To put it mildly, today was not a good day for Steven Matz. The final line says plenty on its own: eight runs, seven hits, one walk, one strikeout, and four home runs over two innings.

Matz entered the contest with a 5.19 ERA off the heels of four shutout innings against the St. Louis Cardinals last Sunday, but could not translate his success against a top-notch Washington Nationals lineup, and came away with a 10.97 spring ERA as a result.

The afternoon got off to a rough start when Adam Eaton led off the ballgame by swatting a hanging curveball over the left field fence for the first run of the game. One groundout later, the Nationals picked up just as they’d left off.

Anthony Rendon settled for a base hit after hooking a bad changeup just wide of the left field foul pole. Ryan Zimmerman walked on five pitches, and advanced to third on an RBI double off the bat of first baseman Matt Adams. After getting away with another hanging breaking ball to strike out Brian Dozier, Matz left a slider up to catcher Yan Gomes, resulting in a three-run homer to knock the doors down and make it 5-0.

In total, Matz shelled out 35 pitches (22 for strikes, albeit plenty of balls in play) in the first, sitting 92-93 mph with poorly-tunneled fastballs while failing to establish his offspeed pitches along the lower third of the plate.

The second frame wouldn’t be much easier, however. Two groundouts on Matz’s first four pitches made for a good sign, but as the meat of the order came back around, the hits followed suit. Trea Turner dropped a single into right on a fastball that missed its intended target inside, and Rendon promptly homered to left-center on a 2-0 fastball. One fastball in the dirt and a subsequent fastball over the plate was all it took for Zimmerman to pick up a longball of his own to make it 8-0.

“I went back and looked at some video, and the ball was just up in the zone,” Matz said following the extra reps. “I was getting outside the ball a little bit… [Dave Eiland] saw it too. When the ball’s up in the zone, especially on a [windy] day like today, and they hit the ball in the air, it’s gonna be tough keeping the ball in the park, especially with a good lineup like that.”

Matz induced a groundout from Adams to end the second, though again did so in a fastball count after falling behind 2-0 and then 3-1. He threw 19 pitches in the inning – just 10 for strikes – before facing another three hitters on the backfields. The Mets called in Eric Hanhold for relief to begin the third.

“It’s just part of the process right now,” he added. “It’s just a good mental note. You gotta keep the ball down, and that’s huge for me, so that’s what I get out of today.”

“I’ve been here before, and I know I can correct it, it’s good that this stuff happens now… especially now that hitters get their timing down, and you’re not just beating guys with [the] fastball up… it’s a really good reminder. I gotta work in between starts on getting that ball down in the zone and pounding it down, and that’s where I’m most effective.”

Though the two-inning beatdown may be the last time we see Matz go to work against a division rival this spring, it’s certainly good to know the lefty is focused on integrating the mistakes into his next opportunity on the mound, wherever it may ultimately be. As the narrative ran through his resurgent final two months in 2018, mental toughness and grounded, efficient pitching remains the key to a successful 2019 season.