It was yet another strong outing for Steven Matz, as he held the Atlanta Braves to one “2019 home run” – a solo shot off the bat of Josh Donaldson that just barely cleared the left field fence, which proved to be one of only two hits he gave up in Sunday’s game. But despite his efforts, the Mets lost 2-1 to the Braves at Citi Field.

Mickey Callaway pulled Matz after the left-hander threw 102 pitches in six innings.

“He has been battling a blister the last few starts and it was just so sore,” Callaway said to reporters. “He came in after the fifth and said ‘probably one more’, so it was getting pretty irritated.”

Matz mentioned in his post game interview that the blister only flares up when throwing his slider, and mentioned it was something he just has to manage.

Matz threw six innings of one run baseball, while striking out six and walking only one in his 26th outing of the season. With only two hits given up on the day – a line drive double to center from Adam Duvall and Donaldson’s home run – Matz lowered his ERA to 4.06.

With the exception of five outings giving up five earned runs or more, Matz’s numbers are excellent. According to Steve Gelbs of SNY, not including those five starts, the left hander has a 2.46 ERA in his other 21 games pitched this season. And if that doesn’t seem impressive enough, Steven Matz owns a 2.01 ERA at Citi Field, which accounts for nine of his 26 starts.

In the first inning, Matz sent the Braves down in order, which is something fans are now seeing on a more consistent basis for Matz. He had a first inning ERA around nine for the majority of the first half.

“My main thing is focusing on executing each pitch, that is the most important thing for me,” Matz explained to reporters. “That’s just what I’ve been doing. I’m just staying right after guys and attacking them.”

The second inning got rocky after giving up a lead off home run to Donaldson and a double to Duvall. A fly out from former Met Adeiny Hechavarria moved Duvall over to third, so there was a quickly one out and a man threatening at third. After falling behind on a 3-0 count to Charlie Culberson, Matz battled back and sent Culberson and Tyler Flowers back to their dugout on a ground out and fly out to limit the damage.

A pair of ground outs hit to Amed Rosario and Pete Alonso left Matz with two outs to start the fifth inning. Following a two out walk to Flowers, the starter worked through an eight pitch at bat against his opposing pitcher, Dallas Keuchel and struck him out to end the inning.

92 pitches into his outing, the lefty took the mound for, what proved to be, his last inning of the day. A quick and painless pair of strikeouts to Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies greeted the Braves, and a hard hit ball off the bat of Freddie Freeman landed in J.D. Davis‘ glove in left field to end the inning and Matz’s day.

However, Matz received the hard luck loss, dropping his record to 8-8 on the season, to go along with a 4.52 FIP and 4.26 xFIP. Matz will look to continue his recent success, and hope for better run support, in his next outing, which should come against the Phillies.