MATZ MAULED AGAIN IN AMAZIN’ DUD
Young lefty's struggles continue in ugly loss to Padres
SAN DIEGO — Steven Matz isn’t missing many batz.
The enigmatic lefty has become automatic buzzkill lately, serving up an assortment of hittable pitches that have forced the Mets to play from behind.
In another disaster Wednesday night, Matz was pummeled by the Padres over three innings in a 6-3 loss at Petco Park that snapped the Mets’ two-game winning streak.
Matz allowed six earned runs on nine hits to drop his third straight decision. Over his last four starts he’s 0-3 with a 14.18 ERA and has failed to pitch beyond f ive innings.
All that’s left is to wonder if another disabled list stint can be far behind for Matz, who missed the f irst twoplus months of the season with elbow inflammation.
Last season Matz was placed on the DL in August with shoulder tightness after pitching through most of the summer with a signif icant bone spur in his elbow.
The Mets (47-52) are already stretched thin enough in the rotation that on Thursday they will promote Chris Flexen from Double-A Binghamton to make his major league debut. Jacob deGrom remains the ace and rock of the rotation, but beyond that manager Terry Collins faces a nightly crapshoot.
Matz took a 2.12 ERA into the last weekend before the All-Star break, but has since morphed into a batting practice machine, allowing 34 hits in his last 13¹/3 innings. The nadir during that stretch was the nine hits he allowed over one-plus innings against the Rockies on July 16, when he was removed after allowing seven runs.
The Mets had a chance to get close in the sixth inning, but shortstop Allen Cordoba thwarted a rally with a diving stop to throw out Rene Rivera and leave the bases loaded. Jose Reyes’ walk forced in a run earlier in the inning to pull the Mets within 6-2.
Luis Torrens smashed a bases-loaded triple in the third to give the Padres a 6-1 lead and all but end Matz’s night. In an inning that had a little of everything, Manuel Margot stroked a leadoff triple against Matz and scored on Wil Myers’ double.
After Hunter Renfroe was hit by a pitch, Reyes mishandled Cory Spangenberg’s grounder — ruled an infield single — to load the bases before Torrens hit his triple to right-center that just missed clearing the fence for a grand slam.
Margot hit a two-run homer in the f irst, after Jose Pirela singled leading off the game. Matz allowed four hits in the inning, including a line drive off Reyes’ glove that could have been ruled an error.
Matz’s early struggles continued a trend: Entering play he had pitched to a 6.55 ERA, with batters hitting . 323, in innings one through three. But innings four through seven, Matz had a 2.42 ERA, with batters hitting just . 247.
Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin went 5¹/3 innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits and three walks.
Erik Goeddel, Tyler Pill and Hansel Robles combined to pitch five shutouts innings after Matz was removed, preventing the game from becoming a runaway. For Robles it was a fourth straight appearance without allowing a run.
Wilmer Flores hit a solo homer in the eighth that pulled the Mets within 6-3.