Blackburn (0-3) allowed seven earned runs on seven hits and three walks over 3.1 innings in Tuesday's 8-2 Cactus League loss to the Dodgers. He struck out three.
The numbers tell the story of how much of a step back the outing was, with solo home runs from Chris Taylor and Yasmani Grandal the most impactful of the five extra-base hits Blackburn allowed over his brief time on the mound. He blamed the rocky performance on trying to tweak multiple mechanical issues during the start, Susan Slusser of SFGate.com reports. "It was me just trying to fix too many things at once instead of focusing on what I should have focused on," Blackburn said. "I've been working on a lot of things all spring and then today, nothing was there, so it went through my head about four or five different things to fix and that's not the right place to do it." Despite the forgettable performance, Blackburn still figures to have a solid chance of earning a starting rotation spot, although the recent addition of veteran Trevor Cahill adds another potential candidate to the mix.