In front of a near capacity crowd at Citi Field on Saturday night, starting pitcher Steven Matz delivered a career-best performance as the New York Mets defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of 3-0, bringing them ever so closer to that second wild card in the National League.
Matz, 28, needed just 99 pitches to shutout the Bucs in the first complete game of his career, allowing just five hits, no walks and striking out seven, six of those on a called strike three. The last Met to throw a shutout with fewer than 100 pitches was Johan Santana on May 26, 2012 vs. San Diego.
In a word, the Long Island southpaw was brilliant and the fans really let him know it, treating him to a well-deserved standing ovation after Josh Bell grounded to short for the final out of the game. In response, Matz tipped his cap to the Flushing fateful who were treated to a rare exciting victory.
“It’s really cool,” Matz told reporters after the game. “Honestly, this is what I try to do every game. I finally did it.”
Matz is undefeated in 10 games (eight starts) at home this year, going 4-0 while posting a 2.06 ERA at Citi Field. Since returning from the injured list, he has a 1.89 ERA in three starts with 16 strikeouts and just two walks in 19.0 innings pitched.
Both Michael Conforto and J.D. Davis homered to give Steven Matz all the run support he needed. For Conforto it was his 19th homer of the season, while Davis continued his torrid stretch at the plate with his 10th longball. He is now batting .297 with a .359 on-base and a .846 OPS.
With the win, the Mets are now just six games back of the second wild card, but still have six teams in front of them including the Nationals and Phillies. They have won three-straight, four of their last five, and are 9-5 in the second half.
It will be interesting to see how GM Brodie Van Wagenen handles his first trade deadline with the Mets, especially given their recent success.
Starting pitchers Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard as well as closer Edwin Diaz, have all been mentioned in various recent trade rumors. But I wonder if Brodie shifts course and decides to stand pat and try to go for it instead? We’ll all soon know in just a few short days.
