Matz shakes off one pitch call too many
Kevin Plawecki called for a slider. Steven Matz shook him off. The catcher called for a fastball. The southpaw declined. Plawecki suggested a change-up. Matz wasn’t interested.
The Long Island native wanted to throw a curveball. He didn’t yet know he was wrong.
Finally, with enough run support to pick up just his second win in the past nine starts, Matz allowed a game-tying, two-run homer to Miguel Andujar in the sixth inning and was forced to settle for his sixth no-decision of the season in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Yankees at Citi Field.
“I probably should’ve just went with him,” Matz said of Plawecki’s pitch call. “It was just a bad pitch, and a bad pitch choice. … He wanted a slider in, and then he put down the rest of the repertoire before that pitch.
“I was just trying to show them something different. … That pitch is gonna sit with me for the rest of the night.”
Coming off throwing a seasonhigh seven innings, Matz had allowed a total of two runs in his previous three outings and just eight runs in his previous six appearances. Once more, he was solid but not as sharp as he had been over the past month.
Traffic was constantly on the bases. Counts repeatedly ran deep.
In the first inning, Matz received more support than any Mets starter had received in eight days, and was tasked with protecting a 3-0 lead. After allowing more than two runs only once since April 25, Matz couldn’t make it hold up.
Gleyber Torres took Matz deep for a solo shot in the third inning, but the southpaw recovered and escaped a bases loaded jam in the fifth inning — which included a four-pitch walk of Domingo German, who was attempting a sacri- fice bunt in his second-ever major league at-bat — by getting Aaron Judge to ground out.
Matz opened the sixth by retiring Giancarlo Stanton but struggled with his command again and walked Gary Sanchez. Andujar came up next and crushed the misplaced curveball for a game-tying shot to left.
“I made a really bad pitch there in the sixth inning, and it cost us the game, essentially,” Matz said. “They’re a team that’ll hurt you with the long ball and that’s what they did tonight.”
Matz, who left with a 3.53 ERA, threw six innings (106 pitches, 57 strikes), allowing three runs, five hits and four walks, striking out six.
Given how well Matz had been pitching the past month, manager Mickey Callaway said he had earned the right to go through the lineup a third time.
“Those [starters] have been getting the job done for about 20 games, and they deserve the chance to make or break the game,” Callaway said. “He threw a terrific game. It was one slipped out curveball that they made him pay on, but other than that he was terrific.”
Shohei Ohtani wasn’t a mortal lock to win the AL Rookie of the Year award, but many believed the two-way Angels star was. It was impressive what the right-handed pitcher and left-handed hitter was doing in double-duty, but there were questions how he would hold up pitching once a week and being a DHon the days he wasn’t on the mound.
He didn’t, going on the DL this week with UCL problem in his right elbow. How long Ohtani will be out isn’t known, but there are two very deserving candidates living inside the Yankees’ infield, and they played a huge part in a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Mets on Saturday night at Citi Field in the second of three Subway Series games in Queens.
Andujar, the rookie third baseman who has nailed Brandon Drury to the Triple-A roster, tied the score, 3-3, with a two-run homer in the sixth off Steven Matz, It was Andujar’s eighth homer and he finished with two RBIs that lifted his total to 28.
Gleyber Torres’ solo homer in the third cut the Mets’ deficit to 3-1. It was his 11th homer and 29th RBI. Entering the game, the second baseman led all rookies in homers and RBIs.
“When I was their age, I was in Double-A,’’ Aaron Hicks said of the 23-year-old Andujar, who is hitting .305, and 21-year-old Torres, who is at .303. “It’s awesome what they are doing.’’
Manager Aaron Boone said the duo was ready for the big leagues on two fronts: their mental outlook and help from the Yankees’ development program.
“Those guys have obviously been talked about a lot, their ability, but I think it’s a credit to both those guys and who they are and their makeup and the organization for preparing them very well in the minor leagues,’’ Boone said.