Schwei's Mets Notes: A Tale Of Two Young Pitchers
By John Schweibacher
» More Columns
Steven Matz bounced back from his rough first start of the season, but Matt Harvey's struggles continued during the Mets' series win over the Indians in Cleveland over the weekend.
Matz struck out a career-high nine and allowed three hits over seven innings in the 6-0 win over the Indians on Sunday. The last time a Mets' left-hander produced a pitching line equal or better than that was on Aug. 26, 2011, when Chris Capuano allowed just two hits and walked none, while striking out 13 in a 6-0 victory against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field.
Prior to Matz, the only other Mets lefties who had a start featuring at least seven shutout innings on the road, allowing three hits or fewer with at least nine Ks were Bill Pulsipher (7 1/3, 3 hits, 9 Ks) in a 2-0 victory at Florida on June 27, 1995, and Jon Matlack (complete game, 2 hits, 9 Ks) in a 1-0 win at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 8, 1973.
The Indians beat the Mets, 7-5, in the middle game of the series on Saturday afternoon. Matt Harvey retired the first 13 batters, but then gave up two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth.
The Elias Sports Bureau notes that it was the third time in Harvey's career (and the first time in his last 34 starts) that he was charged with multiple runs allowed in back-to-back innings of a start.
Harvey's other two such outings occurred back in 2013. On July 3 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field, Harvey allowed three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh in a 5-3 loss, and on Aug. 13 at Dodger Stadium, Harvey gave up two runs in the fifth and sixth innings of the Mets' 4-2 loss.
The Mets hit four home runs, including three in the fifth inning, and held on to defeat the Indians, 6-5, on Friday night in the opener.
The Mets came into the game with just two homers in their first eight games. The outburst marked the fifth time in club history that they hit two or fewer homer runs through their first eight games of a season:
· 2016 (2) Neil Walker and Yoenis Cespedes
· 1993 (2) Bobby Bonilla and Eddie Murray
· 1989 (2) Howard Johnson and Mookie Wilson
· 1970 (1) Bud Harrelson
· 1964 (2) Joe Christopher and Ron Hunt
Dee Gordon went 1-for-5 with four strikeouts in the Miami Marlins' win over the Mets on Tuesday. The hit extended Gordon's hitting streak against the Mets to 19 games, but it would come to an end Wednesday when Jeurys Familia struck out Gordon to end the second baseman's 0-for-5 day in the Mets' 2-1 victory. Ten other players have had a hitting streak of at least 19 games against the Mets:
· 24 Matt Holiday (Col) 7/25/05 to 6/22/08
· 22 Matty Alou (Stl) 5/7/71 to 9/23/73
· 21 Garry Templeton (Stl) 8/6/78 to 9/28/79
· 21 Steve Finley (SD) 8/26/95 to 4/3/97
· 20 Joe Torre (Atl/Stl) 8/1/68 to 9/15/69
· 20 Jack Clark (SF/Stl) 7/20/82 to 4/22/85
· 20 Brandon Phillips (Cin) 7/10/09 to 6/17/12
· 19 Geronimo Pena (Stl) 9/15/91 to 9/20/93
· 19 Luis Castillo (Fla) 5/24/02 to 4/9/03
· 19 Derek Jeter (NYY) 6/24/05 to 6/27/08
· 19 Dee Gordon (Mia) 4/18/15 to 4/12/16
Matz allowed seven runs, all earned, in just an inning and a third in his 2016 debut, a 10-3 loss to the Marlins on April 11. According to Elias, Matz became the first pitcher in Mets history to allow at least seven earned runs while pitching fewer than two innings in his first start of a season. The young southpaw allowed only nine earned runs in 35 2/3 innings during the 2015 season.
Only two other Mets pitchers allowed as many as six runs in two innings or fewer in their season debuts -- Mike Torrez over 1 1/3 on Opening Day in Cincinnati in 1984 and Ron Darling over two frames at Montreal in his first outing of the 1989 season.
Happy Recap: Bartolo Colon. The veteran right-hander collected his 219th career win, tying Pedro Martinez for second most by a Dominican-born pitcher behind Juan Marichal (243).
Nine Miles of Rough Road: Harvey. The Mets' ace has lost three straight games in the same season for the first time since losing three in a row after wining his major league debut back in late July and early August of 2012.
