On Friday night, Long Island born Steven Matz made his subway series debut and in grand fashion. Matz provided his childhood team growing up with six innings of one-run ball and gained the win. The Stony Brook born Matz moved his overall record to 4-0 as a major leaguer, and lowered his ERA to 1.80 for the season.
Matz admitted to being a bit amped up in his first start against the New York Yankees in front of the second largest crowd in Citi Field history; 43,602.
“The atmosphere was great. It gets your adrenaline going,” Matz told MLB.com. “This is kind of what you want growing up. These are the games you play in your backyard and imagine that you’re really playing.
One of two rookies in the Mets starting rotation, the other being Noah Syndergaard, Matz struggled with his command early on, allowing a first inning run, and was not able to locate one of his biggest weapons, his curveball. No problem for the hard-throwing lefty, who unveiled a slider and kept the Yankees off the scoreboard for the next five innings.
“It was huge, it was the first time I knew he had it,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “It was very effective today. He executed every time he threw it.” (Daily News)
Matz has been developing the slider during bullpen sessions with pitching coach Dan Warthen.
“I intended on throwing it, we talked about it before the game a little bit, and it ended up being a pretty decent pitch,” Matz said. “So we went with it.”
It must be quite a surreal feeling to grow up as a kid in New York rooting for the Mets and then one day finding yourself on the big stage pitching for them against the New York Yankees of all teams, in the midst of a pennant race.
A great job on Friday night by Steven Matz as he continues to prove he is going to be a big part of this rotation for years to come.
