PITTSBURGH — J.J. Putz is headed back to New York on Friday and is facing possible elbow surgery in the wake of yet another dreadful outing by the former All-Star closer here today. Putz, who had his eighth-inning set up role yanked away by Jerry Manuel on Wednesday, had insisted his recent problems were mechanical and not physical.

But Putz changed his tune after giving up two runs on three hits in just one inning of relief this afternoon in the Mets’ 11-6 loss to the Pirates that completed a three-game Pittsburgh sweep.

Putz recently had a cortisone shot two weeks ago that he claimed cured the problem, but a bone spur in the elbow continues to bother him.

Putz had planned to have surgery after the season to fix the bone spur, but he admitted today that the surgery might need to be moved up now that he has allowed seven runs on nine hits and two walks in his past 1 1/3 innings (three appearances).