Steven Matz took the hill for the Mets last night against the Pittsburgh Pirates after delivering one of his worst starts of the season in his last start against the Colorado Rockies.

In that start, he lasted 5 2/3 innings (97 pitches) while allowing five runs, eight hits, and two walks to go along with six strikeouts.

However, the left-hander rebounded well in his return to Citi Field, as his only blemishes came in the fifth and seventh innings.

Through the first four innings, Matz had not surrendered a hit and only allowed one baserunner on an Austin Meadows hit-by-pitch in the first inning.

The 27-year old ran into trouble in the fifth, though, as he allowed a single to David Freese for the first hit of the game and then a double to Elias Diaz to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Jose Osuna then drove in Freese with an RBI single that was followed up by another one, this time by Gregory Polanco to tie the game at two.

With runners on first and second with nobody out, Matz managed to buckle down to strike out Jordy Mercer, then get Josh Bell to line out, and then get Starling Marte to groundout.

After a clean sixth inning, Mickey Callaway decided to let Matz come out for the seventh in which he recorded the first two outs with ease. He got into a 3-2 count with Gregory Polanco, though, and threw a curveball that hung just enough to be clobbered over the right-field wall for a solo home run to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead.

Matz was visibly upset as he screamed into his glove, but nonetheless escaped the inning without any further damage.

The left-hander finished the night having allowed three runs, six hits, and no walks to go along with seven strikeouts in seven innings (110 pitches) of work.

He got a no-decision, though, as Michael Conforto hit a solo home run in the bottom of the inning to tie it back up.

After the game, Matz talked about how he was pitching with a heavy heart after hearing the news of Sandy Alderson’s need to take a leave of absence to deal with his battle with cancer.

“It’s just not news you want to hear and honestly I’m here and we’re all here because he believed in us. I think for me personally, especially now under all these circumstances, I want to prove that he was right. There was definitely extra emotion out there hearing that news.”

Matz has been one of the bright spots this season that has started to prove Alderson right for not giving up on the lefty, as he is 3-5 on the year with a 3.69 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and 70 strikeouts in 78 innings pitched while staying relatively healthy for the first time as his 15 starts this year are already the second-most starts he’s made in a season in his career.