Steven Matz surely turned in a promising outing Sunday in Las Vegas against the El Paso Chihuahuas as he continues to rehab his elbow injury.

Matz pitched a perfect five innings for the 51s. as the lefty stymied El Paso’s bats and punched out eight batters in the process.

Original report:

According to a report by John Harper of the Daily News, a scout who saw Steven Matz‘s last rehab start for Triple-A Las Vegas on Tuesday, came away thinking the left-hander didn’t look quite right.

“He wasn’t finishing his pitches,” the scout said. “He was cutting off his delivery, which is usually a sign of a guy who isn’t feeling great about his elbow. His stuff wasn’t crisp. His command wasn’t good. He didn’t look ready for a big-league start.”

This almost lines up with what another scout told us last week. “He looked very off and was not finishing his pitches well. I don’t know if that was the plan, if it’s a new delivery. or if there’s an underlying issue.”

During spring training, in an effort to take stress off Matz’s elbow after he mentioned some soreness, pitching coach Dan Warthen was trying to get him to shorten the arc of his throwing motion and alleviate the issue. Obviously, it didn’t work and Matz wound up on the DL to start the season anyway.

Matz, 25, is expected to make his third rehab appearance this afternoon at Cashman Field in Las Vegas, and I’m hearing there will be a small Mets contingent at the game to get a first hand look at their young lefty.

In his second rehab start last Tuesday, Matz had a rough outing, giving up five runs, five hits, two walks, and two home runs in his four innings.

In 2016, Matz threw 132.2 innings over 22 big league starts. He went 9-8 with a 3.40 ERA, 1.209 WHIP, and a 2.7 WAR, while striking out 129 batters compared to only 31 walks.

He had surgery in early October to remove what team doctors called a “massive” bone spur in his pitching elbow. Shortly after reporting for spring training, Matz reported soreness in his elbow which the team said was minor and prescribed a few days of rest. He ended up on the DL with a flexor strain.

Today will be a big day for Matz as the team is hoping he could rejoin the rotation as soon as this upcoming week if things go well.