Alonso as leadoff hitter and left him on third base before diving with his back to the infield to catch a popup by Alvarez.
In the previous inning, Blackburn walked Taylor Ward and allowed a single to Moniak, but then got two outs to keep the Mets’ lead at 3-1.
J.D. Martinez singled past first base in the sixth inning, driving in Harrison Bader to score the Mets’ fourth run.
Reliever Mike Bauman should have made it through the inning without further damage, but Neto grounded out to Vientos and the Mets extended their lead over the Angels to 5-1.
Bader’s leadoff single and Lindor’s bunt hit opened the inning.
