On the field in Queens, the Mets scored a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs, but that wasn’t the only bit of action on Sunday.
Paul Blackburn makes second rehab start at Triple-A
The Mets hope that the injury bug has stopped biting Blackburn as the right-hander pitched for the second time with the Syracuse Mets as he continues to work his way back from knee inflammation that flared up at the end of spring training and kept him off the Opening Day roster.
The 31-year-old got the start Sunday against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and had issues with his command while allowing three runs on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts in three innings. Blackburn threw 60 pitches (31 strikes).
He used his sinker on half of his offerings and got five whiffs (12 swings) and six called strikes. The curveball and slider accounted for nine balls on 10 pitches.
Blackburn’s average velocity was up for his sinker (0.8 mph to 92) from his previous start at Jacksonville on Tuesday. He had better success on that occasion, allowing one run on three hits and a walk in 3.2 innings with five strikeouts, throwing 35 of 54 pitches for strikes.
His rehab assignment began with two outings at High-A Brooklyn, where he allowed three runs on six hits and two walks over 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts and two home runs.
Manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday that the goal is for Blackburn to reach 70-75 pitches (which would be after one to two more starts after Sunday), before the Mets make a decision.
Ryan Clifford goes yard
Leading off the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday, Clifford got a 2-1 breaking pitch that hung around the middle of the plate and did not miss it, launching it deep over the right-center wall for a 400+ foot dinger.
It was his third home run of the series against the Reading Fightin Phils and sixth in his first 30 games with Double-A Binghamton. And after an RBI single earlier in the game, he now has 19 batted in on the year. He is heating up, going 9-for-19 with nine RBI and five runs scored in his last five games.
The 21-year-old, who entered the season as the Mets’ No. 4 prospect per Joe DeMayo, is now batting .248 (25-for-101) with a .820 OPS.
Ryan Clifford demolished this one 🚀
@ryanclifford21 this series: 5 G | .474 AVG (9-for-19) | 3 HR | 9 RBI | 5 R
🎠x #NeedForSteed x @MetsPlayerDevpic.twitter.com/d5noa8ww20
— Binghamton Rumble Ponies (@RumblePoniesBB) May 11, 2025
Ronny Mauricio talks knee, getting back to MLB
It has been 19 months since Mauricio last played a big league game, after suffering a torn ACL while playing winter ball in December 2023. Speaking to Matt Levine of the Binghampton Rumble Ponies, the infielder said his knee feels “really good” as he continues to build back toward rejoining the Mets.
“He’s working so hard, being in that situation that he’s in right now, that the knee feels really well,” Mariano Duncan, Binghamton’s bench coach, said, who was serving as Mauricio’s interpreter for the interview.
The 24-year-old has played just seven games in his rehab stint so far, but is “very excited” to have moved up the ranks to Double-A and continue progressing.
“The process has been a lot of ups and downs,” Mauricio said, via Duncan. “There’s a lot of setbacks since the injury. In the beginning, after the first surgery, the knee felt swollen, and they had to go to the second surgery.”
But he’s “so happy” to have worked hard and made it back to the field. And during the time out rehabbing, Mauricio “dedicated more time to his body,” and he learned a lot about how to take care of it.
“Really tough, but so glad that everything is over,” he said.
As far as some of the other young Mets – Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez – Maurico said he’s “very happy to see them perform at the Major League level” and that is making him “push a little bit harder to try and go back an stay healthy” and join them in the big leauges.
In two games at Double-A so far, Mauricio has one hit (a double) in six at-bats with an RBI and a strikeout.
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