Over his previous seven starts (42.1 innings), New York Mets left-hander, Steven Matz, produced at an extremely high level, pitching to a 1.94 ERA with 42 strikeouts, 14 walks, and 1.11 WHIP.
The 28-year-old’s 0.9 wins above replacement ranked 11th among qualified National League starters over that span. A corner had been turned for a hurler the Mets had long hoped would take that step.
Heading into Monday night’s matchup in Denver, the Mets absolutely needed Matz at the top of his game. For a while, they got that guy. Then, things came crashing down fast.
Staked to a 1-0 lead courtesy of Brandon Nimmo‘s leadoff homer in the first, Matz set down the Rockies in order in the first, inducing groundball outs from Trevor Story, Daniel Murphy, and Nolan Arenado.
After punching out Charlie Blackmon on a low-outside, 94 MPH sinker and getting Ryan McMahon swinging at a low-zone changeup, Ian Desmond took a middle-middle Matz changeup deep into the left-field seats, tying the game at one.
Matz put together another perfect frame in the third, picking up two more strikeouts (Antonio Senzatela and Story) before watching his impeccable run of high-quality outings come to a screeching halt in the fourth.
Blackmon’s one-out single was followed by a four-pitch walk to McMahon. After retiring Desmond, Garrett Hampson shot an RBI single into right field to cut the Mets’ lead to 4-2.
Matz issued another base-on-balls, this time to Drew Butera, before allowing a two-run single to his counterpart, Senzatela, evening the score at four.
With two runners still on base and facing a tough hitter in Story, Matz served up a 1-1 sinker three inches inside that the 26-year-old crushed to left field, putting Colorado ahead 7-4.
Matz set down Murphy to end the frame, but Walker Lockett replaced him in the top of the fifth, closing the book on the southpaw’s night after four innings, allowing seven runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
With the Mets now five games back of the second NL Wild Card spot, these last 12 games become even more important. Let’s see if this team has another run in them.
