After losing 7-1 to the Diamondbacks, the Mets fell to three games below .500 in an underwhelming outing from Steven Matz on Sunday afternoon at Chase Field.
The club came into their final game in Arizona confident in their starter’s ability to secure the series win. Over his prior six starts, Matz surrendered just three or fewer runs. In his most recent outing at Dodger Stadium, he threw six innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts.
Unfortunately for the Amazin’s, Steven’s persisting first inning struggles got in the way of a quality start and set the tone for the afternoon’s disappointing loss.
It didn’t take long for Matz to fall behind in the first. After letting up a pair of Diamondback bombs to Ketel Marte and Eduardo Escobar to make it 3-0 in the opening frame, the lefty surrendered a pair of RBI singles in the fifth that yielded two runs, and gave Arizona a comfortable 5-1 lead that would not be challenged.
Marte’s 482-foot solo shot off of the southpaw’s third pitch is tied with Nomar Mazara for the longest home run in the MLB this season, and is the longest Diamondbacks homer since Statcast started tracking in 2015, per MLB Stats.
Matz has allowed twelve home runs this season- seven of those coming in the first inning, and three being leadoff dingers. His first inning pitching pains have been a lingering conflict through his career even prior to the 2019 season.
Back on April 16 in an outing against the Phillies, Matz became just the sixth starting pitcher since 1893 to surrender at least eight runs while failing to record an out in the first inning, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
While the rest of his starts have not been as devastating, the southpaw still came into Sunday’s game with a 9.00 ERA in the first inning and left it with a 10.80. For his career, he posts a 7.14 first inning ERA.
“Not going to panic about a first-inning issue. I’m going out there to execute pitches. That’s what it comes down to. If I don’t execute a pitch, I get hurt. That’s what I did today. I got hurt early,” the starter commented post-game, per SNY.
Suffering his fourth defeat of the season, Matz took the loss after throwing six innings. He allowed eight hits and five earned runs, while walking two and recording five strikeouts. This was just his second start in 11 outings this year where he surrendered more than three runs.
The Long Island native currently owns a 1.38 WHIP and 3.97 ERA, which is second lowest in the Mets rotation behind Jacob deGrom’s 3.49.
Steven and the Mets as a whole have failed to perform on the road this season. Matz has held a strong 1.50 ERA in Citi Field, but after Sunday’s beat down, he now owns a 5.79 road ERA. The team has lost 17 of their last 21 away games.
Hopefully he will be able to overcome his prolonging first inning hassles to help lift the club into contention-or at least back over .500- in his next scheduled start, facing a potent Colorado Rockies offense this Saturday evening in Queens.
