Steven Matz made his fourth start of the Spring today as he continues to battle for a spot in the rotation.
After giving up two runs in the first, he was able to settle in nicely. Pitching 4 1/3 innings striking out five batters and walking three. While it’s still not the ideal start we’re hoping to see from Matz, it does give some hope that he’s trending in the right direction.
Over the past two starts, Matz has knocked down his whopping 54.00 ERA to 10.80.
If he’s able to set himself up in a good rhythm from the start of the game, it will be a little more comforting to see him in the rotation as the fifth starter.
The bright side to all this is that it seems that for the most part, Matz is feeling healthy so far. It can’t be easy trying to find a rhythm on the mound after the past two years of constantly going back and forth to the DL.
Matz spoke to the press after his appearance and said this about the first inning:
“I felt like I was just trying to find it in the first inning instead of just letting it go and trusting my stuff. I was trying to be too fine. I had a great bullpen before the game and when I got in their it was like I was just trying to make the perfect pitch, instead of just trusting it and having conviction in what I had out there.”
After that rough first inning, he said that he “felt like [himself] out there.”
