The starting pitching continued to be problematic for the Mets on Tuesday night, this time at the hand of Steven Matz, who went a measly three innings in his performance against the division rival Washington Nationals.

Matz looked strong in his first couple batters, getting speedy sensation Trea Turner to line out to center before striking out Adam Eaton for the second out of the inning. However, he couldn’t finish off with a strong frame, as the veteran Howie Kendrick struck a 3-2 pitch deep into left center field for a solo home run.

Former Met Asdrubal Cabrera then lined a pitch from the shaken Matz into center field for a base hit, before Matz settled down and struck out Starlin Castro to end the inning.

The second frame started off horribly, as Matz got behind in the count 3-1 before offering up a meatball down the middle for Josh Harrison, who belted it into the left field stands to put the Nationals up by two.

Matz settled down again after the leadoff homer, retiring Carter Kieboom via strikeout before Yan Gomes reached on an error. A fielder’s choice sent the lead runner back to the dugout for out number two, before Turner came back up and popped out to second base.

In the third inning, Matz got absolutely pummeled. Eaton was retired to start the frame on a hard line-drive to right field, before Kendrick picked up his second hit of the game on a single to right. Cabrera then doubled to put runners on second and third with one out.

The Nationals rally didn’t stop there, as Castro knocked in an RBI with a single to right, putting runners on the corners with one gone. Harrison knocked in his second run of the game off a sac-fly, before Kieboom singled and scored the fifth run of the game. Matz was able to finish off the frame but was taken out afterwards.

He went three innings, threw 78 pitches, struck out three and gave up seven hits. What was surprising was that he didn’t seem to be throwing wild, as 53 of his pitches were strikes. Most of the hits were off pitches that just missed their spot over the plate, resulting in multiple meatballs that seemingly offered BP for the Nationals hitters.

Matz’s ERA rises to 5.65 on the year, as he has struggled in his last two starts after a promising season debut. One thing that has really hurt Matz this year is the longball, as he has given up five home runs across just 14 1/3 innings pitched.