Imaging on Mets starter Paul Blackburn's right arm came back negative, and the right-hander is hopeful that he will not land on the injured list after taking a line drive in Friday night's defeat to the San Diego Padres.

"Bone bruise, ultimately. So, yeah, good news," Blackburn said from the visitor's locker room before Saturday's game.

"We're just trying to flush inflammation out," he added. "Kind of play it by ear as far as pain tolerance, inflammation and, obviously, spinning pitches and stuff. We'll figure that out in the next couple of days or so."

As of right now, Blackburn hopes he won't need to go on the IL, telling reporters, "I know we're in a situation where we need arms and whatnot, but I haven't heard anything as far as that."

Manager Carlos Mendoza said the club "will have a better idea" about if a stint on the IL is necessary after he plays catch on Sunday after undergoing treatment.

"The good thing is we got good news," the skipper said, "but we gotta wait 'til tomorrow and see if he's gonna be able to pick up a baseball and actually go out there and play catch."

The Mets starter was pitching to Padres outfielder David Peralta when the left-handed batter lined a pitch (100.3 mph off the bat) back at Blackburn. The liner was heading toward his head, but the righty managed to raise his arm to protect himself, and the ball hit his pitching arm. Blackburn exited the game in the third and was charged with five runs on 10 hits in the loss.

Initial tests revealed nothing more than a hand contusion and further imaging on his pitching arm Saturday came back negative for any fractures.

"It's sore, definitely sore," Blackburn said. "Swelling has gone down from yesterday. So we got five days to try and figure it out."

Mendoza added, if he is a "no-go" at playing catch on Sunday, "then we're gonna have to make a decision" about an IL stint.

Huascar Brazoban, who was optioned to Triple-A before Friday's game, stayed with the team in San Diego in case there was an IL move and it seems he will remain with the big-league club through Sunday.

Blackburn has had some ups and downs since joining New York in a deadline deal from the Athletics, pitching well in most of his outings aside from two blowups, one of which came on Friday.

Overall, in five starts since the trade, the right-hander has pitched to a 5.18 ERA and 1.562 WHIP over 24.1 innings with 21 strikeouts and seven walks.

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