Photo by Ed Delany/MMO
New York Mets left-hander Steven Matz didn’t get off to a great start in his first Grapefruit League outing on Sunday in Port St. Lucie, but that’s what this time of the the year is for.
After a solid 2019 season, and an especially strong second half (3.52 ERA over 14 post-ASG starts; 1.94 ERA over seven starts from August 7 to September 11), the 28-year-old Ward Melville High School alum is surely looking to build off that success in 2020.
Cardinals center fielder Harrison Bader took the southpaw’s second pitch of the sunny afternoon deep over left-fielder Tim Tebow’s head and over the fence, giving St. Louis an early 1-0 lead.
Matz went on to induce a 6-3 groundout from Kolten Wong, struck out Mets-killer Paul DeJong, and got Cards backstop Matt Wieters to fly out to Jake Marisnick in center field to end the inning and his initial spring outing after four batters faced.
Matz’s story line will be an interesting one to watch in Spring Training this year, and one of the few that’ll be a true battle. With the Mets bringing in Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha, there are three pitchers fighting for two rotation spots.
A big issue for Matz has been his first inning struggles, which presented themselves again on Sunday, so he will have to work on that the next several weeks.
This article will be updated with quotes and additional info.
