Rookie shines in debut for Mets
Pitches 7 2/3 innings, has 4 RBIs
METS 7, REDS 2
NEW YORK — In a storybook debut, Steven Matz became the only major league pitcher to drive in four runs in his first career game while leading the New York Mets to a 7-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. “Did it all today,” Matz said. Pitching about 50 miles from home with more than 130 family members and friends on hand, Matz got three hits and helped the Mets to a three-game sweep.
He was impressive on the mound, too, working into the eighth inning after giving up a home run to his first batter.
“He was ready for this,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “All the things we heard from the guys in Triple-A, it was time. ... And today he showed it.”
The club’s latest prized pitching prospect, Matz had to wait 3½ extra hours to make his much-anticipated debut because the teams needed 13 innings to first complete Saturday’s game that was suspended by rain. Picking up in the seventh, New York won 2-1 with help from two miscues by Reds infielders.
Scores of fans came to see the lefty from Long Island pitch. But what got the crowd going was his hitting as the 24-year-old Matz, who grew up a Mets fan, rejuvenated an anemic lineup.
Matz (1-0) became the first player in franchise history to have four RBIs in his first major league game.
He did it with a two-run double off Josh Smith (0-1) over the center fielder’s head in the second and a two-run single with the bases loaded in the sixth. In between those at-bats, Matz sparked a tiebreaking rally with another single, making him the first Mets pitcher to have hits in his first three at-bats.
“That was a hit we needed,
the entire team,” Collins said.
He even slid hard into second to help break up a double play, helping New York add a run.
“I don’t like being an easy out as a pitcher,” Matz said.
The Mets had scored just 15 runs in 10 games coming in, their worst string since September 1979, according to STATS. They have won four straight following a sevengame slide.
Curtis Granderson followed Matz’s fifth-inning hit with an RBI double to make it 3-2. Matz’s tworun single followed by a big fist pump in the sixth gave New York its most runs since June 14, when it scored 10.
A second-round pick in 2009, Matz was sidetracked by Tommy John surgery but has been stellar since at every level. Matz was hitting over .300 at Triple-A Las Vegas.
In7 ⅔ innings Sunday, he allowed five hits and two runs, walking three and striking out six.
After spending the night at his parents’ house about an hour from Citi Field, Matz waited at his locker before the resumption of Saturday’s game. He had to stay out of the dugout until he was added to the roster as the 26th man for the regularly scheduled game.
Pumped up at the start, Matz threw a high 96-mph fastball for his first pitch to Phillips. The ball glanced off the catcher’s mitt and sailed all the way to the backstop.
Matz fell behind 3-1, and Phillips drove the next pitch to deep left field for what was initially ruled a single off the wall. The call was overturned after a review of 59 seconds, giving Phillips a home run on his 34th birthday.
Phillips has hit safely in all 32 road games he’s played against the Mets.
Matz settled in and didn’t give up another hit until Todd Frazier connected for his 25th homer leading off the fourth to make it 2-2.
“He does what he does. He came right back at guys and attacked the strike zone,” said catcher Johnny Monell, who caught Matz while with Las Vegas.