Day isn’t super for Dark Knight
Matt Harvey reached a couple milestones on Sunday that are sure to leave a sour taste in his mouth. Harvey was handed a no-decision after he tossed six innings of one-run baseball, striking out six and giving up seven hits. After his exit, he became the first pitcher in the last century to allow no more than one run in 16 of his first 59 career starts without recording a win.
Harvey looked like the Dark Knight that fans know and love on Sunday in his second start against the Pirates this season. He was tagged for seven runs in four innings in his first start against the Bucs on May 23 in Pittsburgh, which was his shortest outing of the season.
On Sunday, Pedro Alvarez put the Pirates on the board first with a solo homer in the second inning, which snapped Harvey’s scoreless innings streak at 16 and tied his career high. Ironically, Harvey took a 16-inning scoreless streak into his first start against the Pirates this season and it was brought to end with a first-inning, solo homer by Andrew McCutchen.
Harvey said after Sunday’s game that he had a hard time finding the strike zone and it was a struggle for him to get through six innings, though his numbers prove otherwise.
“Today was definitely a struggle,” Harvey said. “It was one of those days where it took a while to get going, and once I did, I couldn’t find the zone consistently. I was able to make pitches when I needed to when there were runners on base.”
Terry Collins echoed Harvey’s concern over his struggles but praised him for his effort and tenacity on the mound in battling through six innings without his best stuff.
“He wasn’t as sharp as he usually is, but I’ll tell you, our starting pitching battles,” Collins said. “The days they don’t have their best stuff, they battle. You know, Matt didn’t give in. That’s why I love (every member of the rotation): They don’t give in.”
LONE STAR
Travis d’Arnaud woke up on the right side of the bed Sunday morning after a quick turnaround from a 14-inning epic with the Pirates on Saturday night.
He went to Collins prior to Sunday’s game and told him he wanted to be in the lineup. Normally, the starting catcher is given off for a day game that follows a night game, especially if it was an extra inning contest.
After the Mets dropped the first two games of the series in what felt like a postseason atmosphere at Citi Field, d’Arnaud said he wanted to be out there to help finish off the home stand on a high note.
The team looked awful and was hammered in an 8-1 loss, but d’Arnaud had a productive day.
He went 2-for-3 with a second-inning home run that knotted the game at 1. The game remained tied until the seventh when the Mets unraveled and the Pirates scored four times in the inning. Pittsburgh added another three runs in the eighth.
When asked whether it’s tough on him physically to rebound after catching 23 innings over the last 24 hours, an upbeat d'Arnaud said, “It’s hard to recover but fortunately we’ve got some good espresso machines, so I’ll be able to wake up.”