After losing two straight games, along with All-Star Jeff McNeil to injury, the Mets were in desperate need of a stopper on Wednesday night but the often inconsistent Steven Matz was set to take the mound. It was hard to expect too much for Matz, as he had pitched to a 6.79 ERA across 12 starts on the road this season. Yet Matz ended up being every bit the stopper that the Mets needed, he just didn’t get the opportunity to finish his gem.
Matz had pitched well in his last start, going 6 2/3 innings against the Miami Marlins last Wednesday, allowing two runs on seven hits. In doing so, Matz evened his record on the season, after picking up his seventh win to match his seven losses. Matz looked to build upon that start against the Braves, but early on, it appeared that his road struggles would continue.
In the first inning, Matz induced three fly outs to work a 1-2-3 inning, with the last one having been scorched off the bat of Freddie Freeman. Then in the next inning, Matz gave up a lead-off hit to Josh Donaldson and then lost Adam Duvall to an eight-pitch walk. With two runners on, pitching coach Phil Regan went to the mound to try to settle his erratic left-hander.
That mound visit did not seem to do much early on, as Matz immediately fell behind 3-0 to Johan Camargo. He ultimately battled back to a full count, before getting him to hit a would-be double play ball. Unfortunately for Matz, Amed Rosario forced a hard throw to Ruben Tejada at second base, making it impossible to turn two. Matz then allowed a double to Ender Inciarte, as one run coming around to score giving the Braves the early lead. Matz then got his biggest out of the game as Tyler Flowers hit a soft fly ball to right field that was not deep enough to score the runner from third. With the pitcher’s spot up, Matz promptly retired Dallas Keuchel on a comebacker to end the inning.
From that point on, Matz was excellent. He retired the side in order in each of the next four innings, showing confidence and great command of his pitches. All told, Matz retired the last 14 batters that he faced, picking up five strikeouts along the way. He also helped himself with his bat, recording hits in both the fifth and the seventh innings.
In the seventh, Matz was sent out to hit for himself after throwing just 79 pitches. With two outs and no one on base, Matz dumped a broken-bat single into right field that sparked a rally. Amed Rosario then rifled a single off the glove of shortstop Camargo and with Matz going to third on the play, the Mets ended up with two runners in scoring position for J.D. Davis. Davis found an empty piece of real estate in the outfield on a bloop hit and both runners came around to score, giving the Mets the late 2-1 lead.
Then with Matz dealing, manager Mickey Callaway inexplicably removed him from the game, wanting Seth Lugo to get through the heart of the order now that the Mets had the lead. The move made some sense on paper, as Lugo has been this team’s best reliever and Josh Donaldson had hit two hard balls off Matz already.
Still, this struck me as an instance where Callaway did not have a great feel for the rhythm of a game. Matz had not only been feeling himself on the mound, but he also sparked the two-out rally that led to the Mets getting the lead. With a low pitch count, Matz earned the opportunity to win or loss that game on his own merit and Callaway took that opportunity away from him.
As luck would have it, Lugo had his worse outing in over a month, yielding five hits and five runs while recording just one out. The Mets made things interesting in the ninth inning, scoring two runs, but could not find a way to come back from the huge deficit.
