Before Saturday, Steven Matz had only thrown a pitch in the eighth inning this season because of his bullpen cameo before the All-Star break.
The Mets did not need a fifth starter at the time, and Matz had been struggling, so he was the choice to briefly drop out of the rotation.
But the lefty saw the eighth inning again on Saturday, this time getting there on his own. And for the first time as a pro, he even pitched the ninth.
Matz cruised to his first career complete game and shutout, turning in an absolute gem to carry the Mets to a 3-0 win over the Pirates at Citi Field. He did not issue a single walk, he allowed only five hits and he struck out seven. Perhaps most impressively, he recorded the 27th and final out on his 99th pitch.
Throughout the night, Matz was economical with his pitches, needing more than 11 to finish an inning just twice. The only other time he completed seven innings this year, he did so on 101 pitches. He needed just 78 to get that far Saturday.
It took one sweet swing from Michael Conforto in the sixth inning to give Matz his lead. Conforto crushed an 84 mph changeup from Trevor Williams, sending it 390 feet into the upper deck in right field for a 1-0 edge.
J.D. Davis, in the starting lineup against a right-hander because of Dominic Smith’s trip to the injured list with a stress reaction in his foot, provided insurance with a two-run homer he smoked to center field in the seventh to make it 3-0.
Matz was coming off a strong start in San Francisco last Sunday, when he threw six innings and allowed two runs. Manager Mickey Callaway said after that game he thought Matz had “turned a corner.”
The Long Island native started strong over the first two months of the season before going into a funk. He posted a 7.36 ERA in six June starts, which led into his stint as a reliever. Now, he appears to be finding his form again.
Matz was in command from the start. He faced the minimum through three innings on 26 pitches, the only baserunner coming on a fielding error by Todd Frazier. It was quickly erased on a double play.
The Pirates did not record a hit until Melky Cabrera ripped a ground-rule double with one out in the fourth inning. He never went any further, though, as Matz got Josh Bell to strike out looking at a sinking fastball — the same pitch he used to record each of his seven strikeouts, all of them looking.
The problem for the Mets was that Pirates starter Trevor Williams was equally untouchable in the early going, one-upping his counterpart. Conforto’s walk in the first inning was the only time the Mets reached base through the first four frames.
Davis broke up Williams’ no-hitter with two outs in the fifth inning on a double to the gap. But after the Pirates intentionally walked Amed Rosario, Matz struck out to end the threat.
Matz’s didn’t run into trouble until the sixth inning, when Jacob Stallings drilled a double to the warning track and one out later, Kevin Newman singled to left. But Matz escaped by getting Cabrera to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning with the game still scoreless.
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