Coming off Matt Harvey’s hellacious outing, faith was restored in Flushing on Friday from the franchise’s best and brightest future stars. Steven Matz was armed and dangerous, and the crack of Michael Conforto’s bat gave the Mets a 3-2 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.
The first inning loomed ominous when Chris Carter launched a two run shot, but the Long Island born lefty then retired 15 in a row, striking out eight with no walks through seven for his sixth straight win. “I was definitely happy I was able to command the ball,” a satisfied Matz said after the game.
Matz now leads all qualified rookie pitchers this season with six wins and a 2.81 ERA. He is also the first player in franchise history to win 10 of his first 11 major league decisions.
Conforto was in his comfort zone facing right-hander Wily Peralta, who up until the 5th inning had sent 10 consecutive Mets batters back to the dugout without a peep.
Notable among Conforto’s single and homer were that they were both hit to the opposite field, something that wasn’t lost on manager Terry Collins.
“What you saw tonight is what I hope we see more, the fact that he used the field,” Collins said.
“He was hitting a lot of homers to right field, and I think when you get into a situation where you think you’ve gotta hit home runs, all of a sudden the pull thought comes in your head, and his swing, he was trying to turn on balls instead of putting good swings on them.”
An interesting note on Conforto. Four of his seven homers this year have given the Mets a lead and nine of 16 career home runs have either tied the game or given the Mets a lead.
What a sigh of relief for Collins who didn’t need to call upon his battered bullpen that had taken quite a beating in their last couple of losses.
Reliable Addison Reed tossed a perfect eighth, and the unflappable Jeurys Familia improved to 14 saves in as many chances.
In eight of his last 11 outings, Familia has retired every batter he’s faced. Meanwhile, Reed has allowed just two earned runs in his last 13.1 innings pitched (1.35 ERA). He leads the team with nine holds and has 25 strikeouts in his last 17.0 innings.
For the past couple of weeks, run support has been at an all time low, so hopefully on Saturday, the Amazins will give Jacob deGrom some offensive love after uncharacteristic back to back no-decisions.
After a much-needed win, it’s one game at a time for a Mets team whose youth carried the day in the series opener against the Brew Crew.
(USA Today Sports/Photo By Brad Penner)
