During his first postseason start of his career, Steven Matz allowed three runs and six hits in five innings pitched. While his night started out promising, the Dodgers suddenly jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and never looked back.
In the third inning, Matz yielded the first run of the game on a soft single by Adrian Gonzalez. He then allowed two more runs on a RBI double by former Met Justin Turner.
“To sum it up, a couple of mistakes hurt me,” Matz said. “I thought I threw the ball good. I just had a bad inning, but against a guy like Kershaw you have to put up zeroes.”
Despite the loss, Terry Collins still has a lot of faith in the Mets’ rookie left hander.
“He pitched very good,” Collins said, “He was outstanding. If we get to the next round, we have all the confidence in the world in him.”
Matz finished the regular season with a 4-0 record and had an excellent 2.27 ERA during 35 innings pitched. He clearly has ton of talent, but the Mets were really asking a lot of him last night given his inexperience.
He only made six MLB starts prior to yesterday, which is the fewest for any Mets’ postseason starter in franchise history. He was also tasked with pitching against Clayton Kershaw, who didn’t disappoint this time around.
Kershaw tossed seven dominating innings while allowing only one run and striking out eight. Matz needed an incredible start to match his performance, but he ended up falling short.
