Mets' Paul Blackburn earns first career save in four-inning effort

In today's game, which features larger and more versatile bullpens than ever before, three-inning saves are somewhat uncommon and four-inning saves are extremely rare. Before Blackburn's outing, Brian Stokes was the last Met to log a four-inning save back on August 13, 2008; before Stokes, Turk Wendell did it on September 2, 1997.

Blackburn's consistent role with this Mets squad is still to be determined; despite spending his entire career as a starter up to this point, New York's rotation is already among the best in the sport and has reserved spots for returning starters Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas. Even with an expected six-man rotation, there isn't a spot for Blackburn in such a scenario.

But Sunday gave Mets manager Carlos Mendoza the perfect opportunity to deploy the 31-year-old righty. New York was already up big, Tylor Megill threw over 80 pitches through five innings, and the bullpen was in dire need of rest. As the Mets continued to pad their lead, it became increasingly clear that Blackburn was taking the ball the rest of the way.

“Going into the game, that was kind of what we had in mind,” Mendoza said. “It was huge for him to go out there, get his first save, and finish the game. That’s a huge role in the bullpen, and he was able to get the job done today.”

Before his relief outing on Sunday, Blackburn made a spot start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 2 (his first appearance of the season due to injury) and tossed five shutout innings. With that in mind, perhaps the righty can assume a valuable swingman role; he can assume long relief duties on a consistent basis but also earn a start when the rest of the rotation and/or bullpen needs a breather.

The Mets have so much talent on the mound that finding a spot for the versatile Blackburn is a conundrum at the moment. But there is an adage in baseball: you can never have too much pitching. And after two very different but encouraging outings, a role for Blackburn will emerge soon enough.