Lost in the shuffle of Edwin Diaz’s first blown save of the season on Saturday was a very strong start to the year for Steven Matz.
Bumped up to the second spot in the rotation due to injuries to Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman, Matz gave the Mets six more than solid innings on Saturday against Atlanta, allowing just one earned run on two hits in six innings of work.
Matz seemed to have great command of all his pitches against the Braves, but it was his changeup in particular that kept the Braves off balance for most of the afternoon.
“I was just able to keep it down in the zone,” Matz said after the game. “It’s something that (pitching coach Jeremy Hefner) kind of preaches to me, just working on my hand speed and keeping my glove side strong with it and just trusting the grip and not trying to do too much with it … I was able to do that today and just keep it down in the zone.”
Manager Luis Rojas was pleased by how well Matz was able to mix things up with his changeup, using it as a perfect complement to his fastball and a curveball that he’s been fine-tuning for this season.
“Matz threw the ball well. Six strong. The changeup, I know he established with his fastball on both ends, but the changeup was such a good pitch today,” Rojas said. “The blend of his curveball, we talked before about the slow one he’s using early, he used it late too today. He threw the ball so well, under control, just a good mix, good sequence.”
Matz was primarily fastball-changeup on Saturday, but his curveball was a strong third option for him, especially in his sixth and final inning, when he was able to strikeout the side.
“I felt good with it. I think especially that last inning it started to click for me more,” Matz said about his curve. “Early on I think I recognized that my changeup was my pitch that was really more effective for me, so I was going to that more. I had a better feel for my changeup today, but ultimately I was able to finish up strong with the curveball and did end up feeling pretty good with it.”
The Mets’ lefty, who threw around 75 pitches in his final intrasquad action, was able to push his pitch count up to 93 today, throwing 58 for strikes. The only run Matz allowed came on an Adam Duvall solo home run in the second inning, but he was quickly able to put that home run behind him.
“When I compete, I bring it with an intensity sometimes that shows, but the main thing is about not bringing that into my next pitch,” Matz said. “For me that’s big and I do feel like I was able to do that today. Definitely wasn’t happy with some pitches today, but didn’t let it affect anything else I did out there.”
The bullpen wasn’t quite able to lock down the win for Matz, but his first start of the new season had to be an encouraging sign for the team moving forward.