New York Mets rookie southpaw, Steven Matz pitched through his bone spur issues in Thursday’s 4-3 thrilling victory over the Chicago Cubs. Matz showed improvement over his previous start as he pitched through the pain that comes with his bone spur. Before he took the mound, Matz was treated with anti-inflammatory medication to get him through his outing with reduced pain and discomfort.
Matz, 25, went 5.1 innings on the night while allowing three runs on seven hits. All of his three runs came as a result of two homers off the bats of Kris Bryant and Javier Baez of the Cubs. He walked three batters on the night while striking out six. He consistently reached 94-95 MPH on the radar gun, showing no ill effects of the bone spur.
“It felt good. I was able to go out there and pitch with no issues,” Matz said. “I would say [it gave me] a little relief, but this is something I’ve been dealing with. I knew what to expect.” (NY Post)
Matz took the no-decision, but kept his team in the game. His record stayed at 7-3 on the season as his ERA creeped up just a bit to 3.40 while his WHIP did the same, raising to 1.23. Matz was taken out after a 104 pitch effort, he had good stuff, missing bats regularly. It took Matz 104 pitches to get through his 5.1 innings of work.
“It’s nice to throw 100 pitches and come out of the game feeling good,” Matz said.
Steven has a long road ahead this season as he deals with the pain that comes with pitching through the bone spur. Matz has opted to not go forth with surgery til after the season after conversing with Mets brass on the subject. It will be interesting to see how he is able to deal with the pain going forward while being successful on the mound.
