TORONTO -- It pays to have a Tylor Megill type around.

Faced with a delay in Paul Blackburn¡¯s return from the injured list, the Mets gave Megill another start on Monday evening. The right-hander ran with the assignment, pitching a one-hit quality start in a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

¡°I just wanted to go out and compete, give the team our best chance to win tonight,¡± said Megill. ¡°Threw the ball great tonight, so it felt good. Everything was working.¡±

That performance capped a seesaw couple of days for Megill, who was informed on Saturday he¡¯d be moved to the bullpen with Blackburn scheduled to come off the 15-day IL for Monday¡¯s start.

But Blackburn -- out since Aug. 23 after taking a comebacker to his right hand -- felt a lower back issue after his rehab start at Triple-A Syracuse last Tuesday, and it was still bothering him when he went through a running progression pregame on Sunday.

Enter -- or re-enter -- Megill, who got a third start in this latest big league stint as the Mets pushed Blackburn¡¯s return until the end of the Toronto series at the earliest.

¡°This came out of nowhere,¡± manager Carlos Mendoza said before the opener in Toronto. ¡°Until yesterday, right before the game, we thought [Blackburn] was going to be able to make today's start. That's not the case. And look, Megill will get the ball, he'll get an opportunity, and he's going to give us a chance to win a baseball game.¡±

Check and check.

Megill was as solid as his club could have asked for, pitching six innings of scoreless ball with nine strikeouts, two walks and one hit. He retired the final 16 batters he faced in a row. Megill needed 30 pitches to get out of the first inning, as the Blue Jays loaded the bases with a double and a pair of walks, but he got the outs he needed.

¡°After that, he was pretty much in complete control of the game,¡± said Mendoza. ¡°¡­ He stayed on the attack, he was aggressive. It was a huge outing for us.¡±

The win was the Mets¡¯ 10th in the past 11 games, putting the club a game ahead of the Braves for the third National League Wild Card spot.

Megill¡¯s swift return to the rotation was the least dramatic element of this one.

The Mets managed just three hits in the win, falling behind as soon as Megill departed before loading the bases in the top of the eighth inning. They scored once on a wild pitch and once on a passed ball to reclaim the lead. It wasn¡¯t pretty, but it was one way to step up on a night when the starter did just that.

It has been Megill¡¯s thing all season.

Healthy since late May after dealing with a right shoulder strain early, Megill was called up on July 27 to fill the rotation spot of Kodai Senga, who went down with a left calf strain. Consistency wasn¡¯t always a given, and Megill was sent back to Triple-A after two outings that month.

He has been more successful this time around, though.

Megill has a 2.35 ERA over 15 1/3 innings since being recalled on Aug. 30 to fill in for Blackburn. At this point in the season, having a guy like that waiting in the wings goes from valuable to crucial for a playoff-chasing team.

¡°I¡¯m just glad he got the job done today,¡± said Mendoza. ¡°He stepped up when we needed it.¡±

This is still Blackburn¡¯s spot, though. The Mets are giving their righty a 48-hour window to see how his back responds to treatment in Toronto, by which point the club will re-evaluate his status and chart out the next steps.

¡°We're just kind of taking it day by day right now,¡± said Blackburn. ¡°We're just trying to get some things to just calm down and then just relieve a little bit of the pain that I have and go from there.¡±

Going from there can mean a variety of things. Blackburn mentioned the possibility of returning as early as this weekend, when the Mets¡¯ road trip shifts to Philadelphia. Mendoza, on the other hand, said that if things don¡¯t improve within the next couple of days, Blackburn may have to fly back to New York for imaging.

Either way, Megill trusts the Mets will know where to find him.

¡°Nothing changes,¡± said Megill. ¡°Just back out there on the mound, competing.¡±