MATZ BETTER
Steven shrugs off fiasco to baffle Tribe DeGrom’s son improves, could go home today
Steven Matz, shelled in first start of season, sees ERA improve by 30 with seven shutout innings in 6-0 victory.
CLEVELAND — The Mets can cross one concern off their check list.
Steven Matz entered his second start of the season with a 37.80 ERA, one of several worries that piled up fast among the team’s young and dynamic rotation.
But any questions about Matz proved much ado about nothing as he dropped that ERA by more than 30 in Sunday’s 6-0 victory over the Indians.
Matz threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and two walks, striking out a careerhigh nine and ending his day with a much more respectable 7.27 ERA.
After his horrendous debut against the Marlins, in which he couldn’t get out of the second inning, Matz gave the Mets (5-6) just what they needed a day after struggling Matt Harvey fell to 0-3, with Jacob deGrom nursing a lat muscle injury in Florida, where he remains with his wife as his newborn son faces a medical issue.
“It was just trusting my stuff and going after hitters and not trying to question it,” Matz said. “Trusting I can miss with a pitch and still be able to get outs.”
Matz was bolstered by another second-year player, Michael Conforto, who continued to thrive in the No. 3 spot, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI.
“There are special guys. There are special players that get to the major leagues in a hurry and stay there for a long time,” Terry Collins said about Matz and Conforto. “In order to do that, you have to not just have talent, you’ve got to have moxie and you’ve got to figure some things out and make some adjustments. That’s what those kids do.” GETTY; AP
After giving up seven runs in 1.2 innings in his season debut, Matz figured out quickly that he must mix up his pitches. On Sunday, he established his fastball early then mixed in a good curve and nasty
slider.
Matz had gone nine days between his final spring training start and his season debut, which some feel contributed to his first-game struggles. But the lefty shook off the layoff as an excuse.
“I just think it was attacking the hitters, not pitching scared,” he said of the biggest difference between his first two starts.
Matz also took the mound with a three-run lead, with the Mets responding to the lineup change Collins made Friday night, when he shifted Conforto from the No. 6 spot into the No. 3 hole. The move seems to have woken up the offense.
In three games hitting third, in front of Yoenis Cespedes, Conforto is 5-of-12 with three doubles, a home run and three RBI.
While the Mets have worried about rushing Conforto, who started last season in Double-A and ended up playing in the World Series, the 23-year-old knows he is ready. “It’s not intimidating, it’s exciting,” Conforto said of getting moved up. “Any time you are in the heart of the lineup, in a spot you can do some damage and drive in some runs, I think that is really exciting.
“I never had any nervousness about it, kind of felt natural,” Conforto continued. “It’s kind of where I have been in college and through the minor leagues. I feel pretty good there.”
Entering the series, the Mets had hit a total of two home runs and scored 20 runs through eight games. In the last three games, they have scored 17 runs and hit seven homers.
Unlike the first two games here, when the Mets score all their runs on home runs and went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position, they capitalized with runners on base Sunday. The Mets went 5-for-7 with runners in scoring position, with Lucas Duda driving in two runs on a single in the Mets’ three-run first and Conforto driving in runs in both the first and second. Cespedes drove in a run with a sun-aided double in the second after Asdrubal Cabrera dropped a bunt for an RBI in the second.
“I think it’s encouraging,” Collins said as his team departed for Philadelphia. “I think it’s great to start the road trip this way. I knew if we went on the road, we were going to start playing a little bit better and swinging the bats a little bit better and we have.” Matz’s improvement didn’t hurt
either.