Mets like what they see from Paul Blackburn in his winning debut vs. Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Welcome to the playoff push, Paul Blackburn. The Mets are happy to have you, even if you haven’t met them all yet.

Blackburn was effective in his Mets debut Friday night, a 5-1 win over the Angels. In lasting six innings, giving up one run and scattering six hits and two walks, the righthander did everything the Mets expected when they brought him in from the Athletics this week: throw strikes, mix in a bunch of different pitches, eat innings.

He did all that in only 82 pitches, too. Carlos Mendoza lifted Blackburn after his deepest outing in three months (most of which he spent sidelined with a stress reaction in a foot).

“A bit of a throwback pitcher in a lot of ways,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “When he’s on, he can put all of his pitches in any spot.”

Mendoza said: “He’s going to give you a chance. That’s what we saw today.”

A quirk of the logistics for Blackburn and the Mets: When he took the mound, he was more familiar with the opposition — having just faced the Angels last week in his return from the injured list — than his own teammates.

Blackburn didn’t meet the Mets until he walked into the clubhouse Friday afternoon, a few hours before first pitch.

“Honestly, I feel like I can just kind of take a breath now,” he said. “It’s been crazy. It’s definitely been crazy. But I’m here to do a job, really. Once those lights come on and the game starts, I’m here to do a job.”

Mendoza said: “Today, honestly, I came in, saw him, shook his hand and said: ‘Go be yourself, Big Boy. I’ll talk to you after the game.’ That was it. So I haven’t talked to him face-to-face.”

Given the chaos inherent in switching teams midseason — for the first time in Blackburn’s major-league career — Hefner sought to limit the stress by not diving in yet on changes the Mets want to make. Instead, Hefner watched video, talked to Oakland folks familiar with him and listened to Blackburn on how he likes to go about attacking hitters.

The tweaks will come, especially if the Mets believe the 30-year-old Blackburn can improve upon his career 4.79 ERA. But this time, they just wanted him to get through the day.

“There’s already so much change, we’re not going to come in and change everything right away,” Hefner said. “Just try to be adaptable to whatever he needs.”

Blackburn tossed only one perfect inning against the Angels (47-63), but the hitters did enough against lefthander Tyler Anderson (five innings, three runs) in support. The offensive highlight: a go-ahead two-run home run in the third inning from Pete Alonso, his third homer in five games.

Also aiding Blackburn was the middle-infield combo of Francisco Lindor and Jose Iglesias, who turned a pair of smooth inning-ending double plays.

In the first, Lindor made a backhand stop of Willie Calhoun’s grounder and flipped a feed toward second base sort of early. Iglesias came striding across the bag, caught the ball and made a jumping relay throw to first.

In the fifth, Lindor made another backhanded grab deep in the hole on Brandon Drury’s grounder that very well could have been a single. Not satisfied with one out, Iglesias made a strong throw to first to nip Drury.

Alonso called the two plays “magnificent.”

“Unbelievable,” Blackburn said. “It’s fun to watch. It is a lot of fun to watch. I’m really excited for tomorrow, to just sit down and watch these guys play.”

The Mets (58-51) toggled back into a virtual tie for the last National League wild-card spot. “It’s a lot of fun,” Blackburn said. “I haven’t really ever got a taste of a playoff race. It’s something that I’ve always looked forward to.”  

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.