SUPER HEROES’ BIG NIGHT
DARK KNIGHT GETS WIN; THOR HITS 100 IN REHAB
A night heading south took an abrupt U-turn for Matt Harvey on Thursday.
The Mets certainly want to see Harvey work deeper into games, but lasting five innings and surrendering only two runs in a 7-2 victory over the Reds at Citi Field represented progress for the beleaguered righthander.
Harvey (5-4) appeared to be in trouble after needing 41 pitches to escape the first two innings, during which five runners reached base and two scored. Then it got easier for Harvey, who rolled through the fifth.
“The swings and misses will come, the velocity will come, but I wanted to get five innings,” Harvey said.
In his return to action Saturday in Houston, Harvey lasted only two innings and surrendered seven earned runs on eight hits, after spending 2 ½ months on the disabled list with a stress reaction in his right scapula.
Harvey — whose fastball sat mostly in the 92-94 mph range Thursday — walked Phillip Ervin leading off the game, and fell into a 1-0 hole on Adam Duvall’s sacrifice fly. In the second, Ervin delivered an RBI double after Scott Schebler had doubled leading off the inning.
But Harvey allowed only two base runners over his final three innings.
“I just thought it was a huge step forward for him tonight,” manager Terry Collins said. “He should feel pretty good about, as far as coming off the last game, about where now.”
Brandon Nimmo, batting cleanup, smashed two homers in a 3-for-4 performance to lead the Mets’ offensive attack. Juan Lagares also homered.
Harvey retired the side in
order in the third and escaped trouble in the fourth and fifth. In the fourth he allowed a double to Schebler before getting two outs to end the inning. In the fifth he plunked Ervin, who then stole second, before getting three straight outs.
“As the game went on, all of a sudden his mechanics got better and better and better,” Collins said. “That’s a huge step for him to all of a sudden get back into the rhythm that he needs to make quality pitches.
“I still think as the strength continues to come back and the arm strength continues to come back, we’re going to start seeing some signs Matt Harvey is on the way back and in full recovery.”
Harvey said he was comfortable working from the stretch and holding runners on. He pointed to the fifth inning as his highlight of the night.
“To get out of that inning and not let them tie the game, that was big for me — a big moment in the start,” he said. “Overall I am starting to feel more comfortable out there with mechanics and attacking hitters, obviously still not where I want to be, but moving in the right direction.”