Sore Matz gets start pushed back

SAN DIEGO — Steven Matz is having his scheduled start on Tuesday pushed back after he felt a soreness in his back. The Mets, who have an off day today, will start Noah Syndergaard on regular rest and then follow the rest of their rotation. Matz will instead pitch on Saturday.

“We don’t want to take the chance of him coming on Tuesday not feeling great, not being able to pitch. We don’t want to waste our bullpen,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “We also had to let Syndergaard know so he can approach his off day and routine today.”

Callaway said that Matz will be available out of the bullpen on Tuesday if his back continues to feel OK.

The left-hander, who was scheduled to start the series-opener against the Braves at Citi Field, said the issue popped up when he tried to throw a bullpen session Saturday.

“We just shut the bullpen down at that point and I went out and threw it today,” Matz said. “I felt fine today.”

Matz said this is an issue that he has dealt with before and it had not made him miss a start. He is coming off his shortest and least effective start of the season, allowing seven runs on five hits in just 3.1 innings pitched, and Matz is 1-2 with a 4.98 ERA overall.

LEARNING ON THE JOB

Zack Wheeler worked with pitching coach Dave Eiland on learning a split-finger changeup between his start on Tuesday and Sunday. It felt good in the bullpen before the game, so he decided to use it against the Padres Sunday.

“Me and Dave have been working on, I don’t know what you’d call it, a split fastball or a split changeup. I threw it a lot today. He showed me it in the bullpen the other day. I’ve thrown it before, but not too often. It was working in the bullpen, so I just carried it into the game,” Wheeler said. “It’s something going the other way. With my normal changeup there’s the speed difference, but it doesn’t move as much.

“The split dives a bit,” Wheeler said. “It’s more of a strikeout pitch.”

Wheeler struck out a season-high nine Sunday. He held the Padres to two runs on six hits. He walked two in five innings work.

“I thought he looked really good. High pitch count in the first,” Callaway said. “I thought he could have been a little more aggressive to a couple of batters in the first. I think Dave had a chat with him, saw a little more of that after.”

Wheeler threw 30 pitches in the first inning.

“You want to go six or seven,” Wheeler said. “It’s something I can work on. The split will help.”